Year A Proper 24 2023 What Can People See?

 Year A Proper 24, 22 October 2023

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“What Can People See?”

Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Exodus 33:12-23

Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have said to me, ‘Bring up this people’; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.”

The Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”

Matthew 22:15-22

The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So 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. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Good morning!

I have always been fascinated by our reading from Exodus this morning. Moses prays to see God in God’s glory, and because of his faithfulness, God rewards Moses with his desire. But there is a caveat that I have always found, well, laughable.

God says:

“[Y]ou cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live. See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”

God loves Moses so much Moses can see… God’s backside. I love that God protects him. I love that God puts up his hand to prevent Moses seeing God’s face. But for the life of me, I must admit that I am still little boy enough, that this passage makes me giggle. And it probably always will. God forgive and help me.

But it fits so well with our glimpse into the nature of Jesus and who he would have us be. We see people being deceptive and polishing apples instead of speaking plainly and into the truth.

The passage opens with the intent of the Pharisees. The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. Very clearly they wanted to get Jesus, to con him into saying something silly or stupid. It was an unanswerable question the way it was asked. Like when on the stand in a divorce and the attorney asks, “When did you stop beating your wife?” You cannot answer that question without sounding guilty of something. 

But they start in buttering up Jesus, thinking flattery will distract him, and it also makes the people think they are with them and Jesus whom they love.

“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.”

They then move into the trick, the con. It slides in so easily.

I remember one time I was in New Orleans with some folks and we were walking back to our hotel after a night out. The guy I was walking with was in his early 20s and I was about 30. A stranger comes up to us and says to my friend, “Hey, I gotta question for you.” I told my friend to keep walking.

But my friend did not listen. He stopped and engaged with the man. I started shaking my head. He should have listened. The man says, “I bet you $5 I know where you got your shoes.” 

My friend laughed, saying, “You could not know that.”

The man said, “Then it's an easy $5 for you!”

So, again I said, “Walk away, come on.” But my friend pulled out his wallet, showing everyone around us where his wallet was, and pulled out $5. I decided to let my friend learn a lesson.

My friend says, “Okay, where did I get my shoes?”

The man said, “That I do not know. But I see them, I know where you got your shoes. You got your shoes right here on your feet in New Orleans.”

My friend laughed, and said, “You got me!” And handed the man $5. I hope that he was never that gullible again.

People see us in so many ways. My friend was seen as a mark, and that night he was. The religious leaders so Jesus as a likable and popular rube from the backwater of Galilee, missing the street smarts of the Holy City, dealing with power and prestige and corruption.

So they brought out their unanswerable question.

“Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”

But Jesus did not play their game. It says he saw their malice. So, he asked for a coin. (Notice he did not even have a coin to his name.) And he is handed a denarius, the coin that was a day’s wage for a laborer.

“Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

The word used for the head on the coin is actually icon. Icon, picture, image. If an image is on it, it is the one’s whose image is there. It says that the sneaks trying to get him were “amazed.” It was pretty amazing. He danced through the rain drops and came out dry.

Jesus was not the rube they took him for. But in his response, he says something that is even more important.

When I look in the mirror, I see what I look like. I see where I missed shaving. I see where I did not get my hair gel right and I have a lick sticking up that shouldn’t be. I see where wrinkles are coming in that were not there so long ago. I too easily see a deficit where no one else might notice. 

But if I look deeper, if I look with the eye’s of faith, whose image is on me? If Caesar’s image is on the coin, whose image am I made in?

Biblical scholars, if you remember back to the very beginning when God sets out to make the capstone of creation. From Genesis 1:27…

    So God created humans in his image,

    in the image of God he created them;

    male and female he created them.

If the image connotes belonging, my friends, God’s image is on you. Woven up and down your DNA, male or female, it does not matter. God’s image is on you.

That is a huge statement, much bigger than the Gotcha question that started it all. Friends, as we ponder our worth, we must ponder our maker and the image we are made with, and “give unto God’s that which is God’s.”

This is far too often the throwaway line in this story, but all the meaning is packed therein.

When Moses asked to see God, God had to protect him. God sheltered him in a rock, put his hand up to block his face and shield his glory. But in Jesus, the fullness of God was revealed and accessible to all. 

When people see us, I pray that they see who we are, and more importantly, whose we are. When people saw Jesus, for those who looked in faith, they saw who Jesus truly was. As it says in Colossians 1:15-19

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,

for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, 

things visible and invisible, 

whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—

all things have been created through him and for him. 

He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 

He is the head of the body, the church; 

he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, 

so that he might come to have first place in everything. 

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 

and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, 

whether on earth or in heaven, 

by making peace through the blood of his cross.

For in him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And as we are also in God’s image, Jesus came to help us do the heavy lifting. We need to clean house. We need to air out the rooms, and clean out the closets. We need to shampoo the carpets. We need to make ready for not just a royal visit, but we are about making a home for God to dwell. Jesus came to enable God to maybe be pleased to dwell in us, too.

And when we do that, we live into Jesus’ instructions, to “give unto God that which is God’s.” Amen