“Worship Wars”

Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

October 22, 2023

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Matthew 22:15-22

Children’s Message:

Today, we heard how grateful Paul is for a congregation that he started. He talked about how they showed love and faith and hope in their work. And how their actions showed others who God is.

So first, I want to tell you how grateful I am for you. You show up on Sundays, and I hear you praying and singing, and that gives me so much joy. You share your faith and learn about God in Sunday School. I hear stories about how you are kind to people at school. And even when you struggle with siblings or classmates, you don’t forget how much God loves you—and how much God loves them. I don’t say it often enough, but I am so proud of each of you.

I have blank thank you cards here, and I’m going to give you each a few. There are markers and crayons at the back tables of the church. I would love it if you could share what you are thankful for about this congregation, about God, about your family. You can put it in the offering plate during communion because it is an offering—a gift. And next week, I’ll be sure to share your masterpieces and words of gratitude in worship on the screens.

Let’s pray. Thank you, God, for me, for my church, for my family and friends. Help me show my thanks. Amen.

Message:

There is a trend in our country that churches lean toward being either Jesus-centered or Justice-centered. The problem is that Jesus centered churches don’t understand that Jesus was all about justice. He ministered to the marginalized, proclaimed release to the captive, and pushed against systems of injustice.

On the other hand, Justice-centered churches often forget to show their work. When Christians stand for justice, they don’t always show how their commitment to justice comes from a commitment to Jesus.

So the challenge for every Christian congregation is this: How does our worship of God show forth in our service of neighbor? And how does our service of neighbor proclaim the God we worship?

In today’s gospel, Jesus is back in the temple, and things are heating up. The day before, he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to the cries of “Hosanna!” He went to the temple where he accused the money-changers and those selling sacrificial animals of corrupt practices. He returns the next day, only to have his authority tested by the chief priests and elders. In response, Jesus tells three very provocative parables that convict and inflame the leaders and send them searching for a way to trap him with his words.

The Pharisees send their disciples, along with some Herodians, to set the trap. You see, the Pharisees are religious leaders, beholden to Temple rules and the Laws of the Torah. And the Herodians are minions of Herod, a puppet king allowed to stay on the throne as long as he serves Rome.

The question on the table is this: Is it lawful for a Jew to pay taxes to Caesar? If Jesus says ‘yes,’ then the Pharisees can arrest him for blasphemy, honoring a man who claims to be God. If he says ‘no,’ the Herodians can have him arrested for tax evasion, subversion, and even rebellion. Either way, Jesus loses.

But Jesus turns the tables—again. He has them bring forth a Roman coin, and asks, “Whose image is this?” It’s Caesar’s. And what is the engraving? It identifies Caesar as divine—as a god. And at this point, the group of testers is already convicted by the Law of Torah. They know they’re in trouble. But Jesus puts the final touch on it. “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

But what does that mean? THAT’S the question! You see, they should all know well their Torah—where Psalm 24 begins, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.” And their ears would prick up at Jesus’ use of the term ‘image’ or ‘icon’: “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.” And they would have to grapple with all of that. What belongs to God? What belongs to Caesar?

Or perhaps, better put, Jesus asks, “Whom do you worship? And how does that look?”

Jesus forces both the Pharisees and Herodians to struggle with the reality that neither the political forces of the nation nor and the church are worthy of our worship. That the structures and the ways in which the structures are maintained are human creations. That money is a human standard, deemed necessary by society in order to live—a standard whose value fluctuates on the whims of those in power.

But people are created by God. Our value is always fully realized in God’s love and compassion. We are not meant to be exchanged or used for goods and services. We are not property. We are not commodities. Made in the image of God, we are created to worship and serve God because God loves us and we love God. This means that even Caesar belongs to God and is subject to God. Caesar is NOT God. Kings and presidents are NOT God. Nations and states are NOT God. (Sports teams are not God.)

Whom do you worship, and how does that look?

When Jesus addresses his accusers, he calls them hypocrites. Hypocrite, in Greek, refers to someone who wears a mask to cover their true identity. It’s a false image—a false likeness. They have forgotten who they are, and whose they are. They no longer live as ones who worship and follow the God who created them, the God in whose image they were made.

In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, one of the things he praises them for is their willingness and ability to be imitators of the apostles and of the Lord. This isn’t a backhanded way of complimenting himself. It’s a statement of how we are to live and how to pass along the faith of the gospel. We teach faith by modeling faith. We teach love by modeling love. We teach generosity by modeling generosity. We teach neighborly love by serving our neighbor in how we act, the decisions we make, and who we put in leadership. We teach justice by modeling justice and seeking just systems. We teach about Jesus by modeling and following Jesus.

Jesus’ point was so much bigger than whether or not one pays taxes. He wanted to know to whom we look for salvation. To whom do we look when things get rough? With do we trust with lives? Whom do we worship? Caesar, or God? The government or Jesus? Our lives belong to God. That’s the legacy we want our kids to know and learn. That’s what Jesus wants us to teach the generations that come after us.

Life isn’t about money or privilege or status or power—no matter what our society tries to tell us. It isn’t about who deserves what or who has more. Life is about living out the image of God that is stamped on the heart of each of us—the image that shines forth from our faces, our bodies, our actions. That is how we worship God. That is the legacy we want to leave.

Pastor Tobi White

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

Lincoln, NE