29th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Cycle A 22-23

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 45:1, 4-6 | 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5b | Matthew 22:15-21

Almighty, everliving God, grant that we may always conform our wills to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever, amen.

Jesus was a major problem for the Pharisees for he spoke truth, and they were caught in a way of being, a way of thinking, a way of teaching that was so foreign from what they should have been. And it’s interesting that God uses this situation so often in our life. We see something that’s really way off, way destructive, and when it should be instructive and helpful, to point out the problem when you see it, is a way of saying, “Look, you don’t want to become like that.” So bad times are often the richest times to change and to grow, and it was a bad time for the temple. The temple was anything that it should have been. It had lost its heart, its soul, its essence. It became no different than the Roman empire, in a sense, because we see in this story the Pharisees trying to trip Jesus up by asking him to choose two extremes, take sides on these issues of tax, whether it’s fair to do it or not, whether it’s right to do it or not. So he just says, “Look, this is not the issue. You give to Caesar what’s Caesar’s. You do what you have to do in terms of civil law, and then you give to God what is God’s.” And the Pharisees were amazed at his response, but the thing that’s interesting, that he did avoid joining one extreme or the other. But the other thing is they didn’t fully understand when he said, “You know what the problem with you guys is? You’re not doing what God wants. You’re not giving to God what he’s asking you for.” And the tragedy is what he was asking for, what God was asking of those people that ran the temple, that they would simply allow God to be a part of it, they would let divinity and its wisdom to enter into them so they would be guided to do the right thing.

So let’s look at the other two readings, because they seem to stress this beautifully. First of all, in the reading with Isaiah, Cyrus is not an Israelite. The Lord had always a problem looking for kings that would do what he asked, and when we look at the way God works with people, there are two things that we need to understand, that when God exercises his authority with us, it is in two forms: being chosen and being anointed. The civil authority, which the temple had become, was simply the authority that had the power to demand blind obedience ⎯ blind obedience. So let’s look at the way in which Isaiah describes to the people that the reason Cyrus was chosen, even though he wasn’t an Israelite, was because God used him by empowering him to do what needed to be done, because he couldn’t find an Israelite who would do that. And he gave Cyrus all the power that he needed to accomplish it. He opened all the doors for him, left gates unbarred, enabled him to do exactly what God asked him to do. And then Isaiah makes it clear that that’s exactly the way God works. He chooses us because ⎯ in fact, I love the image in scripture where God says, “I chose you before you chose me.” And to be chosen means you’re called into a relationship with him where you work together with him, not you for him but you in him, him in you. So he’s saying very clearly that there is no one like me, no one like God. No authority like God has ever existed, because his authority is radically different than that of the world, one, power over people, another to empower them.

So we see in the second reading, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, they’re sending a letter to the Thessalonians saying, “You’ve got it. You’ve figured it out. You have been empowered by God to do something wonderful, and so we pray with you. We pray for you. We are with you, because you understand the authority of God.” The authority of God is to give you a task, to empower you to do it, and to let you know that this is not something that you are asked to do for God, but he’s saying, “Would you allow me to come into you and work with you, guide you and be the source of the things you need?” Power is intoxicating to a human being. The ego, the will, they love, love power. Power over people is something that is addictive, and like all addictions, it takes over and runs your life. The power that we have, as ministers of the gospel, is not that kind of power. No, it’s the power to awaken in people who God really is, how powerful he is. He can accomplish anything. If he asks you to do something ⎯ and he does ask all of us to do something. We have a destiny. He empowers us to do it by being a part of that so that we have this thing, this wonderful thing that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are acknowledging in the Thessalonians, a conviction of the power of the Holy Spirit working through them. What a difference it is to live under that kind of power. There’s actually no ⎯ well, it is under, I guess, under the authority of God, but it’s not something that demands blind obedience.

Where this comes so much into my attention is when I look at the way in which sometimes the church gives us demands and demands that we do certain things in a certain way, and yet they may not really fit the situation. So what I love teaching and being a part of is proclaiming the beauty of this law of God that he swears will be written on our hearts, and when it comes to making moral decisions, we have this power, this Spirit within us that informs us. And when we have an inspired understanding, an inspired conscience, we make the decision that we believe that we make in God is going to be the best possible thing, and no law can cover that kind of situation. So it’s more than taxes we’re talking about here. It’s a different kind of legal system. The interesting thing is Jesus is pointing out to the scribes and Pharisees that, “You have created more like ⎯ you’ve created the church more like the Roman empire, power over people, telling them what to do.” It’s never intended to be that, and there’s always a danger that anyone in a position of power ⎯ in the church, it’s no different. They have to be careful not to make it something that it’s not intended to be. It’s not power over. It’s empowering. It’s love.

Father, I pray for all of those who are called to minister this beautiful message of God, the gospel, the good news. Free us all from any kind of excessive power over people. Help us always to be attentive to how you long for us to awaken in them the true authority that dwells in their hearts, and we ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.