What’s on the Coin?

What’s on the coin? We’ve all played the game of spinning a coin in the air and calling out heads or tails before it lands. The coin eventually lands with one side or the other facing up and depending on who called correctly – heads or tails – they get first choice. This is a tried-and-true method of deciding between two possibilities by entrusting the decision to fate’s choice.

Ancient coins were – as modern British ones still are – stamped with image of the reigning monarch along with an inscription – just in case there’s any identity confusion. Jesus was presented with such a coin by his opponents – increasingly disturbed by the challenge of his message and its appeal to the ordinary folk who flocked to the Temple to listen to him. Keep at the back of your mind the question what’s on the coin.

As we watch the playing out of the internecine struggle within the House Republican caucus – confirming the current fractious and fragmented state of America’s body politic – picture the state of Roman Palestine in the time of Jesus. Like the Palestinians of today, occupation led 1^st-century Jews to sometimes unite in common cause but more typically – fracture around different responses to occupation and how to bring about its end.

In 1^st-century Palestine, five major Jewish factions faced the central choice presented to all occupied people – collaborate or resist. Those on the resistance side of the tension further divided over the use of violence as a tool of resistance.

The Sadducees, the religiously conservative priesthood – jealous for their hereditary privileges along with the Herodians, the aristocratic oligarchs of the Hasmonean Dynasty of Herod the Great – the last ruler of an independent Israel before the Roman occupation – chose to collaborate with the Roman occupation. In fact the Herodians went one step further as the Greek-speaking, culturally cosmopolitan globalists – the designer clothes wearing, fast living, pleasure-seeking 1^st-century .1%. The Sadducees clinging to unchanging tradition. The Herodians for whom God was simply a primitive artifact from a superstitious past.

The parties of resistance were the Pharisees, the Zealots, and the Essenes. The Pharisees, religiously progressive – the party of moderation resisting the occupation through keeping themselves apart from any involvement in Roman administration – while firmly rejecting violence as a tool of resistance. While the Zealots – also known as the Sicario were a 1^st-century Hamas or Hezbollah – engaged in violent resistance through assassination of Roman officials and Jewish collaborators alongside widespread intimidation of the Jewish population. The Essenes, on the other hand, are known to us principally through the excavation of one of their settlements at Qumran where archeologists unearthed the treasure trove known as the Dead Sea Scrolls – were separatist-survivalists who refused to have anything to do with both the Romans as well as their fellow Jews. Hold-up in communities in isolated parts of the Negev – they waited for the coming of the Messiah whom they pictured as God’s warrior king who would free them from the occupation. John the Baptist presented a very Essene image and preached an Essene message.

Matthew 22:15-22 therefore paints the startling picture of Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees consorting together to entrap Jesus. Adversity makes for strange bedfellows. It’s a testament to the power of Jesus’ message that factions who normally would have had nothing to do with one another were forced to come together to try to take him down by tricking him into convicting himself of blasphemy and or treason.

So, what’s on the coin? For the Pharisees, Roman coinage was a source of spiritual contamination because the inscription on the head proclaimed Caesar not simply as emperor but as Kyrios or Lord – a title only Yahweh could claim. The gist of this encounter between Jesus and his interlocutors centers around the legitimacy of taxation. In this context, the question concerned the dispute among Jews as to whether it was breaking the Covenant with God to pay taxes to a false god – that is Caesar – or simply a civic duty forced upon them.

In a somewhat surprising alliance of convenience, the Pharisees and Herodians pose the taxation question to Jesus. If he answers that it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar – he will be acknowledging the emperor as a god, and thus convict himself of blasphemy. To advise not paying taxes, he commits treason against the Romans. So, the strategy was to flatter him with the title of teacher and watch which way he jumped.

We know how clever a debater Jesus was and so we are not surprised when Jesus avoids the trap by stating the obvious. Asking for a coin – most likely from one of the Herodians as no Pharisee would ever carry such a thing – Jesus is suggesting there is no conflict between a civil duty to pay taxes and a religious duty to honor God as an ultimate responsibility. The beauty of his answer is that he offends both groups while depriving them of the satisfaction of hearing the jaws of their trap snap closed.

Render to Caesar the things belonging to Caesar and to God the things belonging to God seems a simple solution. But as we know all too well, it’s one that requires an examination of and balancing between competing allegiances. What and how much is owed to Caesar? What and how much is owed to God?

The reading of Matthew 22:15-22 in parishes up and down the land, marks the launch of the fall pledge drive. Eschewing gimmicky stewardship campaigns much loved by Episcopal Church Central, this year’s annual stewardship letter will soon be dropping into your letter boxes. The focus of this year’s letter is to thank everyone for their support last year by highlighting the vibrancy and extent of our outreach ministries in 2023 – the wonderful fruit of your support. In the mailing you will also find a supporting budget narrative with a pie chart of expenditure along with the all important estimate of giving card for 2024. After prayerful contemplation please complete the estimate of giving card and return it to us asap – please.

However, having noted the connection between Matt 22:15-22 and stewardship themes I want to take Matthew’s text in a different direction by returning to the question what’s on the coin? More explicitly– what coin design can tell us about ourselves.

US coin design is traditional and for the most part unchanging. It tells us that original designs never need to change. By contrast with the accession of Charles to the British throne, the Royal Mint has issued a whole new set of coin designs. Each coin’s head features Charles in profile -facing left as his mother faced right. His image bears no crown– a nod to less deferential times. On the tail the coins depict examples of endangered species of British flora or fauna – reflecting the King’s conservation and ecological concerns.

The coin images – head and tail – of his mother’s reign projected images of national greatness and political unity. As did the humble coin in Matthew’s story – a symbol not only of economic value but also a representation of worldly power and political values.

As representations of economic value and national pride the design of our coins and banknotes has tended to project pride in national achievement. Such pride – the celebration of power also lies at the root of our plunder of the earth’s resources as a celebration of human achievement. Too much deference to Caesar and not enough honor to God.

Therefore, it’s curious to see on a nation’s money images expressing a godly concern for the protection of the environment against the human instinct to plunder and despoil the natural world. Alongside being tokens of economic value, the new British coin designs project the spiritual values of our growing desire for economic power to be better harnessed to the project of environmental restoration – heralding a more equal balance between the interests of Caesar and those of God.

A rereading of Jesus’ statement Render to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar and to God the things which belong to God – might lead us to see that he’s not making a sharp distinction between civic and spiritual obligations so much as offering a picture of balance between the expression of earthly power and our spiritual aspirations. Facing up to the serious challenges ahead still requires of us some hard choices as we bring our material and spiritual aspirations into closer alignment. What better way to do this than in the redesign of the humble coin – reminding us of a need for greater alignment between political and spiritual values as hinted at in the new British coin designs. Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God – of earthly power harnessed to the fulfilment of God’s work of restoring the face of creation. What better project to meet the challenges ahead.

October 21, 2023 0

In Defense of a Moral Principle

We stand appalled and helpless before the enormity of the rapid escalation of unspeakable violence in the Holy Land. We’ve been shocked to witness the biblical barbarism of the Hamas slaughter of Israeli civilians in the settlements of southern Israel. Hamas’ actions display a deliberate barbarism born of a religious fanaticism that despises life – any life – in this world in preference to the promise of paradise in the next. Of course there is a political calculation in Hamas’ actions – to scupper any path forward for peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors in the region.

In slow motion we now watch the 21^st century revenge of a traumatized Israel – reeling after the revival of Jewish collective memories of helplessness in the face of genocidal attack. That such a thing could happen within the borders of Israel is particularly painful. Israel, the one country where Jews hoped to be safe.

The victims of Hamas’ fighters were not the ultra-militant residents of the illegal settlements on the West Bank that everyday devour more and more Palestinian land and vital water resources. Thomas Friedman in his NY Times opinion piece Israel Has Never needed to be smarter than in this moment –quotes the Israeli writer Ari Shavit: “These were the homes of the people of pre-1967 Israel, democratic Israel, liberal Israel — living in peaceful kibbutzim or going to a life-loving disco party,” For Hamas, “Israel’s mere existence is a provocation”.

Amidst the deluge of commentary and opinion on the current crisis I found Yossi Klein Halevi’s The Reckoning in The Atlantic to be most insightful. He notes that Israel must grapple first with its enemies, and then with the failures of its own government. He writes: Israel faces two very different reckonings. The first is with our enemies. Until now, Netanyahu and his right-wing allies viewed Hamas as a kind of strategic asset: so long as it was in power in Gaza, a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was impossible. For that reason, in addition to effectively bribing Hamas to refrain from attacking Israel, Netanyahu allowed massive infusions of cash from Qatar to prop up the Hamas government.

Thomas Friedman articulates the challenge facing Israel now – which is to act in its own best long-term interests and not fall into the trap of doing what Hamas and Iran dearly want it to do. As Americans now recognize in the decades after 9/11, revenge is a path that leads only to a cycle of ever diminishing return.

In grappling with its enemies, we now must bear witness to the execution of Israel’s rage upon Hamas resulting in the collateral deaths of thousands in Gaza. History attests that in Israel after the current war emergency is over there will be a terrible reckoning for the politicians who have exploited intercommunal (Israeli-Palestinian) and intracultural (Israeli culture war) tensions that gravely endangered the cohesion and security of the nation. For the citizens of Gaza, no such future reckoning awaits. At best the leaders of Hamas will either be killed or escape into exile – never having to answer for their crimes against their own people. The Gaza Palestinians – 60% children – continue to die under a hail of Israeli bombs, while the Hamas terrorist organization hides within a shadow underground city of tunnels and caverns more extensive than London’s Underground Tube system.

So, what are we to do? This is not an inconsequential question as many today look to the latest tweet or social media post for their moral compass settings – no longer able to hold mutually contesting thoughts at the same time. Reducing a spectrum of nuanced grays into blacks and whites offers a kind of solution – and feed the dangerous yearning to take a stand for one side or the other.

Our culture of false moral equivalency has obscured for many a clear-sighted understanding of the fundamental moral question which Ben Wittes Co-Director of the Harvard Law School–Brookings Project on Law and Security has recently articulated so clearly. Wittes tweeted: There are no problems the solutions to which are the intentional murder of civilians. The response of many to his tweet was a yes, but – a continuation of the what about-ism response. No matter the context of oppression – the genuine grievances of the oppressed and the genuine fears of the oppressors – the solution never justifies the political murder of civilians. That as a culture we can no longer agree on this basic moral premise – is cause for great concern.

What can we do? Ultimately, what we can do is to categorically affirm – that is – without qualification or exception – the fundamental moral principle that There are no problems the solutions to which are the intentional murder of civilians. Agreement on this principle provides us with a road map for action.

In this week’s E-News I encouraged us to support the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem AFEDJ appeal for the a-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. A-Ahli is a health care institution within the wider Episcopal-Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem’s healthcare ministry to the Palestinians. Like all under resourced medical providers in Gaza, a-Ahli is now completely overwhelmed. The numbers of injured increase exponentially as essential medical supplies, along with the availability of food, water, diesel and electricity alarmingly decrease. Alongside the AFEDJ appeal I also mentioned the American Friends of Magen David Adom AFMDA Israel’s Red Cross organization. As part of the International Red Cross network MDA is prevented from receiving government funding of emergency services. It relies on donor support for the provision of ambulance and emergency response services across Israel.

Alongside finding practical ways to support humanitarian relief we must not overlook the crucial importance of giving spiritual support. Spiritually, our task is to bear witness to the facts of violence and atrocity – facing humanity’s seemingly bottomless capacity for inhumanity without flinching or seeking to explain it away. Our spiritual task is to bear witness to the suffering of the innocent – refusing to justify the causes of their suffering. As Christians, we bear testament to a mystery that might is never right – a mystery concealed in plain sight – from those whose vision is wholly conformed by the power driven zero sum narratives of this world. Facing unflinchingly into the face of violence and refusing to turn our faces away from the suffering of the innocent – is I believe – our most important Christian witness.

Philippi had been a Greek city founded by Alexander’s father, Philip of Macedon. Under the Romans, Philippi had mushroomed into a regional commercial hub through the Roman army’s policy of resettling veterans far away from the incendiary politics of the capital.

Paul had found in Philippi a rich field for sowing his Jesus message. We should not miss in today’s reading reference to the importance and influence that Paul acknowledges of the women working alongside him in his mission work.

Philippians is a Paul love letter. Writing to his friends in Philippi we find him during a period of some personal anxiety, having journeyed to Rome after appealing the case the Judean authorities had tried to bring against him to the imperial courts. In Rome he waits under house arrest – not knowing if his appeal will lead to his release or a sentence of death. Having already encouraged the Philippians to adopt humility as the model for Christ-centered living, in today’s portion he exhorts his friends with: Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable; if there is excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things – then God’s peace – peace that passes all understanding – will be with you.

What can we do? We can practice the cultivation of truth in the face of lies and misinformation – holding in tension conflicting viewpoints. We can choose honorable action when tempted to take the road of expediency. We can value excellence in a culture where the mediocre will suffice. And in our encounter with anything worthy of praise we can fix our minds there – cultivating a deep attitude of gratitude flowing into generous action. We can cherish love and commend justice – and in so doing open ourselves to the counsel of our better angels. We can fervently pray for peace to come and work for justice to be done.

How easily our prayers for peace and justice trip off our tongues. We pray earnestly for peace as a cessation of conflict while ignoring the denial of justice. As we are forced to currently bear witness to – peace without justice is merely the temporary suspension of hostilities.

Peace is the fruit of hard love and justice is the hard doing of love. Peace and justice are indivisible and their causes inseparable. As 70 years of turbulence in the Holy Land bear witness – justice denied frustrates the desire for peace! The world continues to burn and the need for us is to base our attitudes, decisions, and action upon a fundamental moral principle – only grows more urgent.

October 14, 2023 0