October 16, 2011

Give it to God

Matthew 22:15-22

Do you ever feel you are being pulled in too many directions at once? As kids we want the full attention of both mom and dad, any grandparent who happens to be visiting, and the neighbor kid talking to your sister.

Your spouse or your partner wants all your attention. So does your boss. So does the backlog of e-mail and text messages. The TV is screaming for your attention, along with bill boards, radio ads, and computer pop up messages.

And it is not just your attention the world is after. Everyone also wants your money. "Give me this," "buy me that," "I need money for.." "You deserve. . . ."

So in the end, who gets the time?

Who gets the attention?

Who gets the money?

Who gets the loyalty?

The question boils down to - Who gets me?

To whom do I belong?

In this morning's Gospel reading Jesus talks of giving everything back to the one to whom it belongs. He was asked about taxes, but those asking the questions have an ulterior motive. They don't really care how he answers, because this is one of those no win questions and they have set the trap for Jesus. If he says "yes" to the tax, he will anger those who oppose and struggle against submission to Rome. If he says "no" to the tax, he will be subject to a charge of treason.

So in typical Jesus fashion, he answers a more important question that they did not have the insight to ask.

Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

But give to God what belongs to God.

Caesar's own image was on the coin. The money belonged to Caesar. It was a mark of ownership. Young cattle are branded to designate ownership. Product names are trademarked.

All indicate ownership. But marks of ownership also indicate who will eventually receive the benefit, who will profit, from the item in the end.

As humans, we are created in God's image. As Christians we aremarked with the cross of Christ in baptism. We are marked as "child of God." Our lives belong to God and all that we do with what we are should be to God's profit.

I read a story last week about the baptism of the Gauls. (Mark Allan Powell begins his introduction to Giving to God: The Bible's Good News about Living a Generous Life with this story.)

It may not be historically factual and may in fact be an ancient urban legend, but none the less...

The Gauls were a warlike people. They spoke a Celtic language and were Druidic by religion. By the time of the Christian era they had been conquered by the Roman Empire and were supposedly under its control. The extent of this control varied, however, for the Gauls never did take too well to being conquered and there were numerous Gallic uprisings.

Christian missionaries ventured into Gallic territory and, over time, many of the Gauls became Christians. As the story goes, when a converted warrior was baptized in a river or stream, he would hold one arm high in the air as the missionary dunked him under the water. This seemed a peculiar custom and the missionaries soon learned the reason for it. When the next battle or skirmish broke out, the warlike Gaul could proclaim "This arm is not baptized!", grab up his club or sword or ax, and ride off to destroy his enemy in a most unchristian manner.

The image is so compelling: the picture of someone trying to keep one part of their body, one aspect of their identity, free from the influence of baptism. [pp. xi-xii]

God you can have all of me except...

Except what? What part of our lives do we try to withhold from God's control?

Jesus says- Give to God, what is God's.