Pentecost 21A 22 October 2023

Exodus 33:12-23 and Matthew 22:15-22

Howard Wallace

‘Whose head is on the coin?’ Jesus asked the Pharisees and Herodians. Whose image do you see?

The readings today focus on images, particularly images of the face. Moses wants to see God face to face. Jesus responds to a tricky question about paying taxes to the Romans by asking whose image or face is on the coins used. Then as they answer ‘the emperor’s’ he says ‘give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor and give to God what is God’s.’ But Jesus leaves open the question of wherein is the image of God, where do we see God’s face, where is the image of what belongs to God?

Moses was not the last person to want to see God face to face. Christians have often imagined what Jesus looked like as a way of imaging God. But many pictures of Jesus only end up being images drawn from our own culture. The Turin Shroud was long thought to be the cloth in which Jesus’s body was wrapped, leaving an imprint of his features. While it has long been venerated the shroud probably dates to about the 14^th century, not the time of Jesus. More recent attempts to image Jesus have tried to take into account Near Eastern features or aspects of human physiology of two thousand years ago. Apparently having some image of what Jesus may have looked like helps identify oneself with God or Jesus and brings a touch of so-called ‘reality’ to what is believed.

Last week we heard how the people of the Exodus, when Moses had stayed too long on the mountain, wanted an image of God which they could follow. They sought something they could ‘see’ and ‘touch’. They were given a golden calf. This week we hear of Moses himself having a similar desire. In his leadership role he is concerned about knowing how, where and with whom he may lead God’s people. He asks to know God’s ‘ways’. Moses also seems to doubt the promises God made and he wants some certainty in his own knowledge of God. Moses’s lack of certainty leads him to ask a second question. He asks to know God’s ‘glory’. God’s glory is sometimes associated with an aura imagined to surround God. God tells Moses that his ‘goodness’ will pass before Moses. But what is meant by God’s goodness? Is it his beauty, his splendour, his blessings, his peace, God’s attributes, God’s good acts? The scene remains a mystery. But finally, God accedes to part of Moses’s request. God hides Moses in a rock while he passes by. But Moses only sees God’s back, not his face.

God remains a mystery. Faith cannot be tied to certainty. It is based on trust, on a word and a promise, not on sight or touch. Otherwise, faith would not be faith. As the Moses story continues we sense God’s presence is bound to the law which is given to Moses. As such it is bound to the people’s trust and faithfulness. There is no greater certainty regarding God and our relationship with God.

In the gospel story Jesus faces a difficult situation. His opponents first praise him as a sincere, impartial person, teaching the way of God. But then comes a tricky question. ‘Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor?’ That is, is it lawful under Jewish law to pay taxes to the Roman government? The Pharisees are trying to catch Jesus out on theological grounds. The Herodians, a Jewish puppet government under the Romans, are a more dangerous bunch in some ways. They are a cruel group and the test could be one of life and death for Jesus. But the question posed to Jesus was not just a relevant one in his day. For the people who lived 50-60 years after Jesus and for whom Matthew wrote the Gospel, it was an even sharper question. They lived after the Romans had sacked Jerusalem and its temple. How would they feel about paying taxes to their oppressors?

The question they posed to Jesus was not new, nor is it one irrelevant to us. Under a vastly different system of government we would not balk at paying taxes (even if we may not like it). But the question does raise the issue of the relationship between faith or spirituality and politics and social issues. Should the church be involved in politics? Isn’t religion or faith a private matter? In the US the relationship between church and state is enshrined in the constitution. In Australia, it is not because our history was different, but we do often hear statements that either deny or affirm such a relationship in political statements or in the way some people speak.

Jesus was crafty in his response to the answer to his question of whose image is on the coin. If it is the emperor’s then give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor and give to God what belongs to God. But he does not define what belongs to God. Although isn’t it implicit that all belongs to God. If so then are not our social responsibility, our political involvement, our economic care and concern and other public matters as well as our personal behaviour and beliefs, our personal interests and activity also things that belong to God?

But another unstated question arises in this dialogue. If the emperor’s image is on the coin and it belongs to him, where might we find God’s image and what belongs to God? The answer to that also lies unstated in Jesus’s final remark about giving to God what belongs to God.

Moses was not permitted to see the image or face of God. Faith incorporates the mystery that is God by maintaining something of its own mystery. God’s ways or glory for Moses were evident in the law he was given on the mountain. That law required obedience and was the way to live consistently with God’s ways. Such living was based on God’s promise and involved trust in God.

For us, the answer to the unstated question of where we might find God’s image lies in Jesus himself but also in the community of those who follow God’s ways in Jesus, and not just in relation to personal belief, activity or behaviour but also in terms of social responsibility, political involvement and economic care.

The Christian community of which we are a part is one on whom the image of God in Christ is imprinted. It is an image seen by all as we give to God what belongs to God. Our lives are the very thing on which God’s image is imprinted, even our life together as a congregation, as the Church. It is our lives which we give to God.