COMMUNITY CHURCH OF THE MONTEREY PENINSULA
P. O. BOX 222811
CARMEL CA 93922
(831) 624-8595
Rev. Paul Wrightman, Pastor
Independent and United Church of Christ
March 21, 2021
Dear Friends,
More sad news: Chuck Scardina died last Friday, March 12th. He and Dodie were married for 62 years! We will all miss his warmth, his friendly teasing, and his incredible sense of humor. If you would like to call Dodie, she has a new telephone number: 250-7610.
Tomorrow’s Board meeting will focus on reopening the church for worship and for our renters! Stay tuned for more details.
The GivingTree Benefit Shop is setting the pace for the rest of us – it is now open from 1-4 on Thursdays and Fridays.
Time is running out for submitting pictures for our new website. Please email as attachments to me your favorite photos of our people and our grounds: paulccmp@yahoo.com.
Always remember that Jesus IS Emmanuel – God WITH Us!
Pastor Paul
WORSHIP SERVICE FOR MARCH 21, 2021
INTRODUCTORY READING – A MEDLEY OF READINGS ON COMMITMENT
(Specifically, commitment to CHRIST):
The words he spoke, the deeds he performed, the demands he raised confronted people with a final decision. Jesus left no one neutral. He Himself had become the great question. –Hans Kung
The most sovereign act of an independent person is to give the one thing he owns – himself. Then God gives the most precious thing He owns – Himself. Then we are filled with the Holy Spirit. –E. Stanley Jones
. . .the self is not lost when it is surrendered to Christ. It is lost in a higher will, redeemed from a self-centered will, and found again in obedience to that higher will. So it all ends in self-affirmation. The self is not cancelled – it is heightened.
--E. Stanley Jones
He [Jesus] provoked a final decision, but not a yes or no to a particular title, to a particular dignity, a particular office, or even to a particular dogma, rite or law. His message and community raised the question of the aim and purpose to which a man will ultimately direct his life. Jesus demanded a final decision for God’s cause and man’s. –Hans Kung
The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing is to hand over your whole self – all your wishes and precautions – to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call ‘ourselves,’ to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time to be ‘good.’ We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way – centered on money or pleasure or ambition – and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do. As He said, a thistle cannot produce figs. If I am a field that contains nothing but grass-seed, I cannot produce wheat. . . If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper than the surface. I must be ploughed up and re-sown.
--C. S. Lewis
SUGGESTED MUSIC: I Would Be True – SVA at Andrews Choir Fest 2016
Jeffry Vergara You Tube
OPENING PRAYER Ted Loder, Contemporary
Loving God,
empower me
to be a bold participant,
rather than a timid saint in waiting,
in the difficult ordinariness of now:
to exercise the authority of honesty,
rather than to defer to power,
or deceive to get it;
to influence someone for justice,
rather than impress anyone for gain;
and, by grace, to find treasures
of joy, of friendship, of peace
hidden in the fields of the daily
you give me to plow.
Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING: Mark 12:13-17
Then they [the chief priests] sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said. And they came and said to him, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not? But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, ‘Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it. And they brought one. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ And they were utterly amazed at him.
SERMON: GETTING OUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT
Rev. Paul Wrightman
(The underlining indicates what I would emphasize if delivered orally.)
I chose this particular Scripture text for today since we are rapidly approaching Holy Week – the last week in Jesus’ life. The incident described takes place during this week – between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Our reading raises a crucial question for contemporary Christians in America: Which comes first, our commitment to Christ or our commitment to the nation and those who govern it?
Today’s text shows us Jesus being challenged by two very unlikely allies: the Pharisees and the Herodians.
These two improbable confederates had already joined forces against Jesus near the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, when Jesus had performed a public healing on the Sabbath in a synagogue. Infuriated, we are told in Mark 3:6 that “The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.”
We know who the Pharisees are – a group striving to revive Israel through the strict observance of thousands of oral regulations in addition to the 613 written commandments found in the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures.
But who were the Herodians? Their name betrays their identity. They were supporters of the various dynasties associated with King Herod the Great. After King Herod’s death, his kingdom was divided among three of his sons, whom the king’s followers continued to support.
The Herodians were wealthy aristocrats, part of the “one percent” of their day, who lived in Jerusalem, but who collaborated with Rome in order to keep their privileged place in society.
Under normal circumstances, the Pharisees despised the Herodians, because they, the Pharisees, were “spiritual,” and looked for the independence of Israel, while the Herodians were crassly materialistic, and wanted Israel to remain a Roman province indefinitely.
So what we see happening here is that two groups that are normally extremely hostile toward each other, join forces against Jesus, whom both groups perceive as much worse than their “normal” enemy.
Jesus was ushering in a kingdom – a kingdom of God, no less – that neither the Pharisees nor the Herodians wanted. For the Pharisees, Jesus was a mortal threat to their thousands upon thousands of rules and regulations. For the Herodians, Jesus was a mortal threat to their privileged way of life. For both these groups, Jesus must be stopped at all costs.
We know from the immediate context of our Scripture reading that the “they” who is sending the Pharisees and Herodians to question Jesus is the “they” of the chief priests, scribes (loosely equivalent to our lawyers), and elders (loosely equivalent to our high court justices).
The day before, Jesus had stormed through the Temple, overturning the tables of the money-changers, and stampeding the sacrificial animals that were for sale in the Court of the Gentiles.
This Jesus had to be taken out, so the chief priests, lead lawyers, and highest judges of the land joined forces against him.
They had concocted a brilliant “yes” or “no” question which they felt was absolutely sure to trap him no matter which way he answered.
So after a double-dose of flattery, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth” (v.14) -- this is nothing but mock praise to them, but, ironically, is a beautiful description of the way things actually are with Jesus --
So after a double-dose of flattery, they present their deadly question to Jesus: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor, or not?”
They consider their question deadly because Jesus dramatically loses either way he answers.
If he answers “Yes, it is lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor,” then he will immediately lose the support of the masses of “common people” who follow him, and consider him to anti-establishment, anti-all-establishments: the corrupt Temple priesthood, the corrupt Scribes and Pharisees, the corrupt Sadducees and Herodians, and the corrupt rule of Rome itself.
If Jesus answers “No, it is not lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor,” then the religious establishment has all the witnesses it needs to accuse him of sedition against the authority of Rome – against the authority of great Caesar himself – and all the witnesses it needs to bring him before the Roman governor Pilate, and make the charges stick.
Either way, it looks like Jesus is done for: either he will lose his popular support, or he will lose his life for opposing Caesar.
Place yourself there. Imagine that the Pharisees and Herodians have just asked Jesus this question. There is palpable silence as the crowd surrounding Jesus holds its breath wondering what he will answer.
Imagine the impatient, anticipatory silence from those who posed the question, hardly able to contain themselves in their eagerness to hear which of the two answers Jesus will impale himself on.
As is often the case when Jesus appears to be trapped, he does something surprising that catches his opponents off-guard. In this case he asks for a denarius, the small silver coin which was the only acceptable form of payment for taxes due to Rome.
In his commentary on the book of Mark, Scripture scholar N. T. Wright states: “I have on my desk one of the tribute-[coins] from the reign of Tiberius Caesar. It is almost certainly the type that features in this story. It is about the size of my thumbnail, and you can make out the writing quite clearly – and the imperial head of Tiberius. You don’t have to look at it for too long to see that this conversation wasn’t simply about taxation policy.”
Wright goes on to describe the coin: “On one side, the image of Emperor Tiberius, staring coldly out at the world. Circling around the head are the Latin words: ‘Augustus Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus.” On the other side are the words, again describing the Emperor: ‘Son of God;’ ‘high priest.’
Jewish people were forbidden to make images of God, much less carry on their person an image of a pagan god.
Jesus obviously carries on himself no such coin.
The fact that his opponents are quick to produce one – undoubtedly carried by one of the Herodians, who were in league with Rome -- must have triggered raucous laughter on the part of the supporters surrounding Jesus. His opponents were found out in their hyprocrisy. It was obvious from their carrying the coin that they already intended to pay the tax. Their question to Jesus was shown up for what it was – merely a trick question to get Jesus in trouble.
Nevertheless Jesus was still faced with the question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor, or not?”
Jesus asks them: “Whose head is this, and whose title?”
His opponents are forced to answer: “The Emperor’s.”
Jesus then gives his famous answer: “Give to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Notice that Jesus is not setting up a complementarity, or parallel, between the Emperor, whom Jesus would consider to be a false, and between the true God.
His saying “Give to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor’s,” is Jesus’ way of saying “Send this idolatrous piece of coinage back to where it came from;” or as Wright says in his commentary, linking Jesus’ response to a game of tennis: “He is hitting the ball back over the net at twice the speed it came.”
Jesus is clearly setting up an opposition between the false god of the Roman Emperor, and the true God of Israel.
He is challenging those who asked the question and the crowd that overhears the question and his answer – a crowd which includes us – to state where their true allegiance, their true commitment, lies: with Caesar or with God?
This Scripture text has often been abused. And it should be noted that it can only be abused by taking Jesus out of his Jewish context, a context which is of crucial importance for any true understanding of him.
It is obvious how any devout Jewish person would react to this Roman coin proclaiming Caesar to be divine and Son of God: any devout Jewish person would have shielded his or her eyes from even looking at such a coin. Caesar and God were unalterably opposed.
How tragic, then, that this was one of the main texts used by the Lutheran Reformation to set up a theology of “two kingdoms.” Painted in broad brush strokes, the two kingdoms were the heavenly kingdom, or kingdom of God, and the earthly kingdom, or the kingdom of the state.
According to two kingdom theology, as a member of the kingdom of God, one is obliged to obey God in all things spiritual. As a member of the kingdom of the state, one is obligated to obey the state and its representatives in all things pertaining to the governance of human life.
These two kingdoms are precisely that, two separate and independent kingdoms, each having sovereign rule, but sovereign rule limited to its own sphere.
To be sure, God is said to have invested the kingdom of the state with its authority, but much like the “watchmaker God” of seventeenth century deism, who wound up the world and then left it to run on its own, in two kingdom theology, God allows the kingdom of the state to run on its own as well.
Two kingdom theology proved its bankruptcy in the debacle of Nazism, where the lack of any substantive critique of the state by the church encouraged the rise of the deadliest and most god-forsaken regime that ever walked the face of the earth.
Judaism and Christianity at their best have always seen God as sovereign over everything – that “everything” very much including the state.
To be sure, all people of faith have an obligation to be responsible citizens, but if there is ever a conflict between the demands of the state and the law of God, the law of God always takes priority.
Because the state makes sure that certain unpleasant consequences happen if we fail to give it its due – the state usually gets its due. In terms of today’s Scripture reading, the Emperor usually gets what is his.
However, are we nearly as responsible in terms of the other half of the equation? Does God receive from us all the things that are God’s?
To be blunt about it:
Does God get some real prayer time with us every day?
Do we consistently speak the truth to power?
If push comes to shove and we have to make a choice between Christ and all contemporary versions of “Caesar” do we consistently choose Christ?
Do we search God’s word in Scripture for guidance?
Do we give generously in support of God’s work?
Are we growing in grace and in love, gradually becoming truer and truer reflections of the image of God that each of us has been created to be?
May these words from St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians become true for each of us:
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure, filled to the brim with all the fullness of God.”
(Ephesians 3:16-19)
Amen.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
What do you see as the common theme in all the readings on commitment to Christ?
If you could change one thing about modern Christianity, what would it be?
The religious leaders in Jerusalem considered Jesus a threat. Have you ever felt Jesus was a threat to you? Why?
How does being a Christian go against the grain of contemporary American culture and politics?
CLOSING PRAYER Judy Chicago, Contemporary
And then all that had divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then no person will be subject to another
And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many
And then all will share equally in the Earth’s abundance
And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old
And then all will nourish the young
And then all will cherish life’s creatures
And then all will live in harmony with each other and the Earth
And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.
Amen.
SUGGESTED MUSIC: Called as partners in Christ’s service
St. Andrews Owen Sound You Tube
BENEDICTION
Patiently and persistently, God loves.
Relentlessly and unconditionally, God loves.
Now and forever, God loves.
AMEN