Exodus 33:12-23 Psalm 99
1
Thessalonians 1:1-10 Matthew 22:15-22
It is obvious from the Jesus-effect in Palestine that Jesus was a charismatic teacher and preacher; what we also find out from the Gospel for this day is that Jesus is numismatic wisdom expert.
Jesus immediately read the motives of his opponents and then he pulled a coin trick.
What were the motives of his opponents? They wanted Jesus to get political and speak against paying taxes to the Caesar.
So Jesus said, "Let me see a coin. Whose image, whose icon is on this coin?" A very rhetorical question. The Caesar stamp his image on each coin as a sign of his power and right to collect taxes. The coin with his image on it was a way to make sure that a good portion of the wealth of empire would come back to him.
But then comes the wisdom pun of Jesus. "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar; give to God the things of God." The interlocutors of Jesus knew the creation story of Genesis. They knew that God created men and women in the image of God. And was Caesar a man? Whose image did Caesar bear? God's. So who did Caesar belong to? God.
This is an absolute brilliant wisdom interchange and it provides a instructive metaphor for us that we can expand on.
The Greek word for image is icon. In biblical spiritual psychology, people are made in the image of God. God in the full divine Plenitude cannot be seen because no one has the capacity to take in such Plenitude all at once. That is why Moses could only see the "back side" of God. The best way for God to be known and seen is by the shared image of God within the created world.
Using the coin metaphor, we might say that we are God's coinage. God has put us into circulation. And because we bear the divine image, we belong to God. And so, the biblical plan is this: Render unto God the things which are God's. And how do we do this? How do we honor the image of God that is upon our lives?
By loving God with all our hearts and loving our neighbors as ourselves. This is how we render unto God what belongs to God, namely our own lives.
The Gospel questions for you and me concern this issue of bearing the image of God. The Caesar was human and as a human he bore the image of God. But how did he bear the image of God. He wanted to replace God; he was regarded to be a replacement deity for God. He violated the truth of his humanity.
You and I in our baptismal life are asked to discover and bear gladly the image of God upon our lives, especially since his Son Jesus, showed us how to do this best. By following Jesus, we can learn how to love God and our neighbors best.
Today, let us imagine ourselves as a coin in God's currency. And the question to Jesus is this?
Should people pay taxes and tribute to God? And Jesus would say? Whose image is upon the the life of you the baptized? And we would say the Christ of God.
And Jesus would say to us: "Then render your lives unto God, your owner." Amen.
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