An interesting question to ask at the moment might be <\/a>– how would Jesus vote? The question in our reading isn\u2019t\nquite that one – but it does sound a bit like one of those tricky questions\ninterviewers use with politicians, trying to pin them down of catch them out.\nAsking about taxation is always a good one, because people really care about\ntheir money.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe questioners think that they are forcing Jesus to\nchoose between making himself unpopular by siding with Caesar, or more likely\ngetting himself into trouble by telling people not to pay their taxes. Surely,\nwith all his talk of the Kingdom of God, he will say that God\u2019s authority supersedes\nall human authority, and so Caesar\u2019s demands should be ignored?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reply Jesus gives isn\u2019t just a clever way to get\nout of a difficult situation. He is making a clear distinction. Living in this\nworld means living in the political – and economic – reality. We do have human\nauthorities. They demand certain things of us, and meeting those obligations\ndoesn\u2019t mean that we are not paying due deference to God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can all \u2018give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar\u2019 –\nby paying our taxes, keeping the law, and voting in elections. That doesn\u2019t\nusually stop us \u2018giving to God what belongs to God.\u2019 We don\u2019t have a ready made\nexcuse – \u2018I\u2019m too other worldly to fit in with this human system\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But we also have a larger perspective – and that is\nwhat is so powerful about Jesus\u2019 answer. The questioners assume that how we use\nour money is what really matters – but I think the listeners hear Jesus saying\nthat our responsibility before God is much more important. One involves just\nour wallets – the other involves, as many parables show, the whole of our\nlives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what if this wider perspective of the Kingdom of\nGod challenges the way that human authority is used? Jesus doesn\u2019t deal with\nthis here – although he is more than willing to challenge the human authority\nof the Jewish leaders. But there are people who have lived out that challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Martin Luther King was inspired by his dream of a time\nwhen God\u2019s kingdom would right the wrongs of American society – when black and\nwhite children would be able sit down as equals around one table – when justice\nwould roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That dream lead him to challenge the human\nauthorities. He didn\u2019t deny those authorities had their place – but, like\nJesus, he made it clear that their authority was limited. He and his followers\nchallenged it by non violent protests – they worked within the system to\nchallenge the system – so that they could make that system a better reflection\nof the vision they had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we can hold these two things together – working\nwith the system as it is, and challenging it where it clashes with the bigger\nvision that God gives us. Maybe for some of us the bigger vision at the moment\nis focussed around our response to climate change. Working within the system\nmeans checking every manifesto to see what their promises are in this area before\nwe vote – and for some people it might mean getting involved in the grubby\nbusiness of politics itself – trying to change those policies – because\npolitics is embedded in the way the world works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It might also mean challenging the system in the light\nof this bigger vision – as the protesters in London did last month. Unlike in\nthe days of the Roman empire, we might really be able to affect the decisions\nof those in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus doesn\u2019t give us a free pass to giving up on the\nworld as it is – but he does hold out a hope of a better way. When he stands\nbefore the Roman Governor, on his way to be crucifying, we see a very different\nsort of power at work – the power of unarmed truth, the power of undefeated\nlove – an authority which is deeper and stronger than all the powers of this\nworld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May your kingdom come \nmay your will be done<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nWe pray for our politicians, and all involved in this\nelection: Lord, may those who seek power in our country learn the ways of\nintegrity, and humility, of justice and compassion\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We pray for ourselves: Lord, give us wisdom to know\nwhere to challenge power that is wrongly used – in our community, in our\ncountry and in our world, and give us the courage to speak and act when you\ncall us\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We pray for our country: Lord, renew a vision in the\npeople of this country which includes the needs of all, which commits to care\nfor our planet, and which draws us together around the deep values of your\nkingdom\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lord, may your kingdom come; may your will be done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Pharisees plotted a way to trap Jesus into saying something damaging. They sent their disciples, with a few of Herod\u2019s followers mixed in, to ask, \u201cTeacher, we know you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}