29th Sunday of Ordinary Time (19.10.14)<\/p>\n
In Who\u2019s Image?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Christian churches without any human imagery is unimaginable! Yet in the immediate post Vatican ll period there was a frenetic scramble, by some, to de-clutter our worship spaces. Undoubtedly, sometimes the proverbial baby did go out with the bathwater. There were tears and protests aplenty.<\/p>\n Equally, it\u2019s undeniable, that some church interiors had previously appeared semi-full even when they were actually empty because of the accumulated statues occupying every nook, cranny and pedestal!<\/p>\n In the Book of Exodus (20: 3-5) our Jewish spiritual ancestors were prohibited to have \u2018graven images\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n \u201cYou shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.\u00a0You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation \u2026.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In consequence, no artistic human imagery is to be found in orthodox Jewish synagogues and homes. Marc Chagall, the brilliant Belarusian-Russian-French Jewish artist, made the breathtakingly beautiful, unique stained glass windows in the Abbell Synagogue at the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem. They are a \u2018must see\u2019 for thousands of visitors. The Old Testament was Chagall\u2019s primary inspiration, particularly Jacob’s blessings on his twelve sons and Moses’ blessings on the twelve tribes. His windows portray floating figures of animals, fish and flowers but no human images. Moreover, the eyes of the animals and fish are closed, if shown at all. The Chagall windows adorn a synagogue within the grounds of the hospital!<\/p>\n Matthew\u2019s Gospel extract for this 29th<\/sup> Sunday of the year (22: 15-21) focuses on the \u2018no image\u2019 law with which Jesus would have been familiar.<\/p>\n As always with the Bible, it\u2019s worthwhile examining the text from a Jewish contemporary perspective.<\/p>\n The Pharisees and Herodians held divergent views on paying the poll tax and much else. In this extract they are described as having formed a temporary alliance of convenience in an attempt to ensnare Jesus with a trick question. They had hoped to wrong-foot him with a \u2018horns of dilemma\u2019 question.<\/p>\n “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus\u2019 response flummoxed them \u00a0–\u201cShow me the coin that pays the census tax”. <\/em>\u00a0With those nine words, Jesus demonstrated:<\/p>\n – that he did not carry, on his person, image-bearing Roman coinage. Had he done so, they would have accused him of breaking the Law. The denarius coin, symbol of a day\u2019s wage, carried an image of Caesar!<\/p>\n – that by producing the Roman coin the Pharisees and Herodians showed that they, the supposed upholders of Jewish law, were complicit with the Roman authorities.<\/p>\n Jesus was entitled to expose their hypocrisy and did so. Jesus asked them to identify the image on their coin. These Jewish leaders had no option but to answer, \u201cCaesar\u201d.<\/p>\n Condemned by their own actions and public admission, the Herodians and Pharisees were further silenced by Jesus\u2019 response, \u201cThen repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”<\/em><\/p>\n Over the centuries, Jesus\u2019 response has been much quoted but insufficiently understood. Few nowadays might even be aware of its origin!<\/p>\n It was never Jesus\u2019 way to belittle anyone, even his attackers. Rather, having identified falsehoods and inconsistencies in peoples\u2019 accusations, he would have been careful to leave open a pathway to repentance and reconciliation for his accusers. In this instance Jesus\u2019 implicit question to his interrogators was, \u2018Do you identify the image, works and words of God as accurately as you identify the image of Caesar?\u2019<\/p>\n This same question we can hear put to us through the reading of Matthew\u2019s extract. Do we identify the image, works and words of God as accurately as we identify ourselves with monetary and political policy, power and profit? Can 21st century Christians rise above the prevalent limited self-serving dogmatism of our age, to recognize the image of God in every human person, including those who do not share our theology or our politics?<\/p>\n Jesus wants to help us differentiate between the transitory and the eternal, between the created and the Creator. Jesus today is calling all people to remember what it means to belong to God and only to God, and for ever. At this very moment, Pope Francis is the Lord\u2019s universally recognized spokesperson and he frequently, fearlessly challenges peoples\u2019 allegiances.<\/p>\n Jesus asked Peter to do what he did best, to fish, telling him that he would find a denarius coin in the mouth of the first fish he caught. It was enough to pay the poll tax for both Jesus and Peter. Jesus, thereby, allows \u2018the giving to Caesar of what belongs to Caesar\u2019 without indicating approval.<\/p>\n This Sunday\u2019s Matthew\u2019s Gospel extract finishes early for some unknown reason. Verse 22 of the same chapter is not included. It\u2019s a sad omission by those who compiled our current Lectionary. Here it that final sentence of the paragraph:<\/p>\n \u201c(22)\u00a0When they <\/em>(the Herodians and Pharisees) heard it <\/em>(\u201cThen repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”), they marvelled; and they left Jesus and went away.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThey marvelled\u201d<\/em> Did our hearing or reading of this extract from Matthew cause us to marvel? Does it continue to challenge us as go about another week\u2019s work, inevitably handling many times currency with multiple images and many other accouterments of imagery? We would do well to remember this Gospel extract allowing it to work as an \u2018attitude adjuster\u2019 for us.<\/p>\n Do we \u2018venerate\u2019 valued pieces of artistic imagery, protect and insure them more assiduously than we protect the imagery of God with which the Creator has endowed us individually? Equally, do we truly value God\u2019s imagery in all other human beings?<\/p>\n There are not infrequently tales of vast amounts of public money being spent to \u2018preserve for the nation\u2019 this or that painting or this building or artifact that will likely be reduced to dust, eventually. Meanwhile, there is, daily, further debasement of the image and likeness to God which we humans bear. The demolition being skillfully orchestrated by the Evil One is unopposed and even unseen by so many.<\/p>\n Those Herodians and Pharisees, who had had that encounter with Jesus, \u2018marvelled\u2019. Did some or all, at an unrecorded future point, accept the invitation that had first been proffered by Jesus on the shores of Galilee to accept a change of heart? Did their previously determined opposition to him go through a conversion process along the lines of St. Paul\u2019s Damascus road experience?<\/p>\n The battle over the imagery that motivates us most deeply, day by day, continues unabatedly. When a person\u2019s personal faith is challenged the responses that fill me with the most dread are along the lines of: \u201cOh! I haven\u2019t got time to think of all that. I\u2019m too busy.\u201d Or, \u201cReligion is a private matter.\u201d<\/p>\n In The Book of Revelation (3:15ff) God charges his messengers to say: In the western world, it\u2019s not only the climate that has changed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time (19.10.14) In Who\u2019s Image? Christian churches without any human imagery is unimaginable! Yet in the immediate post Vatican ll period there was a frenetic scramble, by some, to de-clutter our worship spaces. Undoubtedly, sometimes the … Continue reading
\n‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable<\/em> and poor and blind and naked \u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n