“Caught Between God and Caesar”          St. Matthew 22:15-22

A Sermon by Pastor Boettner

The Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost

October 20, 2002

Leonia United Methodist Church, NJ

In the Name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier

Tony Campolo may be a prophet in the church today. Tony is a well-known Baptist preacher; he is a professor of Sociology at Eastern College in St. David's, Pa. Like the prophets of the Old Testament, Tony takes unpopular stands. Anyone else taking the same stands would get run out of the country.

For example, Tony spoke recently in North Carolina to a Baptist's Men's Conference. Take an extra dose of your blood pressure medicine, because here is what he had to say. He says it has become dangerous to quote Jesus in church since Sept. 11. He goes on to say, "I'm not sure we want to hear about this Jesus who says, 'Those who live by the sword will die by the sword,' as we engage in a military buildup." He goes on, "I'm not sure we want to hear of a Jesus who says, 'Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.'"

"What's our answer to terrorism?" he asks. "It's going to set back missions a thousand years. We're going to kill them. We're going to root them out and kill them."

Campolo compared the current war on terrorism to trying to eliminate malaria by killing mosquitoes. "You get rid of malaria by destroying the swamps in which the malaria mosquitoes are bred," he said. "There's a swamp out there called poverty and injustice."

Campolo said he is tired of "big-time evangelists" calling Islam an evil religion. "You say 'But they quote it right out of the Quran [Koran]," he said. "I can quote out of the New Testament and make our faith a violent religion. I would not want you to take those passages and make my God into a violent destructive God who goes around calling his people to murder others."

Campolo told how St. Francis of Assisi left the Christian army during the Crusades, went to the tent of a sultan leading the Muslim army and tried to win him to Christ. "He didn't succeed," says Campolo, "but the sultan said, 'If all Christians were like you, Mr. Francis, we wouldn't be here today.'"

Jesus called Christians to work for justice, Campolo said. "If we're going to win the Muslim world to Christ we cannot make stupid statements about their religion and we cannot, in fact, engage in a holy war against them."

Campolo said he is worried because American Christians have taken off their WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) bracelets and replaced them with American flags. "People, I love this country," he said. "It is the best Babylon on the face of this earth," says Tony Campolo, "but it's still Babylon. This is not the [realm] of God and my ultimate allegiance belongs to Jesus and so does yours."

Whoa, that hurts. And the reason it hurts is that it is true. Even as we send our soldiers out to kill and to be killed, we know violence is not the ultimate solution to terrorism. It is a quick band-aid that will only defer terrorism until a new generation arises seeking revenge. It seems like forever that Israel and the Palestinians have been trying to stop violence with more violence. It doesn't work. It's insane.

And America is not the Realm of God. It's interesting. Many preachers who gleefully quoted evangelist Billy Graham's wife, Ruth, when she said that if God doesn't punish America for its sinfulness, God will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah, have now turned around and are acting as if America is the holiest nation that ever existed. Let's get real. This IS the best Babylon on Earth, as Campolo says, but it IS still Babylon. And our calling as followers of Jesus IS to defeat terrorism, not with bullets and bombs, but with love and justice.

The Pharisees were trying to find a way to ensnare Jesus. So they sent a delegation to try to trip him up. They began with flattery. "Teacher, we know that what you say is true. We know you speak for God and tell it like it is. Tell us then, should we pay our taxes to Caesar, or not?"

Jesus knew they were trying to trap him. He knew there were revolutionaries around who were encouraging people to withhold their tribute money from Rome--just like there are extremists in our land who encourage the same means of protest against our government. But revolt against the civil authorities was not why Jesus came. Jesus came to lead a revolt against the very gates of hell.

"Show me the money," said Jesus. And they brought him a coin. And Jesus asked, "Whose image is on this coin?" And they said, "Caesar's." And Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."

Let's begin here: We are citizens of this country and we owe it our allegiance. Most of us would die to protect our country. Why? Because we treasure freedom.

Do you like puns? I heard a groaner recently. A couple in Texas became parents of identical twin girls. These twins were born on the 4th of July, and the father, being patriotic, said to his wife, "We will name them Liberty and Justice."

His wife said, "Are you nuts? You can't have girls going through life with names like Liberty and Justice. We are going to name them regular girls' names like Mary or Jane."

Well, the argument went on for about a month, when a compromise was reached. They would each name one of the girls. The man chose Liberty and the wife picked Elizabeth.

As the girls grew, they were so identical, they kept pulling tricks on people who couldn't tell them apart.

Finally, when they were about 18, a young man took interest in them. He would take one out on a date but he was never sure which one he was with. He decided he would marry one of them, but he wasn't sure which one he would marry.

He went to the girls' father and explained his quandary.

"I love your daughters and want to marry one of them, but I can't tell them apart, so I will leave it up to you. Give me Liberty or give me Beth."

I warned you it was a groaner.

If it came down to liberty or death, many of us would choose liberty. We are citizens of this country and we owe it our allegiance. America has been good to us--particularly as Christians. American Muslims complain--and rightly so--about being discriminated against since Sept. 11. But try being a Christian in Saudi Arabia. A big difference. We have a tremendous stake in religious freedom in this land--for all people.

While visiting Berlin a few short years ago, Colonel Jeff O'Leary gained a new appreciation for our freedoms. He stayed in a hotel overlooking the Berlin Wall that had once separated free West Germany from imprisoned East Germany.  Thousands of people died over the years trying to cross that wall to freedom. A certain picture shows a small boy standing on the East side of the fence, his chubby hands open wide. A young border guard looks all around as he gingerly lifts the child over the fence and into freedom. Those who knew the young guard claim that he was arrested soon after for his compassionate act.

Hundreds of thousands of people have given their lives and their sacred fortunes that we might live in freedom today. We do not take that for granted. If we are talking about the difference between liberty and tyranny, we can wave the flag with the best of them.

However, we are also citizens of the Realm of God and we owe it our allegiance.

The primary content of Jesus' teaching was the Realm of God. "The [Realm] is within you," he said on one occasion. "You are not far from the [Realm]," he said on another. "The [Realm] is like a mustard seed . . . it is like treasure hidden in a field . . . it is like a pearl of great price . . ."

Jessie Lee Brown Foveaux tells the story of a traveling salesman who once came to her small Arkansas town. The man was looking to buy pearls at a low price from the local citizens, then sell them for a profit in the big cities. One resident claimed that he knew a man with a pearl, but he didn't think the fellow could be talked into selling it. He gave the salesman the address of a Mr. Mosely who lived down the street.

With great anticipation, the salesman knocked on Mr. Mosely's door. He introduced himself and asked to buy Mr. Mosely's valuable pearl. But Mr. Mosely refused to sell it. Finally, the man asked if he could just see the pearl.

"Oh, I reckon that's all right," Mr. Mosely replied. And then he called his sixteen-year-old daughter, Pearl, into the room.

Well, that is a Pearl of great price. In fact, I'm certain Mr. Mosely would gladly die for that Pearl. That's the way Jesus wants us to feel about the Realm of God. The Realm of God is God's rule in human life. The Realm of God is doing the right thing when the rest of the world is doing wrong. The Realm of God is standing up for the weak and the helpless when the rest of the world is turning its back. The Realm of God is returning love for hatred, peace for violence, words of encouragement for words of despair. In short, the Realm of God is living the Jesus life in the society where we are located. And if we ever have to make a choice between the Realm of God and the Realm of Caesar, God must come first.

As Christians we must always remind ourselves that, though we are in the world, we are not of the world. We may get lumps in our throats at the sight of the red, white and blue--we may sing with pride, "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing; land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." Still, as followers of Jesus, we must study our nation's policies and we must lift up our voices in protest if we find that the realm of Caesar is in conflict with the Realm of God.

This is who we are. This is our first loyalty. We can do no other.

In Michel Tournier's novel The Four Wise Men, a young deposed prince encounters the infant Jesus in Bethlehem. Prince Taor has been reduced to rags. Daily he dreams of retaking the throne that is rightfully his and exercising the power that is his birthright. He resents the poverty into which he has fallen. But one day he encounters the infant Jesus. And when he beholds the Christ Child his perspective changes.

Someone asks Prince Taor, "What did Bethlehem teach you about power?" The prince answers, "The example of the crib . . . taught me the strength of weakness, the irresistible gentleness of the non-violent, the law of forgiveness . . . In view of all this, I laid the gold coin struck with the effigy of my father King Theodenos at the child's feet. It was my only treasure, my only proof that I was the legal heir to the throne of Palmyra. In relinquishing it, I renounced the kingdom [into which I was born] to search for the other kingdom promised me by the Savior."

You and I were born into one realm, but we belong to another. Let us never forget that they are not one and the same. And, as citizens of this land we love, let us seek to make it more like the land of our God and Ruler.