Remember the old commercial with Tennis Star Andre Agassi that featured the key line “Image is everything?” It was a big hit for both Canon Cameras and Agassi at the time. The implication for the camera they were selling was that theirs took the best “image” of course . . . And the not so subliminal cultural message that ran along right next to it was that your “image” (like the one Andre was promoting of himself with the cool long hair and stylish clothes and moves) was everything too . . . Which seem to imply, to me anyway, that anything NOT included in that “everything” (i.e. what was on the inside) didn’t really matter at all – which obviously isn’t the case. In fact, it’s the opposite of what scripture says matters to God.
So maybe image isn’t everything after all . . . But it is something . . . Inasmuch as we consider what image we are ultimately MADE in.
I LOVE today’s Old Testament scripture – it is among my favorite in the whole of the Bible – Moses’ interaction with God just AFTER the whole debacle that is the making of the golden idol at the very moment in which He was attempting to give them the law. And here we are – post punishment upon the people – and there is yet another opportunity for a new beginning that God is ALWAYS willing to give.
And notice that Moses is boldly seeking answers from God – just like when he met him for the first time, when he notices and then physically turns to look at the burning bush. He now instigates the dialogue saying, “You know, you have said to me, ‘Bring up this people’; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you. And consider too that this nation is your people.”
This is, of course, a gentle reminder that God had promised him some help and, “Oh don’t forget, God – you said we would be yours pretty much no matter what . . .”(You have to wonder if God is already reconsidering that promise a bit.)
But Yahweh responds faithfully and forgivingly as always: “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And here Moses gives a very important and telling answer – one that reaffirms back to God that he GETS IT: “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here.” i.e. I know that without you anything we seek to do will come to naught. Apart from you we are indeed lost.”
As bad as he wants to be carried up from that place and into the Promised Land that God has promised, Moses isn’t about to risk it if God is not in it with them. Indeed it is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ great prayer in the garden, “But your will Lord and not my own.”
This is, of course, quite contrary to how most of us respond to God. We are given some sense of His direction and purpose and our response is more along the lines of “thank you very much Lord – I have it from here!” And we attempt to take it forward making huge assumptions about what God must want, basing our path on worldly influences and often shaping it into an image devoid of prayer and patience and openness to His completely unpredictable ways.
But Moses trusts God completely and God responds, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name . . .” By name – as in, “I know who you REALLY are – your heart and your intentions completely . . . And because you have trusted in me and nothing else I will bless you and your people.”
But having been given a taste of it Moses desires to know God more deeply and he asks Him to reveal even more of His Glory. And God responds, “Moses, as much as I’d like to, you couldn’t handle it – indeed it would kill you. But I tell you what, you go stand in that cleft in the rock and after I pass by I will allow you to see my back.”
Now this scripture depicts a very interesting “physical” moment of encounter between God and man, and outside of the pillar of fire that God was said to be “in” – leading them forward – and then later in Jesus as God’s physical revelation of His very will upon the earth, we really have very few descriptions of it.
But God takes this extraordinary moment of personal physical encounter and replies: “Yes, while you are unable to experience my glory fully, I will, nevertheless, make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim before you the name, ‘The LORD’; (i.e. HE will prepare the way) and then he adds: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
Do we get it? God will do what He will do. The Creation – and all that is in it, including US – is HIS . . . Not OURS . . . HIS . . . And (while He is gracious beyond measure to share His great gift of love that is the breathing of life into us) our ONLY appropriate response to that reality is, “Your will be done Lord – and not my own. (P) Can we – will we – trust God with that?
Our scripture from Mathew has the Pharisees up to their usual tricks again – yet another attempt to trick this country bumpkin from Nazareth into making a statement that defames either the authorities on one hand or God on the other – in order to convict him and be done with having to think about him at all.
This time they have come up with a good one and they must be exceedingly proud of themselves for it. They will ask Jesus Son of Joseph whether or not it is lawful (under Jewish law) to pay taxes to the emperor of Rome (Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus) and they are clearly confident that they “have him now.”
So they set up their question with the leading statement: “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Do tell us, then, what you think . . . Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”
And Jesus of course has long since seen this coming. Indeed, for a worldly comparison imagine some arrogant grad school student pinging Einstein about the behavior of objects in a Newtonian experiment. You might imagine his reaction to be one of both irritation and humorous but indulgent observation. So Jesus lets them know immediately that he is fully on to them: “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? But go on – show me the coin used for the tax.”
And so they, rather nervously at this point, set it before him and he picks it up and casually flips it over between his fingers, finally looking up slowly and saying “Whose head is this, and whose title?” The nervousness and tension on their part is now palpable. “The emperor’s,” they respond. And the simple truth of his response convicts them completely, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
And there they stand. Disrobed by the power of God’s blinding truth in both word and the flesh. And all they can do is wander away silently in amazement at his continued ability to turn their words of entrapment so completely back upon them. “Who is this man?!” some of them surely wonder, “and are we doing the right thing by questioning His authority which seems to run so much deeper than ours? Maybe instead of trying to ridicule and persecute him we should be seeking what God might be trying to tell us . . .”
Perhaps that’s the question we should pray for in the minds of everyone who feels a negative and self-reliant aversion at the speaking of his name?
But human arrogance and pride and desire for “status” runs deep, and the Pharisees respond with their worldly minds in lieu of deferring to where the Spirit would lead them. But it won’t be long before they are able to find a way to have him arrested and then turn the crowds upon him. Sometimes the whims and will of the people are able to complete what church authorities are unable to do on their own.
So both of our scriptures this morning have to do with “image” – one invoking the image of God that Moses SEEKS and His promise to always go before us and to be with us, no matter what. And the other an image of worldly power – the very “currency” that is used to attain it and keep it – at all “costs.”
And therein lies the question: “In which image are we truly made?” Do we (our selves – our church – our community) reflect the image that the world so clearly glorifies – that we see all around us? A consumerist culture in which “success” is defined by how many denarius we have made? Or the image of God whose very goodness beyond imagining has passed before us – and has promised to lead us – the full glory of which cannot even be seen?
Well, in a world that has all but explained Him away (lived in by a majority who have an “anything goes” mentality and whose primary focus is to be simply “entertained”) God reigns only in those hearts who would step outside of the image that is “the status quo.” Those who would prioritize their lives in a way that will allow them to honestly and humbly seek Him as Moses did – that they might also, by His grace, be allowed to know something of His truth! That their lives (their very beings) might be changed – transformed – into a likeness of the very Son of God – Jesus Christ – in whom and through whom lies our only hope.
And it doesn’t just happen folks. It must be sought with both intense and intentional effort.
That’s right – you are going to have to focus yourself upon Him – through study of His Word and consistent and fervant prayer that does indeed (as Buechner says) beat a path to His door . . . And a willingness to pay attention – too the little whispers in life – that we are all but blinded to when our focus is so caught up in the pursuit of the next “most important” thing on our list.
Otherwise the image in which we were TRULY made – as well as the glory of God that can and will be known in this life and the next – will never be known . . . In fact, the image in which you and I are made will become something else entirely – no less than the invited guest who managed to show up but did not have a robe – no less than anyone else who chooses to rely upon their own ideas of what is right and what is wrong and what might be reliable outside of God’s word and grace.
Those are some mighty scary words aren’t they. But if you believe in God – and accept this Jesus and all he had to say – then you know they are indeed true. There really is no way of getting around it. You can LIVE in the image of God (which requires accountability to His word and a genuine seeking of Him) or you can LIVE in the image of the world (which requires little more than the easy accommodation to its ways.)
So. Which image is it going to be? But I would caution – before you try to respond, know one thing. You will NEVER be able to answer that question with words. Only the obedient and intentional actions of your life will do.
– Stuart Revercomb.
