TO COIN A PHRASE

A Sermon by the Rev. Dr. John A. Dalles

Sunday October 18, 2020

Shadyside Presbyterian Church

Psalm 99; Matthew 22:15-22

 

Over in the West End, just off Noblestown Road there is a street you may have driven on. It has a funny kind of a name.  The name is Obey Street.  Obey Street may or may not make you wonder – Obey whom?  Obey our parents, our teachers, our boss.  Is that what comes to mind?  We obey the government. Especially when it requires us to do things like obey traffic laws.  Or to obey tax laws.

       When I hear the word Obey, I think of that phrase that Jesus coined in this portion of the Gospels.  Render unto Caesar. Of course this passage is familiar to us as it appears in the King James version where it says render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars. Give to the emperor is the updated translation, which may convey more clearly the message but the phrase rendering to Caesar has come down to us from this passage until today. It’s used by people who may not even know where it came from. But they do know what it means. It means that we have to give a certain amount of our wherewithal to the government. Like it or not.  

But there’s more to the story than that.  Because the reality is Jesus doesn’t answer the question that they ask him. Instead he takes the conversation to another level. He put before them the whole matter of deciding what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God.  He doesn’t state what those things are.  He wants them to understand it through the eyes of faith and in their hearts and their daily living. Well really, he wants us to understand it.  He’s pretty aware that neither of these two groups are really going to get it, anyway.

And so when he says RENDER UNTO CAESAR, He both deflects the question and calls upon us to search our hearts and minds in spirit for an answer. Probably one that will take us further than ever would’ve taken the Pharisees in the Herodians.

Before we leave the Pharisees and the Herodians behind. Which everyone is glad to do. Just a reminder first of all the denarius was Roman currency. Biblical scholars tell us that faithful Jews did not permit Roman currency into the temple precincts to be used as offerings. Yet isn’t it interesting when Jesus asks the Pharisees and Herodians to produce a coin, there in the temple precincts, what they have and hand him quickly but a denarius. So they were carrying that image of Cesar right into God‘s temple. They, who thought themselves superior in all matters religious to our Lord and Savior. Do keep in mind is that these two groups had nothing in common except the fact that they were not at all happy with Jesus. And the effect that he was having on the people. And the fact that he was exposing their own hypocrisy. Otherwise they had nothing in common. And hated each other‘s guts.

The question brings the occasion for everyone to ponder the question and Jesus’ reply.  To say, “All right what really does belong to and should be rendered unto Caesar. And what really does belong to God and should be rendered on to God?” When we ask those questions, our faith is shaped. We make decisions about how we use our resources. Our time. Our money. Our energies. And so much more. What will be buy. What will we save.  What shall we give. And to whom?

 

If we’re going to be paying our taxes to the government as we should, a modern-day version of RENDERING TO CAESAR, we are also called upon to give to God what is God’s. We give to God what is God’s whenever we love our neighbor.  We give to God what is God’s when we value one another. We give to God what is God when we respect one another. And we give to God even as we forgive others, and ask for their forgiveness.

Another way of saying it is, we’re going to give Cesar whatever is rightfully Caesars. But we’re not going to give Cesar anything more than that. At the same time, we’re going to give God what is rightfully God’s. And no matter which way we approach that philosophy, we end up with the same viewpoint: We are going to give God everything. All that we have.  All that we are. All that we hope for. All that is dear to us.

So, how am I using what God has given me?  When we understand that God has given us everything, then will ask that question about everything. For instance, we love our families dearly. How are we in trusting them to God, praying for them, guiding them in the paths that lead to righteousness, and honoring who they are? The same is true of everyone else we meet. The same is true of everyone that we work with. The same is true of every gift and talent that we have. Are we putting it to use for the very best and highest purposes, along the lines of Jesus Christ? Or for something less. Are we rendering it to God? Let’s pray that we are.

What belongs to God? Our deepest self belongs to God.  Just take a moment like that settle in. Our deepest self belongs to God; so of course we will give our deepest self to God.  We will render to God the things we are most worried about.  The things we pray about. The things that would otherwise keep us awake all night. There is that time of relinquishing these things. And saying: I give myself to you God. I give my worries and troubles to you God. I give my highest praise to you. What a wonderful sign of faith it is when in the worst of times, we give God our best. And in the most challenging of times, we give it to God in hopefulness and trust. 

Do you not know that God entrusted you with money (and all that it provides) so that you can: buy necessities for your families, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and, as far as it will go, relieve the wants of all humankind?  We can and we dare honor the Lord by applying what we have to God’s great and good purposes. It is not so much whose face is impressed upon that coin, as it is whose love is impressed upon your heart.

We cannot say that "this part belongs to God, so I will give it to God." Everything we are and everything we have belongs to God. Everything we are and everything we have we are to give (back) to God. We are but mere managers or stewards of these gifts God has given to us.

Just off Noblestown Road there is a street named Obey…

When I hear the word Obey, I think of that old hymn – Trust and Obey.  That is what our scripture passage is reminding us to do.  

Trust and obey,

for there’s no other way,

to be happy in Jesus.

Than to trust and obey. Amen.

PRESSING ON

PRESSING ON

A Sermon by The Rev. Dr. John A. Dalles

Sunday, October 4, 2020

World Communion Sunday – 87^th Annual Observance

Shadyside Presbyterian Church

Psalm 19; Philippians 3:4b-14

 

In some neighborhoods in our city the sidewalks are not what you might expect, a flat, level surface for you to walk upon.  No.  here and there throughout the city the sidewalks are stairways.  Some of them have very steep roads along side them.  Others have no roads at all, just a long stairway from down here to up there.  I believe you could make a plan to visit these stairway sidewalks and to go up as many of them as you can.  It would be a goal worth achieving.  Because the stairs in Pittsburgh are a lot like life. With its challenges and its opportunities.  Right there in front of us.  Just waiting for us to take them on.

 

In our scripture passage from Philippians, Paul is encouraging his favorite congregation to see the stairways in front of them, and to meet the challenge to climb them.  Wherever they may be.  I don’t know if they were experiencing a pandemic then.  What a challenging climb this has been.  Physically challenging, as we have learned to be in safe places at safe distances observing safe practices.  And mentally challenging, as we arrange how we think about everything from working at home to meeting on line.  And spiritually challenging as we find ways to worship and learn and grow together, when we have to do them all virtually.  

 

As I say I do not know for certain about the Philippians.  But the early church did face problems as big as a pandemic, and as deadly.  And they met that challenge. Otherwise, we would not be Christians, we would not be Presbyterians.  We would not be Shadyside Presbyterians.  If they had given in or given up, there would be no church of Jesus Christ.  So the guidance and teaching Paul gave them has a foundational practicality about it, for us right now.     Paul says: …forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on…

 

It sounds as if he is in the middle of some kind of temporary situation.  That what is happing today is not the same as what he had come to expect in many past yesterdays.  And he also has a sense that what is happening today will not be happening from here on in. Have you gotten to that realization?  Or do you cling to wishing that what is happing today would somehow magically transform itself into what lies behind.  The good old days?

 

Yes, Paul states he is in a temporary situation.  What is happing today is not the same as in the yesterdays.  What is happening today will not be happening from here on in. Have you come to that realization?  Have you accepted the truth that even though you adapted to the weirdness of 2020, that it is not always going to be 2020?  That 2021, and 2022 might very possibly bring a different reality. Have you strained forward, leaming into the present as it becomes tomorrow?

 

Some of the unhappiest people I have met in life were not happy that today was different from yesterday.  Usually it had to do with personal lose.  Someone close to them had died, at some time in the past.  They looked back to before that day, and saw back then, happier and carefree times.  We understand that longing for what was.  And yet, we cannot go back.  We cannot change our personal history.  So why would we allow ourselves to be forevermore constrained by such things.

 

Among the many sidewalk stairways in Pittsburgh, there is one particular set of stairs.  You probably know about it.  I am talking about the Ella Street Steps in Bloomfield. What makes them memorable is what you see when you are going up. Someone has hand painted on all of the risers.  So that each one of them says, in big bold capital letters: TRY.  One step, and then the next, and then the next, as you go up the steep hillside.  Each one saying: TRY. TRY. TRY.

 

Like our passage of scripture, they stand as a message of encouragement. Because on every one of the risers, someone has come along and painted that word to help us along the way.  Encouragement. Try.  You can do it. Try.  With Christ and in Christ.

 

Maybe right now you don’t much feel line pressing on.  The realities of your life, and the world, are such that it has made you discouraged and left you drained. And yet there are more steps head of you. Try.  Try.  Try.  

 

Will you grip the sturdy railing that steadies you? Will you sense that the power of Christ is doing for you what you fear you cannot do on your own?  Will you trust, as well, that you are not doing this alone; that there are others who are on this same journey.  That they have taken on some of the work, so that you must not do it all.  That they are there to support you and strengthen you.

 

Today of all days, we are aware of out sisters and brothers in Christ.  On this world communion Sunday, we could look back to 1933, or any of the years since, and focus on that past.  As wonderful as it was, it will make us an unhappy congregation to define ourselves in that way.  We will get stuck somewhere on the journey.  Part way up the stairs.  Like a church version of A. A. Milne’s Christopher Robin. 

 

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in the town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head:
"It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!

 

(by A.A. Milne, included in the 1924 collection When We Were Very Young)

 

Have you stopped at a place that isn't really anywhere?    Are funny thoughts running round your head?  Try.  Try anew.  Try again.  Say with Paul, “I press on, to make it my own”

YOU’RE INVITED

YOU’RE INVITED

A Sermon by The Rev. Dr. John A. Dalles

Shadyside Presbyterian Church

Sunday, September 27, 2020

Psalm 106:1-6; 19-23; Matthew 22:1-14

 

We are living in a strange time when going to a wedding is something we have not been able to do.  We are all feeling it.  As a minister, I am long accustomed to presiding at weddings (the last time I checked 219 of them).  And with the wedding comes joy and celebration. I don’t know about you, but upon a few occasions, I have retrieved my place card before going into the reception and found when I got to table number whatever, that the people I was seated with were going to be a challenge to talk with – whether known or unknown to me beforehand. It then comes back to me that I’m not at the wedding for me.  I am at the wedding for the wedding party.  I have been invited to the wedding because I have some particular connection to the bride or the groom or their families, and so have these folks.  Around each table.

The point of the gathering is not so much whether the guests are happy (although families do their utmost for that to happen) – the more important point of the gathering is that we are there to share in the newly wedded couple’s joy.

 

Share in the joy!  That is a great reason to get together. Why would anyone stay away from sharing in the joy? But apparently there are those who would. At least, according to what Jesus says.

 

         Now here in this parable of Jesus, there are people who would rather not share in the joy.  They were more interested in their farms and businesses they were cruel toward the king’s slaves.  They ridiculed them.  They beat them.  They killed them. If it sounds like what happened to most of the Old Testaments prophets, and to John the Baptist, and to all but one of the 12 Apostles (the exception being John), and most importantly, to Jesus himself.  Well that is not a coincidence.

And there have ever so many more, who since that time have said to their world, come and share the joy.  And the reaction has been as cruel as those in the parable.

 

As John Calvin says:   "Not all of the whole company of those that are called by the voice of the gospel are the true Church before God: for the most part of them would rather follow the conveniences of this life: and some persecute very cruelly those that call them: but they are the true Church who obey when they are called, such as for the most part are those whom the world despises." (Geneva Notes)

 

So we have theses servants of God saying come and share in the joy. And we have people who refuse. People who are not like what we read in our OT Psalm:

 

Praise the Lord!
    O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
² Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord,
    or declare all his praise?
³ Happy are those who observe justice,
    who do righteousness at all times.

 

         If we are keeping in mind that the kingdom of god is like this…  Then, according to what Jesus says, God is not going to stand for it.

Yes that very same God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  Slow to anger is not the same as never gets angry.  According to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

I read this parable and I want to either identify with: the slaves or with the people out in the streets who were the last to be invited.  I certainly don’t want to have any part of saying no to sharing the joy.  And I want to be properly dressed for the occasion.  Robed in the garments of humility and hope.  

THE SLAVES did what they were told to do.  And did it to the best of their ability.  We know that they were hardworking and dedicated.  And that they felt honor bound to the king.

So too with all who identify with them. They will go and do as the king commands. They will not rest until they have fulfilled their duty They will do so with all that they have. And they do so not expecting any particular reward. So many Christians down through the centuries have given their whole lives in this way, they have served well and long.  And many have been unsung.  And may have paid harsh prices for it.  But these things did not prevent them from doing the main thing, which was to say to the world: You are invited.  Come and share the joy of Jesus Christ.  

 

If it is too hard to wrap my head around identifying with those slaves, then I want to identify with:

 

THE PEOPLE OUT IN THE STREETS who were the last to be invited.   I am fascinated by the fact that they were the ones who came. They were the ones who responded. They were not the first to be singled out.  Far from it. They may not have appeared to be the most likely guests. But they were the most willing. Maybe no one had ever said to them: You’re invited.  Before that, the very thought of sharing in joy was something that seemed so far beyond their reach, that they had given up all hope of it happening, a very long time before.

 

No matter. The invitations came. And they said yes.

 

I line to think that once they got to the reception and found their place card, they went to their assigned table, and then, thought to themselves: "How in the world am I going to make conversation with these other people around the table?" But then, they sat down, and guess what? They found that what they had in common was more than their differences. That what made them unique also made them fascinating to the others. That their story added so much to the whole story. “How do you know the bridal party?”  Someone on one side of them might say. And then they could tell their story.

 

Or in like manner, the people they had not met yet, unfolded how they were connected to the key figures of the event. And that began a whole new chapter of friendship and service and meaning.

 

Oh by the way, I learned this from Janet Hunt, in her book, Dancing with the Word, (2014).

 

"In a parable which is so hard to comprehend, it does at least help me understand its meaning when I realize that the wedding robes were actually provided to the guests.”

 

Ah.  I get it now!  The king is doing all of the providing.  From the first invitation, down to the robes of celebration. The only thing you or I have to do is to say “yes”.

 

You’re invited.  Come to the party.  I hope I will see you, there.  Amen.