Keeping the Purpose in Mind

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, March 7, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Mark 12:13-27.

            We live in a time in which nearly everything has a political aspect to it.  The coronavirus became political.  Dr. Seuss became political.  Even Mister Potato Head is now political.  It’s getting very hard to find anything that is not political, or at least that does not have a political aspect to it.

            But this is not the first time in human history this has happened.  When you read the gospels, you can see that almost everything was political in Jesus’ time, too.  And people were always trying to get Jesus to take sides on those current political issues.

            It’s instructive, then, to look at times when people tried to draw Jesus into commenting on political issues, and to see how Jesus responded.  We have a couple of examples of that in our Bible reading for today.

            The first thing we need to note is the reason why people were trying to get Jesus to speak out.  We’re told that the Pharisees and the Herodians went to Jesus, “to catch him in his words.”  In other words, they wanted Jesus to speak out so they could get him into trouble.  Because that’s the thing about political issues:  there are always people on both sides, right?  So no matter which side you take, you’re going to get the people on the other side upset with you.  That’s just a fact of life.

            And that’s what the Pharisees and Herodians were trying to do with Jesus.  They wanted him to take a side, so that the people on the other side would stop following him.  And the think they’ve got the issue that will do it.  They ask Jesus about whether Jewish people should pay the imperial tax to Rome.

            Now, we hear that today, and we tend not to understand what the issue was all about.  We think of the imperial tax as being a tax like you and I pay.  We pay all kinds of taxes, and while no one likes them, we all pretty much accept taxes as the way things are.  It’s the cost of having a government.

            But that’s not what the imperial tax was.  The imperial tax was a tax that was imposed only on people whom the Roman government had conquered, such as the people of Israel.  It was not imposed on Roman citizens.  It was a sign that Jewish people were of second-class status to Rome, a reminder that Rome was in charge and that the people of Israel were not.

            So this was a controversial issue.  And the Pharisees and Herodians thought they had Jesus boxed in.  If he said yes, pay the tax, then a lot of Jewish people, who thought the Messiah was going to come to restore Israel to its former glory, when it had an empire, were going to be upset.  But if Jesus said no, don’t pay the tax, the Roman government might well come after him, because he was an important person who was telling people to not recognize the authority of the Roman government.  That could lead to chaos and even an attempt at revolution.

            And Jesus refuses to take the bait.  He does not say yes, pay the tax.  He does not say no, don’t pay the tax.  He reframes the issue.  And in doing that, Jesus focuses people on doing what’s right in God’s eyes.  He focuses people on serving God.  And he does that with a simple statement:  “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.”

            In other words, Jesus says that what the government does is not our primary concern.  Following God is our primary concern.  Obeying God and serving God are our primary concerns.  The government will do what it will.  But our allegiance is to God.

            Then the Sadducees come to Jesus with a question.  At first it might not seem like a political question, but at that time it would’ve been.  The question involved Old Testament law, and to their credit it does look like the Sadducees quoted the law correctly.

            They cite a law from Moses which said that, if a man died leaving no children, the man’s brother should marry the man’s wife and so keep the brother’s genealogical line going.  They then concoct a scenario in which seven brothers all die leaving no children.  Each of them followed the law and married the oldest brother’s wife.  So, they asked, whose wife will she be in heaven?

            The reason this is an issue is that the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection.  Maybe that’s why they were sad, I don’t know.  But this was again a trick, a trap.  Because there’s no good answer to that question, right?  Whoever you name, and whatever your reasons are, they can be mocked and ridiculed.  And that was the Sadducees’ point:  they were trying to show that belief in a “resurrection” is ridiculous, because you’d run into too many awkward and just plain weird situations if it was true.

            And again, Jesus refuses to take the bait.  He tells them that their question is based on a false premise, which is that relationships in heaven will work exactly the way relationships on earth do.  Jesus says that’s not how it’s going to work at all.  The dead will rise, but we won’t be the same in heaven as we are on earth.  And so that question collapses.

            Now, understand, Jesus was not someone who shied away from controversy.  He got into all kinds of arguments with all these groups--Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, teachers of the law, all the religious authorities you can think of.  And Jesus did not mince words.  He referred to them as fools, blind guides, hypocrites, vipers, serpents, and other things.  Jesus was willing to take stands that he knew were going to upset people.

            But what Jesus did was keep his focus.  Jesus kept his focus on God.  He kept it on worshiping God.  He kept it on teaching people about God.  Jesus kept his focus on loving God and serving God and being faithful to God.

Jesus knew that taking a stand on the imperial tax was not going to further his mission.  He knew that it would not bring anyone to faith in God.  He knew it would not result in people loving God or loving their neighbors.  Taking a stand on the imperial tax would make some people happy and others unhappy, but it would not result in anyone being saved.  And as it says in John Three, Seventeen, Jesus came so that the world might be saved through him.

            So, does that mean Christians cannot speak out on political issues?  Well, we can, obviously.  But should we?  That’s a little trickier.  Maybe, sometimes.  But how do we decide?

            I think the way we decide is the way Jesus decided.  When a political issue comes up, we need to ask ourselves:  will my taking a stand on this help bring people to faith in God?  Will it show love to God or show love to my neighbor?  Will it result in other people loving God or loving their neighbors?  Will it result in anyone being saved?

            Because as Christians, those are our goals.  That’s how we can be faithful to God.  That’s how we can serve God.  Sure, speaking out on political issues can be satisfying.  Sometimes it can make us feel really good.  But will it further our mission as Christians?  Will it bring people to Christ?  Is it what God really wants us to do?

            And you say, well, but if Christians don’t speak out, the non-Christians will win by default.  And society will move farther away from what God wants it to be. 

            Well, that could happen.  But it happened in Jesus’ time, too.  Our reading for today takes place in the last week of Jesus’ life on earth.  After Jesus was killed, there was a big crackdown on Christians.  They were persecuted.  The disciples scattered, leaving Jerusalem and going off in every direction.  You’d have said then that society was moving farther away from what God wanted it to be, too.

            But it was not.  Because when the disciples scattered, they took the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.  And they spread it to every part of the known world.  And by doing that, they changed the world.  But they did not do that by speaking out on political issues.  They did it by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They did it by leading people to faith in Jesus as the Savior. 

            The politicization of absolutely everything is nothing new.  It happened in Jesus’ time, too.  I’m sure it was tempting for Jesus to comment on all kinds of things.  And you could argue that, on occasion, he did.  But he did not give in to the temptation to comment just to make himself feel good or to show how smart he was or for anything having to do with his own personal satisfaction.  Jesus kept his purpose in mind. 

Jesus’ purpose was not to make political converts.  His purpose was not to remake society.  A lot of people would’ve liked him to do that.  Some of his own disciples would’ve liked him to do that.  But that was not his purpose.  His purpose was to save souls.  His purpose was to lead people to eternal life.

That’s our purpose, too.  As Christians, our purpose is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Our purpose is to bring people to Jesus Christ.  Our purpose is to love God, to love others, and to go and make disciples.  Let’s keep those purposes in mind, and let’s act in fulfillment of them.