Scripture: Mark 12:13–17
Imagine walking into a room and two kids are smiling at you a little too nicely. As they help you with your things, quiet giggles escape from their mouths. Then, they guide you to sit down in a very specific chair, and you notice there is a blanket on that chair that normally isn’t there and there is a bump under the blanket, hiding something. You know something is up. You know a trap has been set. But to indulge the kids, you go ahead and sit down and the whoopie cushion makes its silly noise and everyone laughs. You got caught in their trap.
Jesus knew he was walking into a trap when the Pharisees and Herodians approached him. But this trap wasn’t a funny, harmless one. He knew that he had angered Jewish leaders telling a parable that painted them in a terrible light. Plus, the Pharisees and Herodians were not friends and didn’t normally get along, so the fact that they were doing something together was another clue. And then they butter him up, trying to flatter him into falling for their trap…like he was going to fall for that!
They ask him a question that in their minds has no good answers. “Should we pay taxes?” If Jesus said yes, he would be upsetting most Jews who hated paying taxes to their Roman oppressor, but if he said no, don’t pay your taxes, then he could get into trouble with Roman officials. In the minds of Jesus’ opponents, there was no good way to answer this question. Whatever he said could have major consequences.
But, Jesus is smart. He knows exactly what is going on, and like many good teachers, he answers a question by asking another question, deflecting the potential consequences and changing the focus. He asks for a coin…the object in question…and then questions them about it. “Whose picture is on it? What words are inscribed on the coin?” “Caesar’s,” they answer. “Well, give Caesar what is Caesar’s and God what is God’s.” Jesus completely changes the question. It is no longer a question about taxes.
Carol L Wade says that the implicit question Jesus asks is, “Whose image is stamped on us?”
The denarius Jesus looked at had the face of Caesar on it and an inscription that read, “Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus.” The coin is proclaiming the divinity of Caesar, one of the reasons Jews had a problem with paying taxes. These coins are not only going to finance their oppression but they also declare that the Roman leader is divine.
If coins had Caesar’s image on them, what has God’s image on it? Genesis 1 says that God created us, humankind, in God’s image. Genesis 1 actually says this three times. God’s image is stamped upon us! When we look at one another, we can see God’s likeness. That is what is important. That is who is important. That is what we need to remember. We are made in the image of God. “Whose image is stamped on us?” God’s image is stamped upon us.
But Wade adds a follow-up question…Whose name is written upon our hearts? This is a question of allegiance, of who we choose to follow, of who we choose to love. Whose name is written upon our hearts? The obvious Sunday school answer is—Jesus—but the question goes much deeper. The Shema—a daily prayer of the Jewish people from Deuteronomy 6—goes like this: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” The text in Deuteronomy goes on to say that we should keep these words in our hearts, talk at home and while traveling, reflect on them day and night, tell them to our children, inscribe them on our foreheads, bind them to our hands, and write them on our doors and gates. This is something God wants to be on the forefront of our minds: “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” This is what should be written on our hearts and guiding our lives.
But the news gets better. Not only are we made in God’s image, not only should we have God’s name written on our hearts, Isaiah also says that our names are written on the palms of God’s hands. Caesar didn’t care about all of his subjects. The subjects needed to submit to him, needed to pay taxes with his face on them, with coins saying he was divine, but they didn’t get much—if anything—in return. We do, though! We are made in God’s image and God has our names written on the palms of their hands. God remembers us and loves us as a parent loves their child. God will never forget us and is always with us. The rewards for remembering who God is are great. The rewards for following Caesar are fleeting.
So whose name is written on our hearts? Jesus—the name that embodies love and calls us to love.
This leads us to another question…how do we remember this? When we write Jesus’ name on our heart, it shouldn’t be a one-and-done experience because writing fades away. We need practices that keep the name of Love on our hearts fresh and bold. We need our lives to reflect that we are made in the image of God, that our God is God alone and that we love God with all that we are—our hearts, souls, and might.
But this is harder than it might seem because we have our own Caesars in this world today, things pulling for our attention, saying that they are what is important, that they should be treated like God, that we need to serve them. There is plenty in this world that will try to make us forget that we are stamped with the image of God, that Jesus—the name of Love—is written on our hearts and calling us to love. We all have our own Caesars, things trying to distract us from God’s truth, but the good news is that there is also plenty that can point us to God, that can remind us we are stamped with the image of God and that Jesus—the name of Love—is written on our hearts and is calling us to love. But these things take practice to do and see.
Everything we do in life either tries to fade away these truths, keeps them the same, or emboldens them and writes them more deeply upon our hearts.
Whether I eat a super sugary cereal for breakfast or oatmeal probably won’t fade or embolden God’s truths. However, if while I am eating breakfast, I get caught up in anxious thoughts and doom scroll a news app and get sucked into the comment sections of social media where nothing good happens…those things can fade God’s truths. But if while I am eating breakfast, I listen to music that brings peace and proclaims God’s goodness, if I sit outside and enjoy God’s creation, if I take mindful breaths to begin my day, those things will embolden God’s truths deeper into my heart and life.
What things and practices fade away the truth that we are stamped with the image of God and that Jesus—the name of Love—is written on our hearts and is calling us to love? And what emboldens that truth?
If you want help exploring these ideas, you are still welcome to join our Lunch and Learn study for Lent. We are reading Christine Valters Paintner’s book A Different Kind of Fast: Feeding our true hungers in Lent. Each week she names a practice that fades away the truth of God, that feeds Caesar, and each week she offers a counter-practice that emboldens the truth of God. This past week she asked us to turn away and fast from Scarcity Anxiety and to turn towards embracing Radical Trust in Abundance. Next week we will be trying to turn away and fast from Multitasking and Rushing and instead turn towards embracing Slowness and Pausing. If you aren’t available during the Tuesday noon hour, we are recording the sessions so you can view them later, and we will be posting the practices on our website.
A quote from this past week’s reads comes from the Desert Father Abba Poeman and says, “Do not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart.”
If what we are doing does not satisfy our heart, if what we are doing fades away the truth that we are stamped with God’s image and that Jesus—the name of Love—is written on our hearts and is calling us to love, it is time to turn away, and Lent is a great time to turn away, to repent, from those things that are not satisfying our true hungers. Lent is a great time to turn towards and embrace what is emboldening the truth that we are stamped with God’s image and that Jesus—the name of Love—is written on our hearts and calling us to Love. May we find ways each day to embolden this truth. Amen.
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