Boat Chapel, Magdala
Mark 12:13-17
There was a man who kept a garden in his back yard and every year would grow a variety of vegetables to help feed his family. But one year, for whatever reason, his garden completely failed, nothing grew at all. And yet his neighbor, his good friend, had an abundant harvest, loads of tomatoes, zucchini, etc. So, in his frustration and upset, he decided to steal from his neighbor. So late one night he went out into the darkness to steal from his neighbor’s garden.
But he didn’t go alone; he took along his little boy to keep a look-out in case anyone should come along. The man jumped over the fence with a large bag on his arm, and before commencing to take the corn he looked all around to make sure no one was watching, first to the left and then to the right, behind him and in front, and not seeing anyone, he was just about to start filling his bag. And tit was then that his son yelled out: Dad, You forgot to look up.
I have to give that dad a little bit of credit; he did get one thing right! He knew the difference between right and wrong; otherwise he wouldn’t have done the deed in the middle of the night. He knew the law and that, if he was caught, he could be arrested and charged with a crime. He knows he has responsibilities – to himself, to his family, to his community, to civil law – but he chooses to take a negative track on it – thinking only of himself and his physical and financial needs.
In a way, he was acting like the Pharisees in today’s Gospel – thinking only of himself. Probably a model citizen during the day in his words but in the darkness, his actions tell a completely different story. Those Pharisees weren’t interested in learning from Jesus; they were looking for a way to trap Him. And they thought they finally got Him! Should we pay taxes to Caesar?
They thought their question demanded an either/or answer. And no matter what answer Jesus gives, it would divide and anger the crowd. Their basic question completely missed the point. They were focused only on their human responsibilities, civil law, thinking only of themselves! They were only concerned with the “human image of Caesar”, just like the father in the story.
While the father, the Pharisees were so focused on the human side, on the IMAGE of Caesar, they all forgot they were made in the IMAGE of God! They forgot their responsibilities as a child of God.
But even the simplest of coins today, a penny, should remind us – United States of American on one side, In God We Trust on the other! Life isn’t about a simple flip of the coin, heads or tails. It’s a reminder to us that we have responsibilities not only to the left and the right, behind us and in front, but also responsibilities above, to our Father in Heaven,
We celebrate today the Feast of St. Justin. Born to educated Greek parents in Palestine around 100 AD, he is one of the first Christian writers and provides us with one of the first written accounts of how the Eucharist was celebrated in the First Century. Included below is part of that account. Amazing how things have remained the same!
“Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands.
“And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to ge’noito [so be it].
And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.
For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.” – (First Apology, 66)