To Whom Do We Render To
Abridge Worship Provided By: Ken Draper (Please note that this is not a verbatim account of our Sunday morning worship, but rather a condensed version for those at home to study and enjoy, Blessing)
Opening Prayer:
Lord as we reflect on Your words, whether they are written or ring out in
song, we ask You to strengthen us as we share in Your spoken word, a template for our lives everlasting. Amen.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 49; Luke 2:41-52; Matthew 22:15-22
Psalm 49
Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world, both low and high, rich and poor alike: My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the meditation of my heart will give you understanding. I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle: Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me— those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—so that they should live on forever and not see decay. For all can see that the wise die, that the foolish and the senseless also perish, leaving their wealth to others. Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves. People, despite their wealth, do not endure; they are like the beasts that perish. This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. They are like sheep and are destined to die; death will be their shepherd (but the upright will prevail over them in the morning). Their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions. But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself. Do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses increases; for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them. Though while they live they count themselves blessed— and people praise you when you prosper— they will join those who have gone before them, who will never again see the light of life. People who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish.
Luke 2:41-52
Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”
But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Reflection:
I particularly like the reading from Luke this morning because it replicates what many of us are experiencing this morning. Christmas like the Passover is finished and we have begun to carry on our lives post-Christmas. Some of us have already taken down the trees and put away the ornaments and have turned off the Christmas lights and music.
Four days ago we imagined Jesus as a baby, being held and fed by his mother, Mary. We imagined him kicking his feet and flailing his arms, crying and melting our hearts as children do. One of the beautiful things about Christmas is that we stop and for but a brief moment inhale the innocence of the birth of Jesus.
Life does not let us linger at the manger, the shepherds had to get back to tending to their sheep, the wise men are off in the distance and Mary and Joseph had to begin their new role as parents to God’s earth born Son.
Our reading from Luke is telling us about Jesus being at the Passover with his
parents and I would expect his siblings, and it reminds me that occasions are
snapshots in time. Like us and Christmas, this Passover was not Jesus first time to celebrate it for the reading begins “every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When the Passover was finished, Jesus’ family headed for home and the resumption of their lives. We trust the messages they heard resonated with them as they travelled toward home, but then someone realized Jesus was not with them. I can only imagine the panic that set in as they retraced their path asking everyone they met did you see Jesus. I expect most of us have misplaced our children at least once in a mall or store.
Where was Jesus? Of course he was at the temple. To me there is a very
important point and that is that Jesus had not moved forward from Passover. Jesus was back at the temple gaining knowledge from the Torah by listening and asking questions. We read it took three days for the family to find Jesus.
There is a lesson in this for me and that is that in all our Christian seasons that I need to stop and let the season resonate with me. It is not necessary for me to jump ahead to the next season in the Christian year. I need to allow myself to linger and reflect on what I need to garner from Christ’s birth. I need to reflect on the roles everyone played. What lessons can I take from the story? How can I be like the shepherds and react to the call from God. Mary could have at the least been exiled from her family and she could have suffered much more serious repercussions for having a child out of wedlock. But her faith sustained her. Joseph would have been questioned by his family for the actions he took in accepting Mary. Joseph listened to the words of the angel who spoke to him in a dream. Being still I can listen and feel the ways that God speaks to me.
As the scriptures stated, Jesus stayed behind following Passover and he listened and questioned the church leaders in the synagogue. Passover in Judaism, is a holiday commemorating the Hebrews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt and the “passing over” of the forces of destruction, or the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites, when the Lord “smote the land of Egypt” on the eve of the Exodus. We read in Exodus; then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood,I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
We only hear about Jesus’ youth once in the gospels and that is when he is with his parents at Passover. Did Jesus as he sat and listened and questioned the leaders in the synagogue understand the connection to Passover and the sparing of the children and his birth and his shedding of his blood for you and me?
When I was reading and preparing for today, I was reminded by a writer who
pointed out the third verse of Once in Royal David’s city which reads “For he is
our lifelong pattern, daily when on earth he grew, he was tempted, scorned,
rejected, tears and smiles like us he knew. Thus he feels for all our sadness, and he shares in all our gladness. Jesus at twelve knew our story.
When Mary and Joseph found Jesus he ask them “why are you searching for me, don’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house”. Christmas is a time for
searching. People spend hours searching for gifts to present to family and friends. That is one kind of gift. But there are people here in Moncton, across our province, country and the world, which are searching for one to follow who will understand them and give them answers. And it all begins with the innocence of a newborn, unblemished baby who offers us a path forward through his teachings, his love, his mercy and his grace.
We endeavour to live our spiritual life in a material world. Quite often the first
question we ask is, what did you get for Christmas. We rhyme off what we receive and yet for many of us the material gifts ranked further down the list when we think of gifts we unwrapped on Christmas morn.
It has become a tradition that each year when our children and their families come home for Christmas, my wife Linda will read a state of the union address to the family. It is a lighthearted piece and sometimes it goes over well and other times it is a bit of a blah. This year I watched our oldest grandson Cohen as Linda read her remarks, which I have been blamed for composing. Cohen was laughing all the way through her talk. He told his parents it was one the highlights of his Christmas. It cost nothing to create this present. For others here today, the family meal is the highlight. For others it is seeing family members maybe for the first time since last Christmas. The real joy of Christmas comes when we see the reaction to the gifts
we give. God gave the world his Son, Jesus to us as his gift to you and me.
Our Matthew lesson does a great job of separating out for us the separation
between the material world and God’s universe. Jesus had just finished sharing with the crowd the story of the Wedding Banquet. As always the Pharisees were attempting to trap Jesus and to incriminate himself. They went outside and began speaking, giving Jesus platitudes about his integrity and how he teaches the truth. They acknowledge that he is not swayed by others because he is not swayed by position. They then attempt to lower the boom on him by asking him if it is ok to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not. The answer that Jesus had to give must be thought out, for if he said it was illegal then the Roman authorities could indict him.
So Jesus said hand me the coin and then he flipped it on them. He coolly looked at both sides of the coin and responded to them with a question they were not anticipating; whose face and whose image is upon this coin. They responded Caesar. And Jesus replied with one of the great verses from the Bible, render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.
Over the next forty weeks or so, Rev Jacob will share with us the remainder of the fifty commands of Jesus. He has gone into detail what each of the commands mean to us in our daily lives and what is required of us to follow the commands. Christ’s love is free but he does ask us to offer up our lives in a way that we render unto God what is his.
As we reflect on Christmas, this teaching from Jesus is so important. In our
material world today it is so easy to say to render unto Wal-Mart, Costco, Canadian Tire, Amazon and a host of other retailers what is theirs, but we must render unto God our spiritual selves.
I invite you to linger at the stable for as long you need to and soak up the meaning of the birth of Jesus and the impact it has on your life. Celebrate with exceeding joy this miraculous birth. Celebrate with exceeding hope in the coming of Jesus to reconcile and make us new. Celebrate with exceeding joy the peace Christ lays before you. Celebrate with exceeding joy, the experience Mary felt as she brought joy to the world. Celebrate with exceeding joy the love Jesus pours out for you and me in the form of agape love, a strong, selfless, sacrificial love a love born deep within our souls.
When you are ready to move from the stable remember Christ’s words, “why were you searching for me”, he asked. Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house”. Yes Jesus is here in his Father’s house, inviting each of us to journey with him as our friend and our Saviour.
And may it be so!
Homework:
Reflect on what material and worldly authorities you render yourself to and how that rendering pulls you away from where you truly belong, with God.
If you need help on this reflective journey email: minister@mountainviewunited.ca
Closing Prayer:
Lord, we long for our labor and the fruit of our living to all to be in service of you. Help us O God, to render our lives to you. Amen.
Meme of the Week:
Thank you for joining us this week. If you have any thoughts, feelings, or prayers, feel free to leave them in the comment section below. Please be respectful of others’ posts and make room for all those joining us.
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