Perspectives: Street Art

 It's street art - from Pittsburgh, obviously.

The Image of God: Part 2

The passage from Matthew 22 occurs when Jesus has already traveled to Jerusalem.  He has warned his disciples that he must suffer at the hands of the elders and chief priests, be killed, and be raised.  You remember that passage – Peter objects, and Jesus says, “get behind me, Satan.” 

This scripture from Matthew is the first of three conflict stories, all in chapter 22. In these stories, various groups of leaders challenge Jesus.  In our passage today, we find the Herodians and the Pharisees approaching him with a question. Herodians are supporters of the Roman Empire (including Herod Antipas – who had been named King of the Jews by Rome). They supported paying taxes to Rome. The Pharisees, who were committed to Jewish laws, opposed paying taxes to Caesar mainly because of the special coin that had to be used – the coin carried the image of the “divine Caesar” – they saw the use of the coin as a violation of both the first (you shall have no other gods before me) and second (no worship of idols) commandments.  These two groups shared nothing in common except a desire to see Jesus gone. So together, they come up with a plan to trick him.

They ask Jesus, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”  I imagine, like me, they are hoping for a simple answer.  The Herodians hope he will oppose paying taxes – imagine the trouble Jesus would be in – he could then be accused of treason or sedition.  The Pharisees hope he will approve paying taxes – Jesus could then be viewed as a Roman sympathizer, who promotes breaking the Jewish law. 

But Jesus doesn’t provide a simple answer. He asks for the coin and says, “Whose head is this and whose title?” 21 They answered, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”

If I close my eyes and imagine the scene, I can see Jesus, holding the silver denarius that was used to pay the tax. On one side is the image of the emperor, with an inscription declaring divinity of Tiberius. He’s holding a coin that declared a man to be divine – a coin with the image of a god (with a little g). I’m struck by the arrogant pomposity of the coin – here is Jesus, who is God, holding a coin with words declaring that a mere man is god. I wonder what Jesus thought. 

His response “give to Caeser what belongs to Caeser” accomplishes two things: Jesus recognizes that we have obligations as members of society – sorry, but yes, you should pay taxes. But beyond that, Jesus reduces this coin to something inconsequential when he says, give “to God the things that are God’s.”

If we think about this coin that declared Tiberius was god, we can consider the question – what are the things that are God’s (big G). What has the image of God on it? 

Genesis 1:27 tells us, “So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them”

You and I are made in the image of God. God’s image is seen on us. What belongs to God? We do.

The Image of God: Part 1

I hate tax season. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t hate paying taxes, although it’s not my favorite thing to do. I think we all need to contribute to society, and sometimes that means sending money – we need to provide the people around us (and ourselves) with educations, health care, food, roads to drive on, security, and clean water coming out of the tap. So, OK, we pay taxes.  

What I hate about tax season is calculating the amount of tax owed. Steve and I complete IRS Form 1040 for five people.  I almost always start with my mother’s taxes – she’s 88, and while she used to do her own tax forms, she now asks me to do it, and she always wants it completed in February. If not earlier. And I tell you, calculating the taxes due on social security payment is mathematical acrobatics (and I like math).  

Usually next is our own taxes. We struggle to find the paperwork we need to enter the numbers into the tax software and then we watch as the amount we owe climbs with each calculation. 

Then we Zoom with our sons, and we do their 1040s. And some years that is done on April 14, even though I tell them their tax deadline is St. Patrick’s Day (doesn’t work). One awful April 15, I was up all night trying to submit our younger son’s form – our tax software submission system was having a glitch.

Anyway, I hate tax season. I wish, in today’s Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus had told the people gathered around him that Christians shouldn’t pay taxes! But that’s not what he said – the reality is much more complicated than that, and I think it even defines our relationship with God and our neighbors. 

But I jump ahead. 

Let’s start by looking at the scripture itself.

Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him 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 Caesar 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, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.  Matthew 22:15-22 

Perspectives: Bikes

I'm not sure why this caught my attention - I think it is the idea that there are so many different sized bikes. Not one size fits all - as in life.

Futureholders

Roman Krznaric, in his book The Good Ancestor, writes:

Just as companies have shareholders, societies have futureholders: future citizens whose interests and welfare should be considered in the decisions that will affect their lives.  Some you have already met - your children or other young people you know - while most are yet to be born.

I think this is true, and I think that considering the interests of futureholders is difficult. Just the definition he provides - those "whose interests and welfare should be considered in the decisions that will affect their lives" - illustrates why it is difficult. It is an unselfish and non-self-centered way to think. Maybe too often we pretend our own interests align with the interests and concerns of futureholders so that we don't have to deal with the conflict between what we want and what is good for the future.

We can ignore the interests of our grandchildren when we fail to act to preserve the environment by reducing carbon emmisions, but what I'm talking about has a more pervasive subtext. Do we ever mask the needs of the future generations by "pasting" our own interests over theirs, and fooling ourselves that we are then considering their interests? Maybe, for example, when we tout "progress" we are saying it is important for future generations (and maybe it is, or maybe it isn't), but what we are really doing to placing our own needs and wants over those of the futureholders. 

Krznaric goes on to say that we need to expand "our ethical imaginations forward in time." We have difficulty doing that even in the present, but expanding it to the future - for generations we can't even imagine yet - is particularly challenging.

Book Review: Genesis: A Beginner's Guide to the Beginning

Information about the book

Genesis: A Beginner's Guide to the Beginning by Amy-Jill Levine.  Published by Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2026.  (Amazon / Cokesbury).

Summary

From Amazon: Genesis: A Beginner’s Guide to the Beginning invites readers into the foundational stories of the Old Testament with clarity, depth, and imagination. Amy-Jill Levine presents Genesis as a living text, one that continues to shape faith, identity, and our understanding of what it means to be human. These familiar stories are often heard in fragments; here, they are explored with care, curiosity, and theological insight.

With her signature blend of historical context and engaging storytelling, Levine opens up the book of beginnings, attending to its beauty, tensions, and enduring questions. She invites readers to linger with stories of creation and responsibility, rivalry and loss, judgment and mercy, promise and perseverance, revealing how these ancient narratives still speak with power today.

The book purchase includes access to 6 video sessions of 10-12 minutes each and access to other leader resources.

Impressions

This book examines key stories from Genesis, including The Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah's Ark, the Near Sacrifice of Isaac, Jacob's Stairway, and Joseph's story. (I think she needs to write a volume 2 with more stories!). 

Levine is a professor of New Testament and Jewish studies at Vanderbilt University. I'm not sure how many books of hers I have read - looking at my bookshelf, I see five, but there may be more. I can't recommend this book (or the others I have read) enough. They are inspiring, educational, and enlightening. Any of them are excellent for personal study or group work. 

Posts about book

Levine Genesis

 

Perspectives: Hiding Kitty

 

Self-glorification as Legacy

I'm currently reading The Good Ancestor by Roman Krznaric.  This book was referenced several times by the keynote speaker at a recent Stewardship Conference I attended, so I picked it up. 

The chapter called "Legacy Mindset" begins with the thesis that people want to be remembered.  Krznaric says that there are two ways (in general) that people choose to express their legacy.  Read this quote about the first way:

"Some pursue an egocentric form of legacy, hoping to be remembered and glorified for their personal achievements.  That was the approach of Alexander the Great, who had statues of himself built throughout his empire, including the sacred Greek site of Olympia. The legacy he sought was to be venerated in perpetuity for his heroic actions and brilliant conquests, and to be memorialised like a god -- unsurprising for someone who claimed to be a direct descendant of Zeus. Today's corporate oligarchs who use their philanthropic largess to have buildings, football stadiums, and museum wings named after themselves have similar ambitions."

First, I think dividing people's motivations into two catagories is oversimplified to say the least, and I would never propose that everyone whose philanthropic actions result in a naming opportuity are completely motivated by glorification.  That said, I read this and wondered if this kind of legacy-seeking, when motivated not by service but by self-glorification is a way in which we tend to worship a god other than God - a god we make of ourselves.

That came to mind as I watch the currently elected president work pretty desperately to place his name on multiple buildings, actions, and new construction. Do we see how this self-glorification is not Christian (or anything but self-worship)? I think it is an attitude we would normally not condone.

How do you or I do this ourselves? What can we do to change it?

 

Serve and Guard

Chapter One of Amy-Jill Levine's book, Genesis, was full of interesting and eye opening information. I'm going to focus this post on one aspect of the chapter, but the whole exploration of the Creation stories is rich.

Take a look at Genesis 2:15:  "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it."  Levine focuses on the word "till."  To me, to till is to dig in the ground, clear out the weeds and rocks, and plant seeds. I'm not a gardener or a farmer, but that's my impression.  Levine says, "The term translated 'til' in in Hebrew eved, a term that appear over one thousand times; it connotes not so much technical gardening...but 'serving'; its noun form gives us both 'servant' and 'slave' as well as 'worker' and, amazingly, the Hebrew term for 'worship."

What does it mean to think that God put people in the garden to till it? If tilling is serving, then what does it mean to serve the earth? It's not just taking advantage of the benefits of soil to grow food, but it means that we are tasked with caring for the earth itself - providing what it needs - serving it.

She goes on to say, "The connection between the land and the connotations of 'work,' 'service,' and 'worship' shared by the same Hebrew root is supported by the Hebrew term in 2:15 for 'keep,' shamar, which conveys 'guard or 'protect."

How does it change our understanding of being in the Garden (and in the world) to till and keep it if it connotes serve and guard?

 

Perspectives: Gone Fishing

 

The Story of God

If we are going to tell the story about God, what story are we going to tell?

This is a line from a sermon given by our pastor, Rev. Sarah Wilmoth.  If we are going to tell the story of God, what story are we going to tell?

There are options, right? Our story can be of the god we make in our minds - a god that favors us, blesses us, and judges others. A god that makes us comfortable and rewards our seemingly attentive use of the word "Christian" to describe ourselves. We might tell of a god that rewards us with riches as a transaction for attending worship, or giving of our gifts. Maybe we tell of a god that judges others harshly but provides us with grace.

If we are going to tell the story about God, what story are we going to tell?

Or maybe, we tell the story of God. The God that has entered our lives to change them. A God that created everyone in God's own image so that all are blessed and sacred. Maybe we tell the story of a God that forgave us and continues to forgive us, even though we sin - a God that offers all of us grace. Maybe we tell the story of a God that loves you and loves me, and loves even those we would, in our sin, despise. Maybe we tell the story of a God that saves us from self-contempt and the contempt of others.  Maybe our story is one of love and not hate, grace and not judgement, belovedness and not rejection.

If we are going to tell the story of God, what story are we going to tell?

 

Logos: Listen

Inspired by Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16

Listen.
Pay attention to what I will tell you.
I will tell you about your history, your faith.
Listen.
Tell your children, tell your grandchildren,
tell those in your neighborhood
who don't know about God.
Listen and speak.

God, the creator of us all,

worked miracles for the slaves in Egypt.

God opened the sea and made a way,

Opened a way to freedom.

God provided guidance in fiery light,

Water from rocks

Abundant life.

From dry nothingness,

God created waters to flow,

streams to answer thirst.

Remember what God has done.

Tell about what God will do.

God will bring freedom from what traps us.

God will bring life from wilderness.

God will prepare a path through obstacles.

God will be present.

How do we know?

Because God is.

Perspectives: Chicken on bike

 

Look Now

Amy-Jill Levine, in the book Genesis: A Beginner's Guide to the Beginning, quotes Isaiah in her introduction:

How you are fallen from heaven,

O Morning Star, son of Dawn?

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

You said to yourself,

'I will ascend to heave;

I will raise my throne above the stars of God...

I will ascend to the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.'

But you are brought down to Shel,

to the depths of the Pit.

Those who see you will stare at you

and ponder over you:

'Is this the man who made the earth tremble...'

(Isaiah 14:12-16)

She shares that this passage satirizes the Babylonian imperial goals. 

It's a timeless passage, though, isn't it? It is (to me) a portrait of a person or a nation that strives to rise to the level of god, and then is brought down, so that others stare and ponder.

I can think of nations that step on others to rise high. I can think of leaders who neglect their duties to care for those they lead in order to rise up. I can think of ourselves, who try to lift ourselves up as god-like instead of following God.

And I can picture, at the end, someone looking, and saying, "Is this the one who made the earth tremble? Look at him now.