15<\/sup> Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a016<\/sup> So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, „Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a017<\/sup> Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?“<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a018<\/sup> But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, „Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a019<\/sup> Show me the coin used for the tax.“ And they brought him a denarius.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a020<\/sup> Then he said to them, „Whose head is this, and whose title?“<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a021<\/sup> They answered, „The emperor’s.“ Then he said to them, „Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.“<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a022<\/sup> When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away. (Mat 22:15-22 NRSV)<\/em><\/p>\n Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n I recently heard a radio ad for someone running for office.\u00a0 They said, and I paraphrase, \u201cI won\u2019t go to Washington to do the Republican or Democrat thing, but to do the South Carolina thing.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry, but that\u2019s just a lie, and we all know it.\u00a0 While our elected representatives from both sides of the aisle do indeed do things for our state, we all know that once they get to Washington they fall in line with their party pretty quick.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We have become so divided that many of the bills going through either the house or the senate are pure party-line vote.\u00a0 Party has become more important than the people that they represent.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that is specific to any of the political platforms either, I think it happens with every representative from every district from every state.\u00a0 The division makes me tired.\u00a0 Statements like I heard on the radio make me want to turn off the radio.\u00a0 I see the commercials on the TV and I want to turn off the TV.\u00a0 I see the signs and the billboards, and I pray for the day it\u2019s over.\u00a0 Sadly, it\u2019s almost as if we are in a constant state of political campaigning though.\u00a0 Which makes me beg the question:\u00a0 \u201cWhere is God in all this?\u201d<\/p>\n In our Gospel today we see a people that are also focused on politics.\u00a0 The Pharisees, like it or not, are a political party.\u00a0 They are a social movement focused on adherence to the law.\u00a0 And then our gospel lesson mentions the Herodians, another political party.\u00a0 They were supporters of King Herod, and supported his kingship and ruling.\u00a0 But take note that he was king under an occupied Jerusalem, so the argument could be made that by supporting King Herod, they also supported Rome.\u00a0 So where was God in the midst of this clash between politics and Jesus?\u00a0 I think the answer is the same then as it is today:\u00a0 right where he needs to be, in the midst of it all.\u00a0 It is no surprise that these politically driven people want to entrap Jesus.\u00a0 They live in that divide that they have created between God and the Emperor.\u00a0 But that divide is simply a materialistic divide of their own creation.\u00a0 They don\u2019t realize that God is not bound by a humanly created divide.\u00a0 They have created laws that bind humans, in this case a law of taxes.\u00a0 This question they ask in nothing more in their minds than a \u201ccatch 22\u201d.\u00a0 They think that Jesus will give an answer that is either treasonous to the Emperor or offensive to the Jews.\u00a0 But Jesus easily sees through the divide.\u00a0 As the Son of God, he is able to give an answer that not only answers their question in a way in which they weren\u2019t expecting, but also in a way that made them think deeper about their own question.\u00a0 You see, that coin is the emperors.\u00a0 It has his image on it, he had it made, he has authorized its use.\u00a0 But the knowledge to make it, the skills to make it, the people that made it, the material used to make it, even the emperor himself, is from God.\u00a0 God created mankind in his image, so even looking at the coin, we see the work of God in the world.\u00a0 Jesus answer makes the political elite leave in amazement because he shows them the truth that their political adherences cannot.\u00a0 And what is that truth?\u00a0 That everything is from God.\u00a0 All knowledge, gifts, abilities, and possessions are gifts from God.<\/p>\n We pray in our offertory prayer:\u00a0 \u201cWe offer with joy and thanksgiving what you have first given us \u2013 our selves, our time, and our possessions, signs of your gracious love.\u201d\u00a0 As Christians we give back to God the things that God has first given us.\u00a0 We give to the church, the poor, the oppressed, the sick, and those in need.\u00a0 And when we aren\u2019t able to help as individuals, we give as a group.\u00a0 Giving to the emperor is an unfortunate side of life, as we too have taxes that we have to pay.\u00a0 But giving to God is a blessing in our lives, because as recipients of God\u2019s amazing gifts we are enabled to give gifts of love and grace, not because of some human law that tries to divide, but because of a God that bridges the divide for the sake of the world.\u00a0 Do we still have to pay our taxes?\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 But that is not where our joy is found.\u00a0 For as called children of God our joy is found in God and the ability to give back to God the things that he has so graciously given us to begin with.\u00a0 So as you give, remember to give with joy and thanksgiving, for God provides in ways that like the political parties of Jesus\u2019 day, will make you leave in amazement.\u00a0 In the name of the Father, and the +Son, and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A sermon on Matthew 22:15-22 | by\u00a0 the Rev. Dr. Judson F Merrell, STS | 15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. \u00a016 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, „Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,157,108,110,235,566,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-3519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-matthaeus","category-beitragende","category-current","category-engl","category-judson-f-merrell","category-kapitel-22-chapter-22-matthaeus","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3520,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3519\/revisions\/3520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3519"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=3519"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=3519"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=3519"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=3519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}