Church of the Holy City

God and Man

God and Man
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
October 19, 2014

Isaiah 45:1-7 Matthew 22:15-22 Psalm 96

Today’s readings concern the relationship between God and humans. And in particular, between God and man. Jesus’ words carry the full implications of this relationship, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and render unto God the things that are God’s.” There is so much contained in this statement that it could exhaust many sermons. I will try to unpack some of this statement this Sunday.
The relationship between God and man in our Isaiah reading is between God and Cyrus, the king of Persia. Cyrus emerged onto the world scene when the Israelites were captives in Babylon. Cyrus conquered Babylon and liberated the Israelites. He allowed them to return home and rebuild the temple. But even as God announces that He would subdue nations before Cyrus, God also says very clearly, “I will strengthen you” (Isaiah 45:5). God is clear that Cyrus’ power comes not from the might of the king, but from God. Then just a little further in the text, Isaiah goes on to preach a sermon saying that there is no other God besides Yahweh, or Jehovah as the King James Bible translates His name.
I am Yahweh, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God. . . .
I am Yahweh, and there is no other.
I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, Yahweh, do these things (Isaiah 45:5, 6-7).
So although Cyrus was invincible, and although all the kingdoms in the Near East fell before him, Cyrus was still a man. From the point of view of Israel, it was God who gave Cyrus his power. Furthermore, in this rather late development in Israelites thought, Isaiah says that there are no other gods. There is only Yahweh–”apart from me there is no God.” There are suggestions that earlier in Israelite history there may have been an idea of a pantheon of gods, of which Yahweh was king. Psalm 29:1 says, “Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,/ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.” These heavenly beings may have been lesser gods in a Hebrew pantheon. And in Genesis 1:26 God creates humans in the image and likeness of God. However, the Hebrew is in the plural. It is not God in the singular who does the creating. So Genesis 1:26 reads, “Let us make man in our image.” But Isaiah 45 makes clear, if there may have been earlier doubt, that there is only One God–”Apart from me there is no God.” I don’t know much about Persian mythology, so I can’t say whether Persians thought that Cyrus was a divine-king, a god-man. I do know that they had such an idea in their mythology. When Alexander came back from Persia, he adopted their beliefs and called himself a god. So it is possible that Cyrus was thought a god. But Isaiah makes clear that from an Israelite point of view, Cyrus is still a man. All his seemingly divine power was given him by the one and only God, Yahweh.
We encounter a similar dynamic in our story from Matthew. In this case, I am more certain. In the time of Jesus, Caesar thought himself to be a god. It was this idea that gave the Pharisees their ammunition to try to trap Jesus. They even bring representatives from the local ruler, Herod, with them. They indirectly challenge Jesus as to whether He thought Caesar was a god. They ask Jesus, “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (Matthew 22:17). Some Christians and Jews refused to pay taxes because Caesar’s image was on the coins. They thought that paying taxes to Caesar was admitting that Caesar was a god. They thought that paying taxes was a form of idolatry. Jesus shows His divine Wisdom in His answer. He even begins by asking whose image is on the coin. His questioners say, “Caesar’s.” Jesus then brings the issue to its basics. The coin is Caesar’s–give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. He then adds to give to God what is God’s. Paying taxes is a civil duty, not idolatry.
With that one statement, Jesus captures the challenge of living in this dual world. For we live in God’s world, and we live in Caesar’s world. We need to give our attention to both. We need to position ourselves to succeed in this world, perhaps even to thrive in this world. And yet we need to reserve our highest concern for the demands of God. So we are neither to forget God when we make plans in this world, nor are we to forget the world when we turn to God.
The Catholic hierarchy turn radically from this world. They give up the world and live in convents and monasteries. Or they take a vow of poverty and give up family to live as priests. As a Protestant, Swedenborg would say that this is sacrificing the demands of Caesar for only God. And as a Protestant Church, we encourage people to live in the world. For it is in the world that we are able to do good to our neighbor. By paying our dues to the world, by positioning ourselves to succeed in the world, we are able to be of service to our fellows.
I recall when I was younger that I had a kind of contempt for the world. My head was in the clouds and my feet weren’t planted firmly in the world. When I did something good, I tried not to take credit for it. And being a good Swedenborgian, I kept my good deeds to myself, not broadcasting them to others. I did this to the point that one person in the church complained to the school administration that I wasn’t doing anything and the church was sinking good money into me in the form of scholarships for my divinity education. So in the middle of the school year, when I was buried in my school work, the faculty had me write a letter to this anonymous individual detailing all that I had been doing, which was considerable. The anonymous individual–and to this day I don’t know who they were as that was kept from me–the anonymous individual said that she didn’t know I was doing all that. My faculty said that maybe I needed to run around waving a flag whenever I did things for the church.
I was angry at all this. I had grown up thinking that good was to be done without taking credit for it. This is true. That is how a person renders to God what is God’s. But then there is Caesar. When we are in a subordinate position, Caesar demands that we let our supervisors know our merits as an employee. This brings to mind another story from my early manhood. When I was applying to Harvard, I had to write a 5,000 word essay about myself. In effect, this was a document selling myself to the admissions committee. At this point, I knew that I needed to pull out all the stops. I very eloquently narrated my sterling qualities, my worldly and extra-curricular experiences, and my academic brilliance. This document was a testament to my brilliance and uniqueness. When my younger brother read it, he said that I was saying how great I was. I explained to him that this document was not the place for false modesty. It was the purpose of such a document to let the admissions committee know all the qualities that would make me a fitting student at Harvard. To my extreme relief and delight, my document worked. The case is similar for job applications and résumés. The purpose of these documents is to put forth all your positive qualities so that a potential employer knows you are the best person for the position. All this is rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. These are some of the ways we position ourselves to be effective in the world. For even in the Lord’s Prayer we say, “On earth, as it is in heaven.”
But in all this self-promotion, we dare not lose sight of God. We are doing this all in order to be in a strong position to serve in the world. We are serving God in all this. It is a delicate balance indeed to remain in the world and not forget our Maker. The temptation is to get lost in the world. To take ourselves too seriously and our worldly success to importantly. Success and self-promotion can become ends in themselves. We can think only of what benefits self, of who worships us as a god, and how successful we will appear in the eyes of others. Should this happen, then we do not render to God what is God’s. For if we succeed, it is because God strengthened us and caused our plans to succeed. God says in Isaiah, “I bring prosperity and create disaster” (45:7). And if we get lost in the world, we forget why we set out to position ourselves to begin with, which is to be of service.
When we render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s, then heaven descends to earth. Then we are a walking church, bringing God into our lives and into the world around us. Then things truly are, “On earth as they are in heaven.”

PRAYER

God, you reign in the heavens above. And you reign in this material world. And you have created us humans to live in both worlds. For it is in this material world that we do good services to our neighbor. And it is through the heavens above that we are inspired with the love for doing good. This morning we pray for you to grant us favorable opportunities in this world to serve. We pray for good work, for prosperous leisure activities, and the means for success in this material world. And as we pray for the good things of this world, we pray likewise for the eternal gifts of love and wisdom that come from you through heaven. May we seek the good things in this life for the sake of you and your kingdom. May we bring heaven to earth, and play our own small part in the descent of the Holy City.

And Lord, we pray for the sick. May they experience the power of your healing love. Fill them with the grace of your healing power. Comfort their family and friends. We pray for the grace of your healing power for all who are ailing in body or soul.