BE A TREE! PSALM 96; MATTHEW 22.15-22 Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
Be a tree! I’m serious! Be a Tree! Stephanie Mar Smith says: quote “the trees of the forest shout for joy (by being trees!). Their very existence displays the greatness of God. The sea, simply by being its roaring self, witnesses to God’s glory. Likewise, humanity witnesses to the marvelous works of God by BEING THEMSELVES!”Unquote.
Capital, Bold print letters. In other words, be a tree!
As I walked through Woodland Park early Thursday morning, my usual sermon walk, I went into the Rose Garden. Roses are pretty much dead now, but the grounds are well-kept and in the back northeast corner is a sound garden. It is built with large wind chimes and metal posts you can hit with a rubber mallet and sound boxes - large wooden boxes with a tapper in the middle. It is a soothing and comforting space, especially on a crisp, cold Fall Morning. There is a stand of tall Fir trees that are guardians for the eastern edge of the garden. Pink early morning light shined through them. I stood there and marveled at the beauty of God’s creation within walking distance of my home.
I smiled as I thought of the working sermon title - Be A Tree! And pondered this psalm as it speaks to the notion of human flourishing against a backdrop of the evil we hate to name in our modern way of thinking. Powers and principalities have been the traditional language of the church. Systems that gather in power to define authority through the lens of nationalism, unfettered capitalism and the necessary economic and social divide of thems that have get more, thems that don’t get less, what the Bible says and still is true.
We have been given a new song to sing, to the whole earth. Adonai is king and Caesar is not. He is coming, which is the promise of redemption, to judge the earth, which is to root out evil, to judge the world with righteousness and His truth. So, tell me, what is Adonai’s truth?
It is God’s judgment against everything and everyone who keeps others from flourishing. Against the evil and intimidating powers of greed, idol-worship, hoarding $, selfishness, the isms in all its forms, lying, cheating stealing, systems of inequity. God’s truth:
Generosity rather than scarcity
Compassion rather than judgement
Empathy rather than scorn
Justice rather than evil Sharing rather than hoarding
Enough for everyone.
Let me ask you a question. Are you flourishing today? I invite you to lift your burdens off your shoulders and put them on the shelf over there. You will be able to get them back later. Then let’s all take 3 deep breaths in honor of the Trinity.
If you were raised in a more traditional Presbyterian Church, you would have learned the Westminster Catechism. It was a formal way to teach the faith and a memorized version of all the questions was one of the requirements of confirmation. It was written in 1646 and ratified in 1649 as the Divine Guidance for all churches within the Reformed Household.
The first ?: Q. What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
In other words, Be A Tree! Be yourself, your God-formed self. For this is the truth of the gospel: God made us for Her enjoyment. She does not want you to suffer, She wants you to thrive. She wants everyone to thrive across the whole wide world. It’s why Jesus came, fully God, fully human baby, born down a birth canal just like the rest of us. His life signifies what God wants for all of us. Joy, compassion, celebration, pursuit of justice. His death was necessary to turn the tables on the evil systems that only allow a few to thrive while the rest are enslaved. Including our own sin. Look at our parable today.
Earlier Jesus had gone up against the religious authority in a revolutionary act of defiance - he drove the money changers out of the temple. The challenge before Him now is the civil authority. Render unto whom? Where does your allegiance lie? By what authority are you going to live?
Palestine was not a free state. They were colonized by Rome, suffered under imperial power. Young zealots agitated for a revolution, see Jesus as a potential leader. Older Pharisees made peace with their oppression, even collecting the poll tax. You owed the tax if you were registered in the census. Remember? Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem to be enrolled? It means Jesus is counted in the Roman census. Odd, don’t you think?
The question, render what to whom, is a vice, designed to squeeze Jesus. ‘Give us your counsel’, your authoritative opinion. Is it right or not? The coin was specially minted for this tax. On one side was the laurel-headed image of Tiberius Caesar and the other, his mom, Livia. The words, translated: worshipful son of divine Augustus. Divine? It’s a portable idol, transgresses Commandment 1 and 2. The Pharisees sent their young bucks along with Herod’s young minions, 2 groups that normally despise each other.
“Who’s image?” “Caesar’s.” Well, then give it back. Governments generate coins to propel economies. They are necessary for transactions. Jesus responds with respect for the state, but within limits. “Sure, pay the tax, but don’t give your very self to Caesar. The kingdom of God’s coins bear God’s image, and you belong to God.” Our call is to submit to God’s authority first and foremost!
It behooves us to think clearly about where our loyalties lie, for our ultimate allegiance is to God, not the state. The state is God’s servant as the NT says. But, the state can become demonic, whenever it demands for itself the things of God. Such as total commitment, unconditional obedience or uncritical allegiance. The nationalist movement in our country and other places around the world are, in this sense, demonic. And must be opposed. For they demand ultimate loyalty to a certain narrow way of thinking. Our confession of 1967 says it this way: “Although nations may serve God’s purpose in history, the church which identifies the sovereignty of any one nation or any one way of life with the cause of God denies the Lordship of Christ and betrays its calling.” The church in Nazi Germany did exactly this, they lined up their cause as being of God. It happened in South Africa too with apartheid. It happened here after the Civil War with Jim Crow Laws and we are seeing it come back in voter suppression and economic division. Christians resist the claims of the state whenever or wherever narrow definitions of authority and power are displayed.
We in the Reformed Tradition place our loyalty in the kingdom of heaven, not the nations of earth. It’s why we are called Protestants - protests - whenever a government or a church institution goes astray. It is why we sing Salvation’s Song, as our ultimate loyalty, national anthems as secondary. A hallmark claim of the Reformed Tradition is “God alone is Lord of the conscience” which means we are required by our faith to wrestle with questions of church and state. When are policies and laws serving the greater good of the kingdom and when are they opposed? Jesus is always looking out for the poor, the outcast, the rejected, the foreigner. What if our government doesn’t?
Resist. We are called to resist the temptation to ‘go along to get along’ we are called to use the good minds and big hearts God gives us to critically analyze practices and policies of nation states and political leaders. And most importantly, we are called to gaze upon a horizon of the coming kingdom of God. We are an eschatological people - that is we live in the reality and sovereignty of the Risen Christ and His return ultimately to judge. Thankfully, our judge is our Redeemer. It is Christ’s power through the Holy Spirit that infuses our life with capacity to be our true selves. Forgiven and blessed, we are set free to be a tree! I mean it. I am serious. Go stand outside and see what trees do. The trees of the forest sing for joy before Adonai. Come join the song! Amen