Who belongs to God: 20th after pentecost a

I also reference the first reading: Isaiah 45:1-7.

El santo evangelio según San Mateo (22:15-22)

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went

and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said.

      ¹⁶So 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.

                        ¹⁷Tell us, then, what you think.

                              Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor,

                                    or not?”

¹⁸But Jesus,

      aware of their malice, said,

            “Why are you putting me to the test,

                  you hypocrites?

            ¹⁹Show me the coin used for the tax.”

And they brought him a denarius.

²⁰Then Jesus said to them,

      “Whose image is this, and whose title?”

²¹They answered,

      “The emperor’s.”

Then Jesus said to them,

      “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s,

            and to God the things that are God’s.”

      ²²When they heard this,

            they were amazed;

            and they left Jesus

            and went away.

El evangelio del Señor.

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you

see your face.

you

see a flaw.

how.  if you are the

only one who has

this face.

–     the beauty

construct

(Nayyirah Waheed)

There are images all around us every day.  Images of violence, of pain, of joy, of anger.  Images of jobs and vocations, service, relationships, and estrangement.  Images of power and privilege, of isolation and marginalization.

These diverse images are on our money, too.  An image of a man of power: Washington, Hamilton, Franklin—soon Harriet Tubman, an image of freedom and resistance to oppression.  An eagle – an image for this country, with a head pointing toward the olive branch of peace and away from the arrows of war. 

A pyramid image of endurance, withstanding the test of time, with the Eye of Providence, or is it the eye of God? Claiming God’s presence and blessing, perhaps, though other countries also make that claim.  A new order, this great seal declares.  At the top, the united states of america.  Below that, on the back, the phrase “in god we trust.”  And those are just a few, easily spotted on this one, old bill. 

Images are all around us and even on us.  Images that seem perfect and images so full of what we call flaws: lines of wrinkles from laughter, worry, and surprise trace across our faces; scars from illness or injury; marks we try to cover up or choose to create as art; marks from violence that we hide from others, struggling to seek help or a way out.  All over our bodies, we carry images.

But there is one image more precious and more powerful than the rest.  An image that challenges our assumptions when seen on others whom we might call “interesting” or “different.”  An image that brings comfort when we cannot find the good in our own selves.

Jesus asks, “whose image…whose title?”  and it is “the emperor’s.”  When the image is marked “for the Empire,” then it is for the Empire.  When the image is marked for God, then for God.

But “in the beginning when God went about creating the heavens and the earth andthe earth was a formless void…God created humanity in the divine image.  In the image of God humanity wascreated”—in all our diversity.

Certain images may be marked on money and things, but the everlasting image of the Divine is marked on all of creation and on all of us created beings.  And that makes a difference.  We are made in the image of God.  Together with all of the ways we are unique, we belong to God—the God who calls us by our name and surnames us.

And if we belong to God, it is not just us, but all of humanity.  Every soldier killed fighting for this government, every soldier killed fighting for other governments, even every soldier killed fighting for ISIS bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every family that goes hungry on the weekends or in the summer bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every billionaire CEO and every family on welfare and everyone just trying to stay in the middle class bears the image of God and so belongs to God. 

Every baby born and every person who dies bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every victim of violence—sexual harassment and domestic violence, economic violence, gun violence, terror attacks and mass killings—and every perpetrator of violence bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every janitor, firefighter, sex worker, pastor, administrative assistant, nurse, teacher, elected representative, telemarketer, and community organizer bears the image of God and so belongs to God. 

Every person with documentation to live and work in a country, every person without documentation, and every person awaiting deportation bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every lawyer, every government employee, every person in prison bears the image of God and so belongs to God.   

Every woman, every man, every transgender person, every person for whom the gender binary doesn’t fit; every bisexual, heterosexual, asexual, lesbian, gay, and queer person bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every one who is single, divorced, widowed, struggling with their marriage, and happily married bears the image of God and so belongs to God.

And if all of humanity bears the image of God and so belongs to God, then all of Creation bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every tree, river, bush, and lake bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every bluff, mountain, valley, desert, sea, and glacier bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every creeping thing upon the earth, every swimming thing every flying thing bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every planet, moon, star, galaxy, black hole, asteroid, and supernova bears the image of God and so belongs to God.

And if all of creation bears the image of God and so belongs to God, then even “the things that are the emperor’s” are really “the things that are God’s.”  The things we think we can separate out from our faith are a part of our faith.  They belong to God just as we belong to God. 

So in all that we do and use we find divine belonging.  When we spend our money, we are using God’s resources and God’s creation.  When we are spiteful or cruel, we are doing so to God.  When we are honest about pain, oppression, and conflict, we are being honest with God and all that belongs to God.  When we care for another and for ourselves, we care for God.

Nayyirah Waheed’s poem, which I began with holds the truth about this image of God:

you

see your face.

you

see a flaw.

how.  if you are the

only one who has

this face.

–     the beauty

construct

(Nayyirah Waheed)

In all you see as a flaw, God recognizes the beauty that is your truest self.  And the same holds true for the flaws we see in others.

As a reminder, please turn to a neighbor, ask their name (just to make sure—if everybody does it the person whose mind goes blank will have an excuse), ask if you can bless them, and if they give permission, mark their forehead or their hands with the sign of the cross and say, “You are a beloved child of God.  You belong to God. And that will never ever change.”

…

Amen.

Love fulfills the law: 14th after pentecost a

Romans 13:8-14

⁸Owe no one anything,

      except to love one another;

            for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

⁹The commandments,

      “You shall not commit adultery;

      You shall not murder;

      You shall not steal;

      You shall not covet”;

      and any other commandment,

            are summed up in this word,

                  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

                        ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor;

                              therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹Besides this, you know what time it is,

      how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.

            For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;

            ¹²the night is far gone,

                  the day is near.

            Let us then lay aside the works of darkness

                  and put on the armor of light;

                  ¹³let us live honorably as in the day,

                        not in reveling and drunkenness,

                        not in debauchery and licentiousness,

                        not in quarreling and jealousy.

                              ¹⁴Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ,

                                    and make no provision for the flesh,

                                          to gratify its desires.

The other reading referenced is Matthew 18:15-20.

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Much of this week could be characterized as a failure to love.  Echoing Jesus’ words, Paul writes in Romans, “the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”  If love is the fulfillment of the law, then a law ought to be judged on its enactment of love.

Committing adultery—cheating on someone else—is not loving because it neither respects nor honors that one.  Killing—the violent taking of life of another—is not love because it neither respects nor honors that one.  Stealing is not love because it neither respects nor honors that one.  Coveting—jealously wanting what is not ours—is not love because it neither respects nor honors that one above the things they possess.

Love does not mean that we cannot disagree, but it does frame our conversations differently.  Love does not permit dehumanizing another person or group of people through the use of name-calling and slurs.  Love does not say, “those people.”  Love challenges us when we say “those people.”  Love challenges us when we are cruel or careless.  Love talks about issues that matter, even at the risk of making us or others uncomfortable.  Oftentimes, love is shared in stories about and with the people we love.

Love talks about conflict, disappointment, and disagreement.  We wrestle together in disagreements because we do, in fact, love each other.  We tell each other when we are upset because we want to be in good, loving relationship with each other and we can’t when we’re not honest about things that matter.  Love brings us together to challenge and to be challenged.

When Paul says that the commandments “are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law,” he sets a different standard for us.  When love does no wrong and love fulfills the law, the conversations we have are different.

There is a lot of space for disagreement about policy, but the test of a law or policy, whether locally, nationally, or internationally is if it furthers love: honor, respect, dignity.

Does repealing DACA, a bill protecting and supporting those who came to this country as children without papers, further love?  How is it loving to send someone away from a country they call home?  You all know that there is nothing loving about deportation.  The fear and anxiety it causes are not love.  The families that will be broken apart lose out on love.

Love cares for others.  Love helps families stay together—stay in this country we call home.  Love respects and honors each person’s humanity.  Love provides and cares for each person, sheltering them when they are in danger.  Love challenges rhetoric and actions of hate and racial bias, even when it’s done by a neighbor or stranger here in town.

Love holds us to higher standards.  Love decries the prospect of Mutually Assured Destruction because the lives of people in our country and in other countries matter and because the best way to keep troops and people safe is to not start a war.  Love does not kill.  Love does not bomb.

Paul, who is writing to followers of Christ in the powerful Roman Empire, writes, “you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; ¹²the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” 

Now is the time.  Love is the way.

Love is the fulfilling of the law, as Paul writes, and it is hard.  Love is not easy or quick or painless.  We know the pain of losing someone we love, whether through death or geography or through relationships broken beyond repair.

In baptism, Love digs deep into our hearts and lays down strong roots.  That’s why it can hurt so much to lose someone we love.  But that’s also how we get to live out the love that grows up and out of those roots, bearing good fruit, bearing love. 

Love is what we need right now.  We need the kind of love that brings compassion back into immigration policies, that keeps Dreamers and immigrants safe and in this country we call home, that puts human faces on policies and budgets and programs—humanizing those others try to demonize.  We need the kind of love that is appalled by war, violence, and threats of mass destruction.  We need the kind of love that values diversity in language, race, and culture.

Paul writes that “salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers.”  Salvation is not for us individually; it is not a personal, private thing.  Salvation is communal.  Salvation is Love actually reigning over every part of life and every interaction.  Love gets us through the struggles together.  Love doesn’t leave people to fend for themselves.  Love isn’t neutral.  Love picks a side.  Love picks the side of love—of caring for humanity and creation, of dignity, of honor, of respect.

Love enacts salvation.

Thanks be to God.