Sunday, October 22, 2023

Whose Image Is Inscribed On Your Heart? God's or the World's?

"I have called you by your name."

Two things are important in understanding our gospel reading from this weekend. The first is the story of creation of Adam and Eve. When we read in the Book of Genesis, "God created mankind in His image. In the image of God, he created them male and female. He created them."

And the second is from the Prophet Jeremiah, "I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts. I will be their God. And they shall be my people."

At first glance, when we look at the gospel account, we might be tempted to think that Jesus is talking about taxes, which we all love.

But that's not the point of the Gospel reading.

When Jesus is focusing his attention on whose image is this and whose inscription, while the question appears to be about the coin, the question is actually about the Pharisees—and yes, every one of us.

If the coin has Caesar's image and inscription imprinted on it, it is to return to Caesar. But if the inscription of God is on our hearts and we are created in His image and likeness, how do we return that, because we are to return to God what belongs to God?

Perhaps this is where our second reading can be helpful. In the opening of St Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, he's praising the Thessalonians for being who God chose them to be.

"Calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father, knowing brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen." (Thessalonians 1:3-4)

Each one of us was created by God, stamped in His image and likeness, and His law inscribed on our hearts. Our first reading makes it clear this is not just meant for the chosen people, because we are all his chosen people—He even chose Cyrus, the Persian king who did not yet know God, to fulfill his purpose.

God has a purpose for every single one of us.

Which brings us back to the question: How do we repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar? And to God what belongs to God? The answer is fairly simple. We become the people that God has created us to be, to embody the work of faith and labor of love and endurance and hope as demonstrated by the Thessalonians.

We are to work in the Vineyard to help further the Kingdom of God here on Earth.

I've said this before: the place to start is in our families. It is there that we learn to love one another, to live out our faith in our homes, in prayer, occasional fasting, but always in hope. A hope that does not diminished by the events in the world around us.

Far too often, we allow the world to affect our spiritual life, instead of allowing our spiritual life to affect how we view the world.

Saint Paul always emphasized that all Christians must be a people of hope. Christianity has always been that for 2000 years. Rather than having to become dismayed by the events in the world, Christians have simply rolled up their sleeves and gone to work to help those in need, never asking who they were, but only asking was there a need that we could help with.

This weekend is World Mission Sunday. It's when the church sets aside a Sunday for us to take part in helping those in need. It is easy to be cynical and dismiss this as just another effort for the church to collect money.

It is far more than that.

It is the church allowing us to fulfill the gospel reading to repay to God what belongs to God.

And while this may include the things that we have, it specifically calls us out to ask ourselves, "Whose image is imprinted on your soul? And whose law is inscribed in your hearts?"

Is it the image of a world filled with hopelessness? The inscription of a culture whose motto is Look out for number one?

Or is it the commandment of Jesus to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves?

I would like to close with a part of a poem from Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman. The title of the poem is The Mission of My Life.
 
Let us take a moment to look in our hearts and ask ourselves whose inscription is written thereon. If it be God's, let us return to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but always return to God, what belongs to God. That is, ourselves.

Jesus. I trust in you.

Amen.