Pastoral Letter 33

Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,

Grace and peace to you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

As I write this week’s letter, my heart aches as the devastating aggression against Artsakh continues. It has been three weeks since Azerbaijan first attacked Artsakh on Sunday 27 September. The number of the fallen soldiers has passed 500; most of them aged between 18 and 25. Azeri and Turkish militants, joined with mercenaries from Syria, have targeted the cities, towns and villages of Artsakh, deliberately hitting churches, schools and hospitals. Thousands of Armenian all over the world, as well as those who live in Australia are doing all they can to raise awareness within the international community and demanding their governments to condemn the aggression against the people of Artsakh and Armenia, who want to return to their homes and live in peace. The pain of the Armenians all over the world is great and they need the solidarity of their brothers and sisters in Christ.

My pain is doubled when the Uniting Church keeps silent and hesitates to condemn violations of human rights. I am disappointed with the lack of interest especially from the NSW and ACT Synod and the Sydney Central Coast Presbytery, as well as our neighbouring Uniting churches, the churches of the Lower North Shore Zone. I have written an open letter to the UCA leadership and the response was from the Assembly with a statement calling for prayer as a place of worship was hit twice by a missile. I am sad that the biblical command of loving and empathising with those who are in pain is not put into practice. Paul says: “There should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one parts suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, ….” (1 Cor. 12 25-26).

I am grateful to you all as you feel and understand my pain and pray for the people of Artsakh and Armenia with me. Your prayers and support mean a lot to me. Please continue to pray and seek God’s protection and comfort, especially for those who have lost, sons, husbands and fathers.

As I indicated in last week’s letter, the Church Council and Elders’ meeting unanimously decided that mid-November will be a good time to resume our services, considering there are many requirements to cover the COVID safety plan before resuming any activities on our premises. The meeting agreed that we target 22 November to be our first worship as a trial and formally start worshiping together on St. Andrew’s Day 29 November, inviting our neighbours to join us. This will be finalised in our November meeting, which will be held on Wednesday 4 November, with the hope that things will be much better by then. I urge you to pray hard for this to happen by the grace of God. We will keep you posted. In the meantime, please join the other members tomorrow morning in worship, following the Order of Service. Please light a candle, follow the order and start with the hymn/song “He is Exalted, the King is Exalted on High”. Give a little more time for your personal prayers and pray for others.

We would like to remind you that we will not have our AGM, which we used to hold in October, instead we will send around the reports seeking your approval. The reports will be ready within a fortnight and circulated. If you have any matter that you would have brought to the AGM, we kindly ask you to let Penny, Chris or myself know about it.

Continue to pray and remember the following points in your prayers:

1. Pray for Armenia and Artsakh as the violent war continues and the number of casualties are growing by the day, including civilians, young and old, women and children.

2. Pray seeking God’s help as we go through the difficult time of pandemic.

3. Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings.

4. Pray for world peace.

Krikor

Render unto Caesar

Math. 22:15-22

Some of the various Bible commentaries ignore this reading.

One of the things that make this reading harder to understand is that part of it is so well known. How many people don’t know the saying “Give to Caesar”? I think it is this familiarity that keeps us from seeing the deeper meaning in this passage.

The reading is quite complex for such a short amount of words.

The story starts with the Jewish religious leaders looking for some way to get rid of Jesus. They knew that they did not have any power to do anything to Him themselves, except beat Him, and that might just have made Jesus more popular. So, they tried to find ways to get Him to say something against the Romans so they can take over and do something to keep Jesus quiet. But this had a small problem. A lot of the ordinary people regarded Jesus as a prophet and just giving Him to the Romans could make things difficult as well.

So, they came up with a plan that, if it worked, and they saw no reason why it wouldn’t, whatever Jesus did would upset one side or another. As is often the case, these leaders were not willing to take a chance themselves or to show which side they were on and they got others to do their dirty work.

This was their plan. There were two main groups arguing against each other at that time. One was the Herodians. These were not a religious group but a group of Jewish people who supported Herod Antipas and wanted closer and better ties with Rome. They supported Roman taxation and believed it was only right that everyone pays taxes. This tax was not based on income but was like a poll tax, something that everyone had to pay.

The other group was the Pharisees. This group was a religious group and they objected vigorously against paying anything to Rome, claiming it was a heresy to do so. They based this claim on the fact the tax had to be paid in Roman coins which had an image of Caesar on them. They refused to pay anything except the Temple Tax, which was paid in Jewish shekels.

It is quite hard to see how two such opposing forces could work together, but they did. They had, in fact, been working together and trying for some time to come up with an idea. The Pharisees and the Herodians had started plotting together when Jesus had healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. The way Jesus spoke then stopped them from taking action but now they thought that they had a foolproof plan. They thought they had a question, that no matter what Jesus answered, he would condemn Himself. The question was “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” The schemers thought there were only two possible answers. “Yes, it is right to pay taxes” or “No it is not right”. Either answer would condemn Jesus.

If Jesus said it was right to pay taxes, He would be accused of being a traitor to the Jews and of being in favour of the Roman Occupation. This would alienate Him from all His supporters. If Jesus were to say it was wrong to pay taxes, then He would prove He was against Rome. The Jewish leaders would be able to say Jesus had shown himself to be a revolutionary and He could be handed over for trial and execution. Either result would please those who put this plan in action. Whatever happened, Jesus would be out of the way and they would not get the blame for it. They must have felt really pleased with their cunning plan.

So, they sent off their team (Luke, in his version, calls them spies) to set up Jesus. Their first action was to try, praise and compliment Jesus and put him into a false sense of security. They said that they knew Jesus to be a man of integrity who would not say anything just because it was easy or convenient but would speak fairly and honestly. Then they asked their question and smiled as they waited for an answer.

Before He gave an answer, He asked to see a Roman coin, a denarius. One was presented straight away. This showed up the hypocrisy of objecting to Roman coins when they were in common usage. There were the silver coins, with Caesar on them, to pay taxes, there were plain copper Roman coins and they were used everywhere else, even in the temple at the money changers as many people did not trust Jewish money. He then asked whose image and inscription was on it. This was a good question, because at that time, any item with a man’s stamp or inscription on it belonged to that man. Hence the coin belonged to Caesar. So, if it belongs to Caesar, then give it to him. Yet there was another part to the answer. But also give to God what is God’s.

It seems like the most perfect and simple answer and it certainly ruined the Pharisees and Herodians’ plans. Yet when did Jesus ever say something that did not have a lesson or message in it? This passage is no different. The message in his answer was valid then and is still valid today.

The message is:

First, that Government and Church are not necessarily incompatible. There is no reason why they cannot work alongside each other to improve the lives of those they serve. Indeed, they should.

Second, when we have a structure, such as a government, to administer and run the laws of the land, then it is right that we pay for that support and protection. Israel at that time, was under Roman rule but it was not all bad. They had lost their independence but had also gained much. For example, they had roads, peace and security. The Jewish Temple was allowed to keep going and people could still worship as they wanted. So, it was right for people to pay taxes, using the coin with the government’s stamp on it.

Third, we give to God that which is His.

But what do we give to God? What is it that has the Stamp or mark of God on it?

The answer is we do. We were made in the image of God and bear His mark. So, we give our taxes to the government and ourselves to God. There is no conflict in this until the government acts or forces people to act in a way contrary to God’s law. Then we must act in accordance with God’s law and not men’s, because the state only exists in this world and God’s law exists in this world and the next. 

However, this story happened over 2000 years ago.

What could it mean today when so much has changed… or has it?

In many ways nothing has changed, and the answer Jesus gave to the Herodians and the Pharisees still applies.

First, we cannot act as a society without some form of law or government. We could not possibly manage to support the weak and the vulnerable without some system in place. Yet while the laws of the land should serve to protect our human lives and human future, it does not and cannot support our spiritual life and spiritual future. That is the job of the church; to support God’s people and to teach them about him. To work alongside the government to ensure it acts fairly, justly and in accordance with God’s laws.

Second, it is also right that we should pay for the service that the government provides. We don’t have the freedom the Pharisees seemed to have had, to choose not to pay taxes. If we choose not to pay, we are likely to end up in prison. And if no one paid anything, where would the hospitals, doctors, teachers and all the other things needed to make life run smoothly come from?

Third, we have to give ourselves to God. Like the Jews, we don’t seem to have much choice over the government and the way it runs our country. While we get little choice on paying taxes, we do have a totally free choice in what we give to God.

This is the bit that is usually left out when people quote from this passage. “Give to Caesar….” is what they say and forget the rest, “…. and to God what is God’s”. That is where we have our choice. This is where we can decide whether or not we pay. Yet in some ways it might seem that God has a harsher tax system than anyone else. Our government may have many tax rates, 20%, 35%, 50% and all varying year by year. God only has one rate, 100%!

When we give ourselves to God, we have to give ourselves 100%. 10%, 90%, or just on Sundays doesn’t count. We have to give ourselves totally to Him, all day, and every day. But there is one major difference in what we pay in taxes and what we pay to God. If we find that we cannot find the money to pay our taxes or forget, then we face a punishment. We may find ourselves in prison or have our belongings taken away from us. If we forget to give God His due, He doesn’t send in the police, He forgives us the debt, He allows us to start again. You might want to cheat on a government you hated, but do you want to cheat on someone that you love utterly and whom what you give does not even begin to repay what they have done for you?

But what, exactly, does He want from us?

I think that Jesus gave us the answer when He was asked what the most important commandment was. He told us that the most important commandment was to love God with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds and all our strength. The second commandment was to love one another.

We take the commandment to love one another as one of the basic ways to live as a Christian. But there is no way we can live this way if the very foundation of the way we live is not based on having the love of God at the heart of who we are and in everything we do.

With the love of God as the centre of our beings, then the things in this world become transitory as we learn that God’s love is forever. We can still support and pay taxes to a government that provides the framework of modern life. We can still oppose that same government when it works unfairly or unjustly. We can still obey the laws of the land when they work with God’s law and oppose them when they don’t. We can still do all this as long, and only as long, as God comes first.

Remember Jesus’ complete answer: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and what is God’s to God.” We have to do both, but God’s law comes first. If there is something against God’s law, we have to stand up against it, wherever we find in. On the street, in the church, in the government, wherever.

The question Jesus was asked could have been:

“Whose side are you on? Israel or Rome?”

Jesus’ reply was not Israel, it was not Rome. His answer was “on God’s side”. It could also have been “Who do you love?”

How would you answer that? Whose side are you on? Who do you love?

This world, a place of growing unhappiness, a place where people put themselves, money and power before the care for others, a place where more and more people seek satisfaction and enjoyment just for the moment. A place where it is easy to be trapped in bureaucracy and policy red tape. A place where it is easy to show that we care and support those who are marginalised and in need, but we don’t show it in practical ways and don’t stand up for the people and speak out against injustices.

Or God’s world, a place where love grows, a place where you are just as valued as your neighbour, a place where we can live in peace and forgive our enemies and be forgiven when we fall.

What would our answer be?

Will it be that we fulfill our dues as lawful citizens and give our best to God our Father and Saviour in His Son Jesus Christ?

Only we can give the answers to these and similar questions.

But let’s not forget to give what is Gods’ to God, who has given so much to us.