Year A Proper 15 WED 2023 Tests

 Year A Proper 15 WEDNESDAY, 23 August 2023

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Tests”

Collect: Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Mark 12:13-27

Then they 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.

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children; and the second married her and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died. In the resurrection*whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her.’

Jesus said to them, ‘Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.’

Tests. We test to see what something is. We test students if we are teachers to assess what they have learned, but also how well we did covering the material and emphasizing what is most important. A test says something about the student and the teacher.

If we get tested by a doctor, it is much the same. We are given tests to get a level on something. Was there a response when there should have been, or a reaction when there should not have been? Or what is the level of something. All these tests give a snapshot of information that is needed. 

Then we have the testing that Jesus went through today. Testing for weakness, a weak link in the chain. If you saw Jurassic Park, the velociraptors checked every link in the chain to see if the electricity was everywhere. The religious leaders were velociraptors, looking for the weak link where they could attack Jesus.

They were not seeking knowledge, or enlightenment. They were looking for something they could twist and manipulate, or “spin” to use a modern take on it. It did not matter what Jesus said, they just wanted to twist it to make him the bad guy. If you cannot attack the message. Attack the messenger.

Should we pay taxes? We could ask that today. Some do.

If Jesus says yes, he was pro-Rome. If Jesus said no, he was seditious. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, give to God what is God’s.” Does he answer the question? No, not really. But he shows the question for what it is, and people are able to see right through the intent.

What about marriage in the after-life? Now the great hypocrisy here is that ones asking the question do not even believe in an afterlife. Once again, the spotlight goes back on the one asking the question.

In my graduate program at George Mason University, there was a phrase they ground into our brains. “Feedback says more about the giver than the receiver.” 

So to break that down, listen to what people are saying by what they say. What they are saying about or to you, says so much more about them, even more than what it says about you. So as leaders or ones under the spotlight, when someone asks a question or makes a statement about you, step out of the tit-for-tat back and forth and ask, “What is this statement saying about them or their perspective?”

If someone accusing you of duplicity, is being sneaky and a liar their perspective because they are sneaky and a liar?

Are people undermining your authority because they are jealous of it, or feel powerless?

And use your initial reactions to things as a teachable moment for your own growth. Before you make an accusation, or do or say something negative, ask yourself, “Why am I responding this way?” I often find, the things that drive me crazy in someone else are the very things in myself that I despise or try to hide.

As Shakespeare pointed out, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" Hamlet, Act III Scene II Or as Jesus put it, “Take the log out of your own eye before you remove your brother’s splinter.” Matthew 7:3-5

We are tested to see what we are made of. We test, far too often, because we have not done the work to see what we are made of. Think on that this day. Amen