I was overworkd and got out of sync - June and I are one our way to see The Color Purple.

The modern debate and complaint about paying taxes is as old as humanity.

The history-long debate swallowed up Jesus in the last week of his life.

The religious leader of the day asked Jesus a simple question:

"Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

The question was a trap. If Jesus said that the Jewish population shouldn't pay taxes to the government, then they were going to turn him over to the Roman authorities as a traitor to Rome. If Jesus said we should pay taxes to Rome, he was going to be shown as sold out to Rome and a traitor to Jewish aspirations for freedom from Roman oppression. It was a 'no win' situation.

Jesus responds to the question with a request and a question. "Show me a coin used for paying the tax. Whose picture and whose inscription is on the coin?"

The picture and the inscription is that of Caesar.

Jesus responds with what has become one of the best known lines in history:

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

It is tax season in the USA - most of us have paid our share to Caesar.

Jesus's point still remains - give to the government what is the government, give to God what is God's.

You paid your taxes - good for you. There is more to Jesus's point:

What is God's?

Did you give it to God?

(c) 2008 Ronald Friesen

Jesus traveled to the Temple every day during the last week of his life.

On one of those his visits, he sat near one of the thirteen
trumpet-shaped treasury boxes where people placed their offerings when
they visited the temple. Jesus was sitting in such a way that he could
see the the box which was in the Court of the Women.

Jesus noticed a very poor woman come and place in the box two very
small copper coins. Her act of worship was an expression of her
devotion to God. As it was customary a priest was sitting there to
receive the offerings and the worshipper declared the value of the gift
and its purpose. This was Passover week so the poor woman probably
declared her offering to her gift of gratitude for the forgiveness of
her sins. Jesus heard her declare the gift’s value and its intended
purpose.

While others might have sneered at the small size of her gift, Jesus
noted that her gift represented a great sacrifice for her: at least 1
percent of a day’s wages.

Jesus speaks up and announces to all who will listen that this very
poor woman has given more than all the others who have given this day:
they have given out of their wealth, she has given out of her poverty
and put in all that she has to live on for this day.

Jesus notices the devotion of the poor. Jesus celebrates their worship.

Have you ever thought you weren’t good enough or had enough to bring to
God?

Have you ever stayed away from a place of worship because you didn’t
have the right clothes?

Have you ever wished you could bring more and so stayed away because
you didn’t think you had enough?

You can never by poor enough for Jesus! (But you can be too rich!)


(c) 2008 Ronald Friesen

Today is the second day of Holy Week.

It is the day Jesus walked onto the grounds of the holiest building in his day, The Temple, and engaged in an action that was guaranteed to upset the religous folks.

You have to know that Jesus and religious folks had their disagreements. Jesus’ s harshest words were for those who espoused religiousity. One day he called them a bunch of snakes. Another day he said that they were a crowd of white-washed tombs. Not exactly was to curry the favor of the folks who have the power to do serious harm to you.

One this day, Jesus walked into the courtyard of the Temple and encountered the men who exchanged the money of the street for the coinage of the Temple. (If you wanted to buy anything in the courtyard of the temple, you had to buy Temple coins.) You can deduce what happened: the exchange services made money by charging a service fee to make the exchange. On top of this the people who sold the doves for the worshippers made a tidy profit as well. This upset Jesus.

Jesus seeing all the profiteering in the name of religion and worship overthrew the tables of the money changers and the dove sellers.

Why was Jesus particularly upset with the sellers of doves? According to the teaching of the Jewish faith, if you were poor you were allowed to buy a dove which would be offered as a sacrifice to God for your spiritual purification. Jesus’s own parents, being poor, had purchased doves at these very tables when they traveled to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple. It was well-known that the poor, devout Jews from out of town were particular targets of the unscrupulous money changers and merchants.

Just as riding into town on a donkey was a signal to all that Jesus was identifying with poor and disenfranchised, Jesus’s visit to the Temple courtyard the following day was an indication that his mission was particularly targeted to the poor.

Jesus visited the Temple and overthrew tables of money changers and dove sellers to proclaim to the world that he was for the poor.

If you are poor....

If you are disenfranchised...

If you are on the edge of society...

If you are being taken advantage of...

Jesus went into the center of religious life, and overthrew some tables for you!

Oh, by the way, this really upset the religious leaders and they began to try to figure out how to kill him - but that is a story for another day.

(c) 2008 Ronald Friesen

Today is the beginning of Holy Week - the week Christians around the world focus their thoughts on the significant events of the last week of Christ's life.

The story of Palm Sunday evolves around the entry of Jesus of Nazareth into Jerusalem on a donkey. While Jesus rode the donkey down the streets of the city, people threw branches of nearby trees on the ground in front of them. Tradition says that they were the branches of palm trees; however, the Biblical record is not this specific.

This significance is not the kinds of branches that were placed on the ground in front of the arriving Jesus as is the nature of the animal which bore Jesus into the city.

Jesus arrived on a donkey. This must have been disconcerting to the disciples and to other admirers of Jesus. The Jewish hope was for a king, like their favorite hero, King David. They longed for a king who would throw off the oppression of the Roman rule. Kings ride horses not donkeys!

Jesus set aside any political aspirations his followers had for him to ride into the capital on a donkey. It is hard for us to even think of a parallel in our culture. We can't imagine a US president arriving in a Cessna 175 instead of a Boeing 737. Clearly Jesus was setting out that he wasn't coming to overthrow the Romans.

Jesus arrives on a donkey: a humble beast of burden. Poor people ride donkeys; kings ride horses, preferably white ones.

Jesus came for the sick, he said. The poor, the lame, the blind - this was his audience.

Just as in the first "Palm Sunday" when Jesus upset those who were looking for a leader who would legitimize their political and economic aspiration, so today on this "Palm Sunday" Jesus comes and upsets people who want Jesus to legitimize their power base.

Jesus comes as a servant-leader; people want a militaristic leader. Jesus comes and identifies with the down and out; people want someone who they can look up to as someone they want to become - someone rich and famous.

Remember Jesus rode into town on a donkey.

If you are at the bottom of the pile.

If you are left out and ignored.

If you are poor and penniless.

If you are disenfranchised and powerless.

If you are deserted and abandoned.

If you are kicked to the curb.

If you are _____________________.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey for you.

(c) 2008 Ronald Friesen