A Pharisee takes the pulpit
A Consideration of the Gospel of St Matthew 22:15-21
A Consideration of the Gospel of St Matthew 22:15-21
(29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, October 19, 2008)
Jesus branded the Pharisees and Herodians who had come to trap Him with their trick question as ‘hypocrites’. It isn’t the first time He accused the Pharisees of this. St Matthew, a Jew and onetime tax-collector, is particularly hard on them. He may have seen it as ‘pay-back’ time.
So in the name of fairness, in these more tolerant and enlightened times, I have invited a senior Pharisee to take the pulpit this morning to give his side of the story. His name is Eleazar, son of Jacob and Miriam of the Tribe of Benjamin. He lives in Jerusalem not far from the Temple mount. Please welcome him.
‘Shalom. I’ll get straight to the point. We Pharisees are not given to social niceties.
The story you just heard from Matthew’s book is true. I should know, I was there. But his account is incomplete and biased. What else would you expect from a over-zealous convert of the self-styled rabbi from Nazareth?
To us, Jesus was a rebel, heretic, usurper, threat. He broke the Sacred Law, preached against the holy traditions, associated with the unclean, was too popular with disgruntled farmers and labourers. We have seen His like before and the disastrous results that followed.
I admit ... we did set out to trap Him. But we did it for a good cause. We wanted to nip rebellion in the bud. And it hurt that He labelled us hypocrites - again. No one observes the holy Law more exactly and devoutly than we do. Certainly not your Nazarene.
Typically, Matthew failed to explain that these were very politically sensitive times. Our society was on the brink of chaos.
Jerusalem was overcrowded for Passover. We sensed anger and ferment among the people. The Romans were paranoid about rebellions - and were ruthless in suppressing them.
We have seen their cruelty often - bloodshed, pain, suffering for too many innocent people. Jesus seemed to be provoking trouble - either that or He was politically naive. But either way we could see disaster looming. Hence we sought to silence Him - that is all.
It is true that we were suspicious of Him from the start because He came from Galilee - the seedbed of zealots and fanatics. His showy entry into the Jerusalem alerted the Roman authorities. People shouted at Him ‘Son of David’ and that He had ‘come in the Name of the Lord’. It was stupid. It was misguided. But what would that riffraff know?
Then He caused a riot in the temple court; encouraged disobedience by insulting us publicly; played into the hands of the Zealots who were arming and planning to use Him as a rallying point. One of them had even infiltrated his inner circle.
Let me be clear about this. We Pharisees do not approve of violence. We leave vengeance to the Almighty. But we could not stand by idle. So we joined forces with the Sadducees - rich snobs that they are - to discredit Him and remove Him quickly from the scene. We thought it was the best way to avoid bloodshed. And to be honest, we wanted Him silenced once for all. Could you blame us? He belittled everything we held sacred - the Law of Moses and our own holy traditions.
Now, you must agree that the question we devised - ‘is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ - was very, very clever. With it we planned catch Him out whether He answered ‘yea’ or ‘nay’. If He answered ‘yes’ ... we would denounce Him to the people as a collaborator and a traitor to Israel’s just and holy cause. If He answered ‘no’ ... the Herodians were ready to accuse Him of treason to Pontius Pilate. He was clever though. I admit that ... Reluctantly! He did not answer directly as we had hoped. He asked to see the Roman coin with which the tax was paid. We shouldn’t have been carrying them. We hesitated, embarrassed. On them was the image of Tiberius Caesar, along with the word ‘Divus’ - the Divine One. To have an image in one’s possession was forbidden by law and the title was utter blasphemy. Jesus said, as if it had just occurred to Him: ‘Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God’.
We had ... never ... expected this reply. We could not fault it. He eluded our trap and left us flabbergasted. I have to admit that He is good. He is very, very good in debate. Our best laid plan had failed, utterly.
And although we did not win this battle, it was not long before the Sanhedrin devised another ploy. The Romans crucified Him before Passover and saved the day. There was no uprising.
But ever since, I’ve thought long and hard about what He said. I cannot get it out of my mind. It was a saying worthy of one of our own great teachers. When Jesus said: ‘give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar’ ... He was looking at the image of Tiberius on the coin. But when he said: ‘and to God what belongs to God’ ... He looked directly at us.
We all knew what He meant. There is a verse in the first Scroll of the Scriptures revealing that we were created ... ‘in the image (of the Most High)’ (Gen 1:27). It is an extraordinary revelation.
The divine image is stamped on our hearts, our minds, our souls, our wills, our bodies, our very selves. We are His wealth, His currency, His coins, His possession, His treasure, His fortune, His due.
This is what gives us ... eternal value. We do not deserve such a gift. And since we belong wholly to the Most High, we are under obligation to offer ourselves back to Him - in all we do and say - as a living sacrifice of praise. This is our first responsibility and most precious privilege. In this ... at least ... your Nazarene was right.
Well, I think this is enough from an old Pharisee. I am more at home speaking in a synagogue than a church. I accepted the invitation because I wanted you to know that there is more to this story than Matthew told you. Do not believe what a tax-collector tells you - even if he be one of your converts, turncoat that he is.
And, by the way, we Pharisees are not all hypocrites. Gamaliel, Hillel, Shammai and many other of our brothers are rightfully revered as wise and holy men. Jesus met our Nicodemus and was impressed. And for all our faults, for all our insistence on a perfect observance of the Law, we did keep the flame of Israel’s faith burning during long and difficult periods of pagan occupation.
That is all I have to say. I will pray that you turn from the great apostasy and come back to the true Faith of our Fathers. Shalom. Amen’.
So in the name of fairness, in these more tolerant and enlightened times, I have invited a senior Pharisee to take the pulpit this morning to give his side of the story. His name is Eleazar, son of Jacob and Miriam of the Tribe of Benjamin. He lives in Jerusalem not far from the Temple mount. Please welcome him.
‘Shalom. I’ll get straight to the point. We Pharisees are not given to social niceties.
The story you just heard from Matthew’s book is true. I should know, I was there. But his account is incomplete and biased. What else would you expect from a over-zealous convert of the self-styled rabbi from Nazareth?
To us, Jesus was a rebel, heretic, usurper, threat. He broke the Sacred Law, preached against the holy traditions, associated with the unclean, was too popular with disgruntled farmers and labourers. We have seen His like before and the disastrous results that followed.
I admit ... we did set out to trap Him. But we did it for a good cause. We wanted to nip rebellion in the bud. And it hurt that He labelled us hypocrites - again. No one observes the holy Law more exactly and devoutly than we do. Certainly not your Nazarene.
Typically, Matthew failed to explain that these were very politically sensitive times. Our society was on the brink of chaos.
Jerusalem was overcrowded for Passover. We sensed anger and ferment among the people. The Romans were paranoid about rebellions - and were ruthless in suppressing them.
We have seen their cruelty often - bloodshed, pain, suffering for too many innocent people. Jesus seemed to be provoking trouble - either that or He was politically naive. But either way we could see disaster looming. Hence we sought to silence Him - that is all.
It is true that we were suspicious of Him from the start because He came from Galilee - the seedbed of zealots and fanatics. His showy entry into the Jerusalem alerted the Roman authorities. People shouted at Him ‘Son of David’ and that He had ‘come in the Name of the Lord’. It was stupid. It was misguided. But what would that riffraff know?
Then He caused a riot in the temple court; encouraged disobedience by insulting us publicly; played into the hands of the Zealots who were arming and planning to use Him as a rallying point. One of them had even infiltrated his inner circle.
Let me be clear about this. We Pharisees do not approve of violence. We leave vengeance to the Almighty. But we could not stand by idle. So we joined forces with the Sadducees - rich snobs that they are - to discredit Him and remove Him quickly from the scene. We thought it was the best way to avoid bloodshed. And to be honest, we wanted Him silenced once for all. Could you blame us? He belittled everything we held sacred - the Law of Moses and our own holy traditions.
Now, you must agree that the question we devised - ‘is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ - was very, very clever. With it we planned catch Him out whether He answered ‘yea’ or ‘nay’. If He answered ‘yes’ ... we would denounce Him to the people as a collaborator and a traitor to Israel’s just and holy cause. If He answered ‘no’ ... the Herodians were ready to accuse Him of treason to Pontius Pilate. He was clever though. I admit that ... Reluctantly! He did not answer directly as we had hoped. He asked to see the Roman coin with which the tax was paid. We shouldn’t have been carrying them. We hesitated, embarrassed. On them was the image of Tiberius Caesar, along with the word ‘Divus’ - the Divine One. To have an image in one’s possession was forbidden by law and the title was utter blasphemy. Jesus said, as if it had just occurred to Him: ‘Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God’.
We had ... never ... expected this reply. We could not fault it. He eluded our trap and left us flabbergasted. I have to admit that He is good. He is very, very good in debate. Our best laid plan had failed, utterly.
And although we did not win this battle, it was not long before the Sanhedrin devised another ploy. The Romans crucified Him before Passover and saved the day. There was no uprising.
But ever since, I’ve thought long and hard about what He said. I cannot get it out of my mind. It was a saying worthy of one of our own great teachers. When Jesus said: ‘give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar’ ... He was looking at the image of Tiberius on the coin. But when he said: ‘and to God what belongs to God’ ... He looked directly at us.
We all knew what He meant. There is a verse in the first Scroll of the Scriptures revealing that we were created ... ‘in the image (of the Most High)’ (Gen 1:27). It is an extraordinary revelation.
The divine image is stamped on our hearts, our minds, our souls, our wills, our bodies, our very selves. We are His wealth, His currency, His coins, His possession, His treasure, His fortune, His due.
This is what gives us ... eternal value. We do not deserve such a gift. And since we belong wholly to the Most High, we are under obligation to offer ourselves back to Him - in all we do and say - as a living sacrifice of praise. This is our first responsibility and most precious privilege. In this ... at least ... your Nazarene was right.
Well, I think this is enough from an old Pharisee. I am more at home speaking in a synagogue than a church. I accepted the invitation because I wanted you to know that there is more to this story than Matthew told you. Do not believe what a tax-collector tells you - even if he be one of your converts, turncoat that he is.
And, by the way, we Pharisees are not all hypocrites. Gamaliel, Hillel, Shammai and many other of our brothers are rightfully revered as wise and holy men. Jesus met our Nicodemus and was impressed. And for all our faults, for all our insistence on a perfect observance of the Law, we did keep the flame of Israel’s faith burning during long and difficult periods of pagan occupation.
That is all I have to say. I will pray that you turn from the great apostasy and come back to the true Faith of our Fathers. Shalom. Amen’.
