It Is Not A Forced-Choice Test

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In today's Gospel, the Pharisees want to talk about taxes. Well, what they really want to talk about is how to trap Jesus in His words, which is ridiculous, because you cannot trap God. Nevertheless, they come to our Lord and ask Him about whether Jews ought to pay taxes. Should the faithful people of God do such a thing? Should we obey pagan leaders when they exercise their authority over us?

Often, in Christian circles, this exchange is portrayed as something of a forced-choice test, a broken dichotomy between God and Caesar. In other words, you must give to God His due, and to Caesar his due, and ne'er the twain shall meet. It is as though God inhabits certain corners of your life, and Caesar inhabits other corners, and you can put yourself into various boxes or pigeon-holes, depending on the moment.

But this is not a forced choice.

Are You Serious?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Is the Lord's invitation to the marriage feast of His Son serious? In today's Gospel lesson, you have heard how our Lord Christ compares the kingdom of God to a king who gives a marriage feast for His Son, to which He invites guests. However, the invited guests disdain the King's invitation, stay away, and even deal scornfully with His servants, who were merely sent to call the invited to the feast.

What is this kingdom? The kingdom of heaven is not an earthly kingdom. There are no governors, no presidents, no Congress, no elections.

How Will You Die?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jesus said, “And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

Either way, you are dead. Either you fall on Jesus in broken-hearted, empty-handed, beggarly repentance or you get crushed by the weight of your own engineered pseudo-salvation crashing down against the resistance of your own self-justification. But either way, you are going to be broken when you encounter Jesus.

Jesus told a parable against the unbelief of Israel. A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenant farmers who were supposed to tend it and give a share of the harvest. He sent a servant to collect, and he was beaten and sent away empty-handed. He sent another, and he was mocked and scorned and sent away empty-handed. He sent a third, and they wounded him and cast him out. He sent his son. “His beloved son.” And they took one look at the son and said, “This is the heir. Let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours.” And they threw him out of the vineyard, and they killed him.

Stop here for a moment and consider.