Giving to Caesar ..........

.......What is Caesar's, and giving to God what is God's.........

We live in a complicated world and I think we would all like to see the world in clear "right and wrong" terms, but the truth is that we struggle. The Bible is supposed to be a means by which we are transformed but the honest truth is that too often we bring certain views to the Bible , ignore the bits which do not support our views and concentrate only on those portions which do. We all do it. None of us is immune.

So for us, the issue is "what do you believe belongs to God and what belongs to Caesar?"

As a member of the ordained clergy, many of my forbears believed that living a cloistered life was the best way to avoid the dilemma. If you have nothing to do with the outside world, everything surely belongs to God?

But that does not work for most of us. The simple truth is that we live in a world where we have dues to pay in all areas of lour lives. The problems arise when we get the "two worlds" confused.

On the west wall of Jerusalem - the stretch technically outside of the famous "western wall" lies one of the world's great archaeological sites. It is massive and includes many wonders including the main pavement through the city, the remains of shops which sold doves for sacrifice in the temple above and the stones which were thrown down by the Roman troops when the temple was destroyed in AD 70. (yes that's me sitting on the remains of the Temple wall)

You may ask what this has to do with the idea of coins and "giving to Caesar what is Caesar's". Well, you have to bear in mind that Jesus taught about money (and its place in our lives) more than on any other subject. This may come as a surprise, perhaps not. Importantly it lead to one of the great confrontations in Jesus's ministry - I am referring to the overturning of the money tables in the Temple. This is a much misunderstood story  and to really understand it you have to look at the next couple of pics.

This is how the Temple looked in the time of Jesus (and the photo of me sitting on the former Temple wall stones is set at the base of the long wall running left). The shops and stalls at the bottom still leave their remains on site and though the steps are long gone, it is clear where they attached to the wall. Take a careful look at the door at the top of the steps which led into the Temple area (Temple Mount) - its very important.

At the base, the money changers (Roman coins into Jewish Temple coinage) and sellers of doves etc for sacrifices gradually took over more and more of the shops, then up the stairs until they actually ended up through the doorway and into the Temple itself. (nowadays it is a window into the Al Aqsa Mosque - see next pic)- The large window with the brickwork below which supported the stairway.


This - for Jesus was the ultimate insult. People were using the Temple ("A Place of Prayer for all the nations") and using it for making money.

I would suggest that if Jesus found this conflict important, those of us who seek to base our lives around His teaching should take note. So where today are the areas where the holy and the secular cross over and get confused?

The lines are different for all of us, but we will see them criss-crossing our daily lives. If you look, you will see them.

Here is a prayer for the day

Father, we want to live like Jesus, but we get confused. We want to be able to see clearly what often seems unclear. We hear of wars far away enacted in the name of religions. We see vast profits being made by big corporations at the expense of the poor and we wonder what we can do about it.
We ask for wisdom and for "ears to hear" and "eyes to see" what you want from our lives.
Amen

The parable of the football supporter

Well, actually Jesus told a parable about tenants in a vineyard who refuse to pay their rent. The landowner (God in the parable), sends ambassadors then finally his own son to reason with them, but they ultimately end up killing the son as a way of showing the landowner "who is the boss".  Jesus asks "What would the landowner do?" his listeners replied that he should come himself to take action, throw the tenants out and get new ones who would pay him more respect.

Seems bizarre I know, but think of it like this...........

There was once a foreign, very wealthy businessman who fancied owning a football club (say, Manchester United, Liverpool, Cardiff City, Hull City, Aston Villa....... the list could go on).

The new owner doesn't know much about football (think Blackburn Rovers) but sends his representatives, even family members to act on his behalf. He makes what seem to him to be sensible business centred decisions. But he does so without talking to the supporters club ("tenants" in today's story). He tries to change the name, change the shirt colour, take too much in the way of revenue out of the club to finance debt (which he ran up buying the club in the first place). There is uproar, and he even ends up unable to visit his own football stadium (think Newcastle United).

The question is not "who owns the club" because we know that legally he does own it, of that there is no doubt, but the real question is one of emotion - so "emotionally" who owns the club? The legal owner or the supporters?

You can imagine what the comments are like on the coach to away games....... "What does he know?...........", "But we have always played in Blue" (think Cardiff City) , "I suspect him of trying to sell the ground to a supermarket"..... etc etc.

Now think back to the vineyard......... "We do all the work, he does nothing"..... "He lives off the back of his workers"...... "We should own it not him"............ "When was he last here?".............

So the question is not clear, nor was it meant to be. But the idea of a vineyard speaks of the world around. We are all tenants, and as Crocodile Dundee said "arguing about who owns the land is like two fleas arguing about who owns the dog"

Whether you own where you live or rent it, whether you are a member of a supporters club or not, whether you are a massive landowner or not, we are in the parable no more than tenants who will one day have to give an account for what we have done with the world around us. After all we no more than two fleas on the back of a dog.............

Take Care and Blessings

Alan