Show Me
“Show Me”
Psalm 96:1-13 Matthew 22:15-22
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 24, Year A, October 18, 2020
First Presbyterian Church, Sandpoint, Idaho
Andy Kennaly, Pastor
As someone who likes to write, one of the tensions I wrestle with is the limitations of words. Felt experience that resonates in the heart, living life without the need to read or write about it, and the power of silence seem more compelling than using words that are contextually limited by language or culture, judged and interpreted through the mind which keeps things at the level of thought, and distracting, as they interrupt our awareness of the moment, of the here and now.
Sometimes words are harnessed in order to manipulate or entrap. Rather than bring people together, many use words to create distinctions and division. It is not uncommon for people in power to use words as a way of disrupting, of creating instability in order to take advantage of or play on peoples’ desire for security and safety. Words divide the field, reinforce the judging mind, and prefer precision and certainty over mystery and the unknown.
In Psalm 96 people, and all the earth, are called to “sing to the LORD a new song,” to “declare [God’s] glory” and to “praise” God, even as we “ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.” How we do these things may involve words, or writing.
In Matthew we also see words used as a tool. People plotting against Jesus try and “entrap him in what he said.” They were manipulating a scene to make words serve their purpose, in this case to entrap Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t get sucked in by the words, and he uses images and lived experience to say far more than words. In this lesson, this unfortunate confrontation, we gain a perspective on true Wisdom, and as we are reminded of who we are as God’s children, we also learn about blind participation in evil and our need to seek authentic faith.
Let’s look at a few things that stand out for us this morning, all pivoting around the phrase, “But Jesus, aware of their malice.” This is really the core of this text, the hinge that the entire scene revolves around, and the key to unlock deeper possibilities etched in the images and context that words just skim over. For example, that the Pharisees are sending their disciples, “along with the Herodians,” to confront Jesus is an image worth a thousand confounding words. We scratch our heads and wonder how such a mix is possible? It’s a strange combination of church and state, so to speak; one that has intensity to it. It’s creepy that these two groups would mix, really bizarre, and the only thing compelling enough to bring them together would be a common enemy. This sets the context of this scene as conflict. Jesus is well aware of this.
As they lie to him, flattering with words about things they really don’t believe, each description shows what they are not, such as “sincere.” They try and trap him by a question about taxes. There are lots of cultural background issues with this, such as not being allowed to have coins in the temple, except for official temple currency. It was blasphemous, insulting to God and violation of religious code to have anything in the temple bearing an image, such as a coin with a face on it.
Jesus says, “Show me the coin used for the tax.” This means he doesn’t have that kind of money on him, which is a sign of humility and authenticity in worship. That they are able to hand him a coin with the emperor’s image on it is self-condemning; by producing the coin they show their own lack of following the rules, their own insensitivity to religious observance, their own lack of sincere devotion to God, and their own selfishness.
After flattering Jesus, they say, “Tell us, then, what you think.” Again, they are using words and thoughts not to build up life, but tear it down; this is classic egoic posturing. They want to know what Jesus thinks. But this is so superficial. Jesus replies, not by saying, “Well, I think…” Instead he uses the words, “Show me” as Jesus requests the coin, both exposing their insincerity and furthering the lesson about giving the emperor what belongs to the emperor and to God what belongs to God. “Show me” has more to do with the “what belongs to God” side of the teaching. “Show me” involves living your life in a way that gives evidence. Like St. Francis said, “Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.” It’s our lives that share the Essence of who we are.
Another cultural aspect involves the word, “hypocrites.” Matthew tells us that “Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?” This is a loaded sentence, again, hinging on the word “aware.” Jesus is aware. The Pharisees and Herodians are engaged in malice. Jesus is aware. The Pharisees and the Herodians are not aware. The cultural aspect involves “hypocrite” meaning “actor.” Jesus is not using the word “hypocrite” like we use it, meaning “hypocritical,” like saying one thing but doing another. It has more to do with identity and role.
An actor plays a role. There is a script, and an actor assumes an identity to live out the script. They set their own, true identity aside as they assume the role, get into the character, and live it out convincingly. Jesus asked his question to point out the irony; that the one who is aware, who is grounded, who is freed from egoic constraints and the need to defend a position, who is secure in their True Self as one created and loved by God; this is the one getting questioned? Those asking the question are the ones playing roles, clinging to self-made identities, using words to maintain power and put others down, and using the pretext of religion to feign devotion in order to further their own agenda with little actual regard for God. Those asking Jesus the question are the ones fooling themselves and, tragically, taking lots of others with them. By calling them “actors” Jesus is pointing out their lack of enlightenment, their insincerity, and their self-deception as people living out unexamined delusions.
But even as he counters them with this question, there may or may not be any hint of anger. We don’t really know what tone Jesus asks them with, even as he calls them “hypocrites” or “actors.” Is it anger? Is it God-inspired social justice, a sense of divine indignation or wrath? Or is it compassion? Jesus is aware of their malice, but in asking this question, he is showing none. Jesus has no malice, he does not act from hate, cruelty, meanness, or evil. Which gets to another level of this, and why it’s important to recognize people living out roles of religion and politics.
Pharisees and Herodians, two unlikely groups to merge, and yet here they are in a strange alliance as their selfishness unites toward a common purpose of rejecting the image of God not only present in Jesus, but in their very lives. These groups, representing religion and politics, are complicit in living out evil. And this largely happens “unaware.” It’s because people are unaware that the seductions and temptations of evil take hold. We all do this, for we are all human beings. This is why it’s often religion and politics that are hot topics, sometimes avoided intentionally at family gatherings, such as Thanksgiving Dinner. These two topics have a power to create conflict and divide people because people get entrenched, their rantings take place because they are not self-aware at deeper levels and they identify their life with their thoughts, allowing their triggers to hook them. People will defend their positions because they live from an egoic mindset.
Jesus, “aware of their malice” does not get hooked into this dysfunction. His awareness means he doesn’t have to act or play a role; he is authentically connected, united, and filled with love, even for his enemies. He’s aware of their malice but he doesn’t not act from malice. Perhaps this is why, when they hear his answer to their question, perhaps this is the real reason “they are amazed.” “They left him and went away,” because his unitive consciousness wouldn’t play the game of dualism; his ability to hold the tension and contradictions of life didn’t divide the field like their manipulation with words. When he says, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” he is standing on the solid ground of Ultimate Reality, in which everything is God’s.
Jesus, without malice, reminds them of what they know deep down: that the emperor has nothing, and the only way the emperor is empowered is because people have allowed themselves to be manipulated or coopted. People have exchanged their divine sovereignty for a mere image, giving in to insecurities and conveniently forgetting who they really are at their core.
“Give to God the things that are God’s” is a high-level reminder that all life is in covenant relationship with the Holy of Holies. Jesus is embodying a reminder to those confronting him, that the coin may have an image, but they are the image of the Living God. “When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.” How can you condemn someone who is overwhelming you with love?
Did they change? Did malice shrink away in the face of unconditional love and a living reminder of being God’s people, holy and acceptable? Or did they simply wait for a more opportune time to live out their delusions, choosing to remain entrenched in contextual identities at the surface of culture rather than plumb the depths of cosmic connection with God who sustains all things? Is their going away from Jesus a sad thing, or a sign of victory? Sad they didn’t follow him, join him, or say they were sorry? Or a sign of victory that their plan to entrap him was foiled?
What is it with you? Are you ready to release the roles you assume, allowing your false self to create limitations and barriers in your life? Is pain something you actually like holding on to because it validates your identity? Have you bought into whatever it is that religion and politics are trying to grind you in to comply with, even if it’s evil disguised as good? Actors wear makeup, they have costumes, and scenes have sets. Very convincing as the audience buys into it for entertainment.
“Aware of their malice” is an invitation to go backstage, to peel away the layers of deception in our own lives, our culture, our churches, and see how we’ve been fooling ourselves, thinking we’ve been doing things right. Awareness changes everything, inviting God to change our lives, to help us turn from evil and turn toward Jesus, the Christ, the true Essence of our very life. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ in me,” as Paul the mystic puts it, trading egoic thinking with faithful trust of the soul. (Galatians 2:20).
As we live, may we remember and embody our true Essence as children of God. May we live as images, as incarnations of the Living Christ, coming alongside Jesus with awareness, love, and Wisdom. As Jesus says, “Show me,” may we do more than use words, but show Jesus in our lives, in who we are and what we do. Let us trust God in all circumstances, as God’s glory is revealed in all the Earth. And may the humble, vulnerable love of God, be glorified, NOW, even as forever. Amen.