Philippians 3.7-21; Matthew 22.15-22

Philippians 3.7-21; Matthew 22.15-22

In the Book of Common Prayer, in both Morning and Evening Prayer, there is a short prayer included in each service, so prayed twice daily: “Lord, keep this nation under your care. And guide us in the way of justice and truth.” Today, that is our prayer at this service, too. “Lord, keep this nation under your care. And guide us in the way of justice and truth.”

Today’s appointed gospel reading address a question about life in the nation and guides our life as citizens in it. We hear Jesus’ familiar directive, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Jesus says this in response to a question posed by the religiously serious Pharisees and the politically shrewd Herodians. Is it lawful to pay taxes or not—a question about life as citizens. Since the coin bears the image of the emperor, Jesus says, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s.” Only that’s the least interesting part of today’s gospel. There is something much more interesting, but unspoken, than the topic coins and whose image is on them. ‘Who bears the image of God?’ Much more interesting. And the answer is that you do. Your life belongs to God and God’s image in on you. “Give…to God the things that are God’s.”

In today’s first reading, St Paul also talks about life in God with an image of life in a nation. Our citizenship is in heaven, he says. Nothing else matters or is as important. Whatever gains or losses we have lived through in the past, whatever we might face in the future, nothing compares to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus. “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,” we can press on with daily life in all circumstances because we belong to God in Christ.

As for us today? New Testament commentator Dale Bruner says, “Political seasons are testing seasons for all disciples. We tend all too easily, both right and left, to give our political favorites almost messianic attributes. In the process, Jesus’ significance and his unique way in the world…is all too quickly forgotten.”

To ensure that we don’t forget Jesus’ significance and his unique way, today we are reminded that we are citizens of a different sort of kingdom than the world offers, a kingdom of justice, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. We are people who bear the image of God and our call as followers of Jesus is to make the unique life of Christ known through our lives. So today, while we pray for the Lord to keep this nation in care, we pray also for each of us to be guided in the way of justice and truth as people who give their lives to the God to whom we already, and always, belong.