Sermon preached at the Sung Eucharist on the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity 2023

Image, and controlling the image is one of the markers of our age.

The carefully curated online profile that presents a polished veneer to the world. Whether as individuals or as organisations, our efforts to control what is thought and said about us is diverting and exhausting. It might be easier, perhaps, to direct our efforts toward being authentic.

If we wish to be seen as virtuous, then we should commit to a life of virtue, and by degrees and practice we shall become more so. You do not become a pianist by saying you are a pianist, but by practising regularly and improving gradually. If an organisation wishes to be seen as inclusive or progressive, for example, they should work hard to become so - and not let the message get ahead of the reality. The charge of hypocrisy hovers in the wings whenever the message takes centre stage.

Our readings today invite us to contemplate images, imitation and idols. Matters of motive and manipulation; character, power and identity.

And they encourage us to choose our words carefully - those we speak and those to which we listen.

In our gospel reading the Pharisees send their disciples to entrap Jesus -

ever since his arrival in Jerusalem and his overturning of the tables of the money changers he has exposed the hypocrisy and corruption of the religious authorities, and presents a challenge which they make every effort now to end. They come close to Christ with flattering words - leading words - about his sincerity and how he shows deference to no one. Words that conceal a weapon... a seemingly impossible question. They bring supporters of Herod with them (Herod, the local ruler who is kept in power by the Emperor). In the presence of this coalition and conspiracy of secular and religious authority Jesus is asked to make a binary choice between them...  “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor or not?”

Everyone present knows that this is about more than a matter of taxes or obligation - this question is about culture, identity and power. The denarius coin used to pay the tax bears the image of the Roman Emperor, and the inscription ‘Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus’. Can Jesus, a religious monotheistic Jew, sanction handling such an idolatrous object, let alone offer it in tribute to the pagan Emperor? The Pharisees and the Herodians wait with baited breath for his answer... have they finally got their man?

He asks to be shown the coin used to pay the Imperial tax. Jesus, the very image of the true and living God looks upon the image of the Emperor with its vain and blasphemous inscription and shows it has no power to divert or diminish his own teaching. He provides a good clean answer - this coin (and all it represents) belongs to the Emperor - give to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor’s.

In an apparently simple statement, Jesus transcends and exposes the treachery of the Pharisees; confirms the vanity and fragility of secular power; keeps the peace and his integrity; and lays down a challenge of his own -

give to God the things that are God’s.

In our second reading St Paul is effusive in his praise for the Christians in Thessalonica. He writes in this way not to entrap or mislead like the Pharisees, but to encourage. To build up the community of faith, and bind them together. That in the midst of persecutions, they should understand how exemplary their faithfulness is - how admirable and appreciated they are.

‘You became imitators of us... and have become an example to others...’  says Paul - ‘you turned from idols to serve a living and true God.’

And in this genuine outpouring of praise, St Paul reveals something crucial about the Christian calling... we are a people called to change and a people called to imitate. By continually choosing to turn away from sin and to follow Christ. Practising the faith, worshipping together, receiving the sacraments and growing in virtue we develop our Christian character - uncovering by degrees the image of the living God that lies within each of us and contributing to the Imago Dei revealed in the Church.

What we have received through the free gift of grace, we are invited to embrace and nurture and share - offering ourselves in thanksgiving. Not repaying a debt, but returning love - not a contract but a relationship. Giving to God the things that are God’s.

We are a people called to exercise discernment too. And we should be asking what is of the world and what is of God - what is an idol and what an icon?

We think once more of the denarius - the coin bearing the image of the Emperor. This was indeed intended to distribute the image of the Emperor and to promote his presence and power to the world. Christian character, by contrast, should be the antithesis of self-promotion, and hold something of a sacramental quality[1] - lives directed toward following Christ and worshipping God carrying the imprint of his presence.

Reflecting on Art and the Liturgy, Pope Benedict XVI wrote of the complex relationship the Church has had with images - with periods of excess and periods of prohibition. An icon, he explains, (even one with a discernible presence and character of its own), will always point beyond itself -

inviting us to look beyond ourselves, and within ourselves, to seek a closer union with Christ.[2] We are called to loosen our grip on the individual and find our place in the mystical body.

I say these words as a servant of one who is perfect, and in all humility, to encourage not to manipulate, and as one who will shortly leave the stage to cries of hypocrisy (if only in my own head). But with you I will continue daily to turn away from sin and to follow Christ (with varying degrees of success).

If, as Christians, we are to consider how to present ourselves to the world, then let us take the authentic path of becoming; where by the grace of God and in loving relationship we may become living icons. Pointing beyond ourselves to Christ our King, the living God.

Amen.

[1] Andrew Davison, ‘Why Sacraments’, chapter three “Sacramental Character’

[2] Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, ‘The Spirit of the liturgy’, part three, chapter one.