19th Sunday after Pentecost - Year A (Matthew 22:34-46)

There were many things about which the Pharisees and the Sadducees disagreed, but it seems they were united in their desire to trip up Jesus.  Beyond that, the text seems to imply that the Pharisees were out to show up the Sadducees by succeeding where the later had failed.  Once again Jesus escapes their verbal trap.  And then, as if not to be left out of the fun, Jesus sets a trap for the Pharisees.  Their failure to answer adequately finally brings the contest to an end.  Perhaps the point of the text is that any argument about scripture to which the final answer is not love of God and neighbor has missed the point.

18th Sunday after Pentecost - Year A (Matthew 22:15-22)

Taxes are a major political topic in the U.S. today. Who, if anyone, should be taxed? What percentage of their income should people pay in taxes? How about corporations? While the Christian might hope to find some solution to these questions in this Sunday’s text is, I think, to miss the point. Taxes and the proper role of government are not the subject of this story, Jesus is. The enemies of Jesus are trying to trap him by asking a question to which, in their view, there is no answer that will not get him in trouble with someone. Jesus, as it turns, out, is smarter than they think and does not allow them to trap him. Jesus refuses to take sides but rather inserts a “both and” where his enemies would have an “either or”.  Jesus’ embrace of a more holistic view of the nature of the world leaves open the possibility of a Christian way of being in the world that rejects dualism and pursues reconciliation. In Christ, all things are brought together.