Whose Image?

Scriptures:     Exodus 33:12-23      Psalm 99    I Thessalonians 1:1-10     Matthew 22:15-22

In our reading from Matthew’s gospel, we’re in a series of escalating confrontations with the religious leadership in Jerusalem.  Jesus had told a series of harsh parables against the religious leaders, comparing them to guests invited to a wedding banquet who not only turned down the invitation, but attacked the messengers sent to deliver the invitations.  Today, the religious leaders come back at Jesus, trying to trap him in his own words.  Remember that Judea was under Roman occupation, so the Jews were being ruled by people who did not have their best interests at heart – in fact, by people who exploited them at every turn.  Some Jews, including the Temple leadership and many of the educated elite in Jerusalem, the Sadducees and Herodians, cooperated with Rome, hoping to grab for themselves some of the crumbs of wealth and privilege that fell from Rome’s table.  The Pharisees would have advocated as much separation from Rome as possible. The Essenes took this separation even further, living in their own separate communities and refusing to have anything to do with Rome – sort of like the Amish, only they were Jewish.  Some, calling themselves Zealots, advocated for armed revolution against Rome, and revolts against Rome broke out periodically every so often.  Rome used brutal force to put down these rebellions.  And most of the people just kept their heads down and lived their lives.   

In today’s reading, the Pharisees come to Jesus along with the Herodians, their political opponents, to try to trap Jesus.  They came to Jesus, first trying to flatter him, butter him up, saying, “We know you are a sincere teacher of truth and show no deference or partiality to anyone.”  Of course, they believed no such thing, but they are trying to get Jesus to think they’re on his side and let down his guard.  And then they asked, “Tell us, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”  And Jesus could easily see the trap they’re setting for him.  If he said “yes, it’s lawful to pay the tax to Caesar”, the Pharisees could condemn Jesus as just another collaborator with Rome, a sell-out, and Jesus would lose the support of the common people.  And if Jesus said, “no, paying the tax is unlawful,” the Herodians could have him arrested on the spot for treason.

Jesus responded, “Why are you setting me up to trap me, you hypocrites.”  The word “hypocrite” literally meant “play-actor”, and so he was telling them that their play-acting as sincere students of the truth wasn’t fooling anyone.  Jesus was on to them; they were busted.  Nice try, FBI.  Then Jesus asked them, “Show me the coin used for the tax.”   There was a special silver coin used for the tax, that was worth a day’s wages.  The coin would have had the emperor’s head and name stamped all over it, with the title Lord.  Clearly this would have been seen as blasphemy for observant Jews, as it violated both the commandment against other gods and the commandment against graven images.  One of Jesus’ questioners pulled out the coin – the fact that they had such a coin on them exposed whose side they were on, that of the emperor, no matter what they told themselves.  Jesus said, “Whose image is that, and whose title”.  And of course they said, “the emperor’s”.  And Jesus responded “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”   With those words, he left them – and us – with a question that is still debated to this day.  On one hand, clearly the coin was the emperor’s – it had his name and image all over it – so give him back his silly coin.  But Jesus left them with the question of what are the things that are God’s – and since God is creator of all, “the things that are God’s” pretty much include everything, including both the coin and the emperor himself. 

This passage has been the launching point for many sermons on relations between church and state – but today I’d like to save that sermon for another time and take this sermon in a different direction.  I’d like to go back to Jesus’ question, regarding the coin, “Whose image is this?”  Of course, Caesar’s coin had the image of Caesar, just as our coins have images of Washington and Lincoln and Jefferson and so forth.   Ultimately, it’s a flat, lifeless image.  It doesn’t do anything.  It just sits there.

Our society would like to stamp us into the same flat, lifeless image.  Our society would like us to believe that we are made for nothing more than to serve the system – work, pay our taxes, buy stuff, consume stuff, and die.  Our society would like us to march to its beat of “Obey! Buy! Consume! Die!”, to spend our lives marching to that drummer.  If we listen, we’ll march to our grave, having died without having ever really lived.

Caesar created coins in his image, and our society would like to mold us into its image.  But Genesis tells us that we’re created in God’s image.  Throughout the creation story in the first chapter of Genesis, God creates each thing – light, the sky, the sea, dry land, plants, the sun and moon, sea creatures, animals – and each time the section includes the words, “And God saw that it was good.”  But only of humans does Scripture say, “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.”  Twice we read the words, “in his image”.  So human beings are said to be made so as to resemble God, to have something of the divine in us – to use a Quaker phrase, there is “that of God” within each of us.  Unlike the flat, lifeless image of Caesar on Roman coinage, we are living images of a living God.  Our Old Testament reading, in which Moses asks to see God in his full glory, refers to a glory that’s so overwhelming that no person can see it in its fullness and live.  And yet we are said to resemble God, to have some tiny spark of that same glory within us.

We are created in the image of God, of infinite worth.  It’s comforting to stop there.  We can bask in the thought of the spark of God’s glory within us.  But where it gets challenging is when we remember that it’s true, not only of us, but of our neighbors – the ones we like, and the ones we don’t.   It’s true of our neighbors regardless of race or ethnicity – as the old children’s song says, “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.”  It’s true regardless of gender – male and female  God created humankind in his image.  Young and old, straight and gay, indigenous or immigrant, American or foreign, all created in God’s image, each created in some way to reflect God’s glory.  Certainly our sin distorts this image, diminishes it – like graffiti spraypainted on the wall of a beautiful building.  But while we can deface God’s image within us or others, we cannot erase it.  We can deface, but we cannot erase.

The German philosopher Martin Buber spoke of the difference between an “I-Thou” relationship and an “I-It” relationship – the difference between relating to others as fully human beings, on the same level as us, or as objects, to be experienced, used up, discarded.  Put another way, God calls us to love people and use things – but we often get confused, loving things and using people.  

What difference does it make, to treat ourselves and others as being created in God’s image.  For ourselves, it might help us to realize our own worth, and not give so much power in our lives over to other people or other things.  We’re so quick to say that we can’t be happy unless we have (fill in the blank) – another person in our life, or some kind of property or expensive toy.  If we’re at peace with ourselves and with God, we can find happiness regardless – and if we’re not, we won’t find happiness regardless.  This awareness might motivate us to avoid self-destructive behavior, to avoid suicide, along with the slow suicide of the addictions and attachments that numb us and block out the pain and angst of living, but also render us less than the persons God created us to be.  At this point, I’ll put in a plug for the fundraiser for suicide prevention that Joey R is heading up for Saturday, November 18, right here at Emanuel Church.  And I’ll also mention the phone number for the national suicide prevention hotline: 1-800-273-8255.  I’ll try to remember to get it in the bulletin next Sunday.  If you need it, use it; if you know someone who needs the phone number, please pass it on.

The past week provided opportunities to recognize the importance of seeing others in God’s image.  On Thursday, the 3^rd Thursday in October, some high schools observed Spirit Day, which was created in 2010 in response to a series of suicides by LGBTQ junior high, high school and college students who were bullied by homophobic classmates…you might remember names like Billy Lucas, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Raymond Chase, Tyler Clementi…lives ended when they were just beginning.  Might these tragedies have been avoided – might these kids still be alive - if these teens and young adults had more supportive adults in their lives, if they’d been connected to faith communities that would affirm them as they are, as young persons of sacred worth, and not designated them as punching bags, not labeled them as freaks and abominations?  It’s also notable that of homeless teens, 40% are said to be LGBTQ – teens kicked to the curb by their families – throwaways, not runaways.   We throw out trash.  We shouldn’t throw out kids.  Many of these teens would still have homes if their parents had been taught by their churches to see these children as created in God’s image, as much as any other children.

Also this past week, on Facebook, a number of Facebook friends, not people I know personally, mostly women, though some men, posted a cryptic message.   Two words:  “Me too”.   In response to the revelations of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment or abuse of countless women, a number of people, mostly women, some men,  posted the words “Me too” to indicate that they had experienced sexual harassment or abuse – not by Weinstein, of course, but by others in their lives.    “Me too” – acknowledging the pain, revealing the scope of the problem.  And, no, I didn’t post such a message.  It’s not a pain I’ve experienced, or at least not a pain of which I’m conscious of having experienced.  But what would it mean in our relationships to relate to one another as beings created in God’s image, as persons of sacred worth, and not just as pieces of meat to be leered at, or worse?   How might this awareness transform the way we relate to others?  How might this awareness transform the way we relate to ourselves?

 May we come to see ourselves and those around us as God sees us, as persons created in his image, as reflections of God’s love.  May that awareness transform our thoughts and actions, our relationships and our shared ministry here at Emanuel Church. Amen.