Stamp on Our Hearts
AM Psalm 78:1-39 • PM Psalm 78: 40-72
1 Sam. 1:21 - 2:11 • Acts 1:15-26 • Luke 20:19-26
The Jewish scribes and chief priests felt the squeeze.
They had been making money in the temple; the various religious taxes and business transactions had made them a pretty penny/denarius. And along comes this young upstart who, literally and figuratively, turns the tables on them, threatening their profits and the cultural hegemony that secures their power. They want him gone. Knowing, however, that the crowds would turn on them, they cannot afford direct action. In today’s reading from Luke, we learn that a few days later the scribes and chief priests will try to lure Jesus into a church v. state trap by asking him if it is lawful or not to pay taxes to the emperor.
After some flattery, the scribes and chief priests present a dilemma to test Jesus to see if he is loyal to the Jewish understanding of religion. If Jesus answers that it is lawful to pay taxes to a pagan ruler, then he will lose credibility with the Jewish populace who resent their foreign rulers and despise paying taxes to the emperor. They would regard him as a coward and a friend of Caesar. If Jesus says it is not lawful, then the Pharisees will have grounds to report him to the Roman authorities as a political trouble-maker and face arrest.
Instead, Jesus answers a yes/no question by confronting them with the image of a coin. Coinage in the ancient world had significant political power. Rulers issued coins with their own image and inscription on them. In a certain sense, the coin was regarded as his personal property.[1] Jesus’ answer stuns his enemies into silence but fuels their resolve to eliminate him:
…Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
What point was Jesus trying to make? Well, maybe that the scribes and high priests should stop asking trick questions. But more important, we hear that we belong to God! We are made in the spiritual likeness of God; are we not born with his love stamped on our hearts? Don’t our bodies, our minds, our souls, our love — all belong to God?
Here is a prayer of Anselm of Canterbury, 1033-1109:
Lord, because you have made me, I owe you the whole of my love; because you have redeemed me, I owe you the whole of myself; because you have promised so much, I owe you all my being… I pray you, Lord, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge; let me know by love what I know by understanding. I owe you more than my whole self, but I have no more, and by myself I cannot render the whole of it to you. Draw me to you, Lord, in the fullness of love. I am wholly yours by creation; make me all yours, too, in love.
[1] Don Schwager, Daily Scripture: Readings and Meditations
Written by Bernadette Reda
Bernadette is grateful for St. Paul’s church since walking through the doors in 2004.