What is God's? (Mother Beth)

They usually call it a “gotcha question” – one posed not honestly to get an answer, but manipulatively to trick the respondent into saying something that can be used against them. The Gospels have more than one example of someone going after Jesus with a gotcha question, and today has to be one of my favorites. Matthew tells us:
 
The Pharisees… plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said, asking “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
 
Whenever someone asks Jesus a gotcha question, they are the ones who end up gotcha’d. The Pharisees want to trick Jesus into siding with one position on a currently controversial tax – we’ve got one of those on the ballot in Illinois this year, so you can imagine the situation, I expect. Jesus explodes the short-sighted partisan focus, and points out that anyone who calls themselves a believer in God ought to be thinking like one. A believer ought to have a wider perspective. Give to God the things that are God’s, he says, and the questioners slink away speechless.
 
Give to God the things that are God’s. Which begs the question, what things are God’s? Now that is, as I’ve said before, kindergarten level monotheism. Jews, Christians, and Muslims at a minimum should all immediately know the answer. What things are God’s? Everything. There is nothing outside his creative rule, nothing that cannot be traced back to his generosity. You and I may be taking care of some of his property for him, as Jesus has been pointing out to us in parable after parable this fall, but God owns it. We are his and everything we have is his.
 
Despite the fact that this is kindergarten level monotheism, it’s easier to say you believe it than to act as if you believe it. Of course, that’s the case for all kinds of Christian teachings. It’s easier to say you believe in forgiveness than to forgive someone who has hurt you. It’s easier to say you believe God is all-knowing than to act like he knows better than you do. It’s easier to say you believe that all things are God’s than to treat your things as God’s.
 
Jesus talks about all those topics, but he talks about how we use our resources more than almost anything else, because he knows how deeply it damages us to live as people who don’t know how broad and great and generous the involvement of God is in absolutely everything.
 
That faith – that there isn’t anything bigger than God, that all things are God’s, that his involvement is broad and great and generous – is what has kept me going through these past several months of having to reinvent nearly everything about the way we do ministry because of the pandemic. It has not been at all easy on any of us, but Emmanuel has kept doing our ministry because of who God is and what God’s like.

We have not missed one day of sack lunches. We have as of this week been out 115 times to take people contactless home communions. Every daily office since March has been prayed just the way it would have otherwise. We’ve gathered on Zoom and YouTube and Facebook for formation and worship several times a week as well as retooling our nave for in-person Masses that got an enthusiastic thumbs up from C-U Public Health.
 
Why did we do that? Because all things are God’s and they’re God’s now, not later. In this time, not some other time. Because at Emmanuel we want to be people who know how broad and great and generous the involvement of God is in absolutely everything and every season, not people who wait for some other season or some other situation to consider what God requires. We want to give to God what is God’s all the time.
 
There have been some discouraging things about this year, but I want to tell you one encouraging thing. We’ve sent out 2021 pledge cards, and, you know, please return yours soon. But as part of that naturally we look at giving for the current year, and of course some people are impacted by COVID such that they can’t do what they hoped. But what blows me away is in October to read down the column of the spreadsheet that lists the percentage fulfilled so far of the giving goals all of you set.
 
In that column, say, if someone pledged $4000 and gave $4000, it says 100%, right? So I look down that column and of course some people couldn’t do what they hoped. But what blows me away this year is to see in October a smattering of percentages like 112%, 245%, 150%, 650%. Ordinary folks, who gradually over these past months have kept doing more than they planned because they know how important Emmanuel’s mission and ministry are, and how broad and great and generous the involvement of God is in what we do for the sake of Love.
 
Give to God the things that are God’s. It’s kindergarten level monotheism, but do we live it out? I honestly think that in this area of the spiritual life, there is no more effective first step in learning how to do what you say you believe than to mindfully decide how much money you plan to give away, and offer that plan to God, who already owns all of it. Do that in prayer, do that in Love, do that with the God who already owns everything you have, and you’ll see.