Whose Image Is This ?

Mk 12:13-17

Today’s Gospel gives us a bit of “Numismatic Theology.”

This is one of my favorite Gospel passages.

Partially because I was once a practicing numismatist myself … a coin collector.

We could tell you things like where our coins got the motto, In God We Trust.

It came from Francis Scott Key’s Star Spangled Banner.

But, an even greater attraction of this Gospel is that it shows how exquisitely clever Jesus was.

Clever in the very best sense of the word—possessing a quick and powerful intelligence.

Jesus once told us not to worry how to answer our accusers, just trust God to give us the words.

This passage gives an excellent example of just how powerful those words can be.

In this encounter, the Pharisees have devised a crafty plot.

They’ll approach Jesus in public and ask him their own clever question.

No matter how he responds—he loses.

Should we pay the tax or not pay?

If he says don’t pay, he’s publicly promoting rebellion.

And they could have the Romans put him to death.

If he says pay he’ll lose many of his followers; they’d see him as bowing to Rome.

But the infinitely more clever Jesus effortlessly sidesteps their plot.

He doesn’t give the direct pay or don’t pay response the Pharisees asked for.

He draws them into a demonstration—the examination of the coin.

A little scene that the crowd can enjoy and remember.

Then, he gives a response that actually does answer his attackers’ question.

And in a way that not only avoids their trap but also discredits them.

And, with supreme cleverness, he ties in an even deeper more powerful, positive lesson. 

His answer builds-in multiple layers of truth.

He says, Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

What does belong to Caesar?

Well, obviously, the coin.

It has his image stamped right on it.

So, give it back to Caesar.

With a well-demonstrated rationale and without directly saying those words,

His answer is, pay the tax.

But Jesus also incorporates more into his response.

Repay to God what belongs to God.

At first blush that might simply emphasize the insignificance of the coin.

It’s only money, there are more important things.

But when his followers reflect on the words,

When they retell the story of the encounter,

They can’t help but see that it raises a deeper question.

What do we have that belongs to God?  Well, everything.

If we apply the test Jesus showed us, we’ll focus particularly on what is made in God’s image.

That’s what most certainly belongs to God.

And that, of course, is us—our very selves.

So, how can we give ourselves back to God?

That’s an excellent personal question for each of us to ponder and work out.

And, with Ash Wednesday tomorrow, the question comes at an opportune time.

We don’t need an immediate, clever answer.

We can contemplate that question over the next forty days.

The Chair of St Peter

The central truth is always more important than the surrounding trivia.

But trivia can be fun and interesting.

During the past week, I’ve run into a lot of chair trivia.

Last Thursday I spoke with a historian at Mt. Vernon.

She said the item that made her feel closest to Washington was the desk chair in his study.

He sat in that chair at Mt. Vernon before he was president.

He moved it to his presidential office and used it there for eight years.

And he brought it back to Mt. Vernon and used it for the rest of his life.

A few nights ago I was reading The Day Christ Died.

And that book’s account of Christ before Pontius Pilate stressed the importance of Pilate’s chair.

Pilate initially walked down the stairs and stopped at a landing.

His aides brought his official chair to the landing, and Pilate sat there.

He later descended all the way to the courtyard.

The aides brought the chair along,

Because, by custom, the Prefect rendered his official judgments from that particular chair.

Yesterday, Fr. Gene’s homily touched on the symbolism of the presider’s chair.

And now, today is the feast of the Chair of St. Peter.

The chair in the symbolic sense—as the seat of authority, the seat of wisdom and teaching.

But there actually is an old wood and ivory chair at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

And tradition, and the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1917, say St. Peter probably sat in it as Pope.

Today, February 22, is not only a feast day honoring our first Pope.

It’s also the birthday of our first president.

Another interesting piece of trivial coincidence.

But the less important details of history are not always as they seem.

Dates and interpretations and available facts can change.

Technically, George Washington was not born on Feb 22, 1732—he was born on Feb 11, 1731.

But in 1752 Britain (and the Colonies) switched from the Julian calendar.

To catch up to the Gregorian calendar, they had to jump ahead 11 days.

And at the same time they changed New Years Day from March 25, to January 1.

So what had been February 11, 1731, retroactively became February 22, 1732.

Pope Paul VI had a panel of experts examine St. Peter’s Chair in 1967.

And they concluded that it most likely dated from the 8^th Century.

Many Popes did sit in it, but probably not St Peter.

It is inspiring to go to historic sites and see and maybe even touch historic artifacts.

They do give us a more intense appreciation and connection.

Added sensual perceptions of the reality of the underlying truth they represent.

But in the end, those sites and artifacts are really just trivia.

We may touch them with our eyes or hands.

But that underlying central truth is what touches us.

Today, our Church celebrates one of those underlying central truths.

The truth that Jesus formed us into his Church.

And gave Peter and his successors the earthly authority to guide that Church.

That truth stands solidly upon the word of the Gospel—it doesn’t rest upon any chair.