Sermon - The Rev. Dr. Paul Kolbet, October 22nd 2023

In our Gospel reading this morning, we are told that religious leaders set a trap for Jesus, and yes, even Jesus had a small group of people that were out to bring him down. As the crowds gathered around Jesus in the usual way, their delegates approached Jesus with loads of flattery and then asked him an apparently straightforward question, “Tell us what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (Matthew 22:17). Why was that a trap? It is because there are only two answers, “yes” or “no”, and either one of them were likely to get Jesus killed. His homeland had long been occupied by the foreign power known as Rome with soldiers everywhere. Rome collected taxes from the people it occupied to pay for the cost of their occupation. Many in Jesus’ country greatly resented this arrangement, one that they never consented to, paying tribute to the conquerors (and, arguably, their gods), year after year.

There was, therefore, an ongoing violent insurgency, known as the “zealots” who aimed to drive the Romans out of their land. To instruct people to pay their taxes, risked running afoul of them, since it meant recognizing the sovereignty of the emperor and being seen as a traitor. To say, “No, don’t pay your taxes because the only Lord of our land is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” would make Jesus one of the leaders of the revolt that the Romans were determined to stamp out at any cost. The politics were entirely polarized in a way that we can probably recognize. The stakes were high, or better, everything was at stake all the time. Those putting the question to Jesus were not looking for the truth or for understanding. They just wanted to win and bring him down.

Jesus responds, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). Not “yes” or “no,” but “both and.” This stopped the conversation because it turned the question back onto those who asked it, “what is it exactly that is Caesar’s economic order?” “And what is it that belongs only to God and isn’t part of that worldly economy at all?” This was not a conversation that his enemies were ready to have on the record. They only wanted to entrap Jesus, but it’s one that is set before us today by those who remembered this moment in Jesus’s ministry as one for his later follows to reflect upon over and over again. It is easy in our polarized, divisive, times to recognize this “Gotcha moment” for what it was, and we don’t have to imagine at all how there could be people more interested in winning and losing than in solving common problems affecting everyone. But what is hard for us to imagine is the way out of this toxic situation. It may well be that Jesus, in his cryptic answer, provides a way forward, past the stress of that kind of conflict all the time about everything.

 “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s.”  What is really hard in our time is to find the limits of Caesar’s economy, that is, even just a bit of freedom from economic pressures that feel all consuming. Media outlets love to report on any decline in church attendance and instantly leap to the conclusion that people are losing faith in Christianity. I wish they would instead talk to real people, because, if they did, they would hear ordinary Americans say that they work more and more out of fear that if they don’t, they will fall through the cracks of our society and no one will be there to catch them. Those who have families barely have time for their own children or marriages or elder care. The pressure is unrelenting. It keeps them up at night. How do ever know you have enough in the face of an uncertain future? It is not just that good people are having trouble getting themselves to church. They are having trouble getting themselves to a lot of things they would like to do among too many demands. Caesar’s hand is as heavy and all-encompassing as it ever has been.

Jesus wanted to save his contemporaries (and us) from all of that, where what is thought to be more become less and less. His message about money is one of the most life-changing things you can learn from him. Jesus frequently spoke of costly yet surprisingly fruitful sacrifice, where less becomes more and more. This is one of the things we most need to hear from Jesus because we hear so little of it elsewhere in our time. There is so much emphasis on money, but so little wisdom about what money is for, that is, how to spend it in a way that is good for us individually and together. Think about that story of Jesus feeding the five thousand by multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish. We don’t often notice that that bread and fish belonged to somebody and Jesus asked that person to sacrifice all the food he or she had. Jesus asked that person to give because something worthwhile was going to happen because of that sacrifice. And it would be good for everyone. That person with the loaves and fish said, “Yes.” We remember the story as the feeding of the five thousand, but it could just as easily have been called, “the one about the time when Jesus ate someone’s lunch.” Although the giver had less food for the moment, seeing what happened, I imagine the pleasure was a hundred times better than eating five pieces of bread and two fish (just like Jesus said). Have you ever had the experience of giving where rationally you know you have less, but the feeling in your heart is that you, somehow, inexplicably, have more?

Many of us struggle with having either enough time or money, or both. Jesus knows that about us. It can seem so unrealistic to give either time or money or both when you feel that they are already too scarce. It is especially in those circumstances that Jesus’ notion of giving because you are caught up in something you really believe in can be hard to fathom. But lots of us have learned over and over again in precisely those circumstances that Jesus is right. For example, although it seems to make rational sense that if you hold onto every penny you have, you’ll feel like you have more money. But, chances are if you do this, you will never feel secure, no matter how much money you have. Somehow, rather miraculously, it is through giving that a sense of enough comes. If you have not tried it, test it out. Because of this truth, if we don’t ask each other to give for the good of others, we are doing each other a disservice. Giving together has the freeing effect that Jesus would have for us in our version of Caesar’s economy.  

Time is much the same way. How often do you find yourself saying, “I don’t have time for that” (even if it is something good and worthwhile, or something you truly would like to do). I often feel short of time and I am tempted to hoard it like money. But I’ve also noticed that there are sometimes where I am in the zone, and there is flow, and work is getting done and tasks are being accomplished. But there are other times where I’m putting in just as much effort, but am spinning my wheels, worrying about things, and frankly getting little done. I can’t be the only one. It is something of a mystery to me why there is flow sometimes and not others. But I do know that what I need isn’t always more time. What I need is to have the best me in the time that I have (and I don’t always have that). It is odd to me, but ministry, whatever it may be, has the power to pull me out of my own head space and helps me get out of my own way. The opportunity it gives me certainly does not save time, but it increases flow, which is what my complaints about lacking time are most about. So giving time can feel like saving time, but hoarding time means I never feel like I have any. None of this would surprise Jesus. Jesus said, “many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” These reversals are surprising and often counterintuitive to us, but not to him. He knew the deeper math of the human spirit and knew what multiplies and what subtracts.

St. Paul’s, like every other business or household in America, has a budget. Ours is a very lean and responsible budget where the exact numbers are public record open for anyone to see. Contrary to appearances, we finance the Diocese alongside other Episcopal parishes, they do not pay for anything for us. We rely entirely on annual pledging gifts from our own parishioners and their families to keep the doors open. Pledges largely go to support three things: maintenance of our beautiful church building; clergy and staff service; and for the ministries of the Diocese of Massachusetts and other ministries outside the parish that we support.

As we are putting together our 2024 budget, we do so with a hopeful eye toward what is possible here in the near future. We are excited about our historic church that embraces the old and the new, that continues to welcome all, and more and more, has something for people of all ages and varying interests. I invite you over the next few weeks to take the risk of pledging to St. Paul’s and believing Jesus that if you do, more of what you most need will come back to you blessed. People often assign numbers and percentages to Jesus’ teaching which can be helpful, but the real point is to be sure to give something and for it to be enough so that you feel it. That means that the amount will vary person to person and year to year and that is perfectly ok. If you have not pledged to St. Paul’s before and your concern is that you may not be able to fulfill your pledge if circumstances change for you, don’t worry, you can just notify us at that time and we’ll adjust. The point is to participate however you can and I hope that everyone who values this place will join in as an expression of the ownership you have of this space as your church.

The joy of giving is an essential aspect of the good news of Jesus. Embrace Jesus’ message of costly yet surprisingly fruitful sacrifice where less becomes more and more. It is a taste of freedom from the worldly economies that otherwise oppress us and so many others. The real reason we ask everyone to pledge is so that you don’t miss out on the joy that is yours in Christ Jesus. Amen.