“Where are Brothers, Sisters, Neighbors?”

Pr. Tom Schoenherr

Matthew 22:15-22

October 18-19, 2008

      “Where are my brothers, sisters, neighbors?” is the question proposed by our stewardship emphasis this week. As we are God’s stewards of what God has so generously given to us, our relationships within families and in our community are included. How are we doing in being caretakers of the relationships and people whom God gives us in our lives?

      The Herodians come to Jesus, asking the question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?” Our nation and our world are in a time when we are facing a financial crisis. The presidential nominees are always talking about what they will do to solve the problems. President Bush said, “We can solve this crisis, and we will.” We have to face the fact that we are in a crisis that affects our money, our taxes, our community service, and we are wondering how we will respond.

      But I believe that this is a deeper question than the one the Herodians were asking Jesus.  We are being asked a question of faith. Who is behind this economic crisis we are facing? Some say Wall street, or corporate CFO’s , or congress, or housing speculators, or the government who is using our tax money to bail out already wealthy execs. But could it be tha the one behind this crisis (which means “judgment”) is God? God is the Judge, the critic, who is calling us to repentance, to turn from our ways of serving ourselves and getting more and more greedy for our own benefit, to see the One who is the giver of all that we are and have.

      We have been so turned in ourselves that we are unable to see the one whose image is on our hearts and souls. We are made in the image of God. We have been so curved in on ourselves that we are looking to a rise in the stock market to save us, and that is trusting in a false god. This crisis is not one we can solve on our own; nor can Caesar, or Prseident Bush, or Barak Obama, or John McCain, or Ralph Nader or any other candidate or the all the banks and money in all the world. We are being called to render unto the God that which is God’s—our whole lives, and all that we think is ours. Apart from God we are left in darkness and fear.

      Our only hope is in Jesus Christ who is the One who gave his whole life and all of his being to God. Jesus Christ became sinner, and took our punishment for sin on himself. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and God raises him from the dead. It is the cross of Christ and the empty tomb that overcome God’s judgment on us, replacing our darkness and fear with light and hope.

      God the Judge is also God the Forgiver and healer through faith in Jesus Christ. . God gives us our lives so that in all we say and do we proclaim who is the center of our lives, and we share the love he lavishes on us.

      God gives us our money and possessions in order that we may use them to help and serve others

      God gives government and taxes that we can live in safety and order, have good roads, and care for people in need.

      God gives us our brothers and sisters and neighbors; people like thos echildren in Kenya who don’t have shoes and whose parents died of AIDS; or people throughout our world who are hungry or don’t have clean water to drink; or people here in St. Louis who do not have adequate housing and we can reach through Habitat for Humanity; or people who are reached through Stephen Ministers who need someone to listen to them and pray with them through a difficult time in their lives; or people who may be wondering what will happen to their jobs or may have already lost their job; these are people who are our brothers, sisters, neighbors.

      No longer curved in on ourselves we can see the face and image of God in our bothers and sisters and neighbors; people, wherever they are, who need god’s love that can come through us.

      Could it be that as we go through this time of judgment and crisis, we don’t need to panic. We have a promise in our Lord Jesus Christ that we are not alone, but that God is investing his love and care in us. God is sending us brothers and sisters and neighbors to be with us when we are feeling so alone or fearful.

      Could it be that in the midst of the crisis God is giving us a promise that as we return to him in prayer and studying his Word and sharing our questions and wonderings with our brothers and sisters and neighbors, we may be able to see life in a new way.

      Maybe we can see that money, though necessary in our world, is not what saves us, but Christ alone. We may be shown that there are other priorities that make a real difference in our lives as we focus on relationships, taking time with family and the people God gives us in our lives, and as we give generously of all that God has given to us. IN these ways we say “Yes” to the God who has said “Yes” to us, and we “give unto God the things that are God’s. Amen.