What is the Boy Scout Motto –
“Be Prepared!”
What is our National
Motto “In God We Trust” I wonder how long that will last? Yes – In God We Trust
1864 - Midst of Civil War - began
to appear on coins
1957 – on paper money
In Jesus time – motto could
have been “In Caesar we trust”
Israel is occupied by the
Roman Empire
That occupation led to
divisions
-
Pharisees – lay
scholars who studied Torah and were very pious – anti Rome
-
Sadducees –
priestly class – had to work at getting along with Romans
-
Herodians – political
party that backed the Roman governor Herod.
-
Zealots - revolutionaries - get them out by whatever
means
To find Pharisee and
Herodians together was amazing – but had one thing in common – they could not stand
Jesus.
Came up with a question to
get him - should you pay taxes or not?
Jesus had 2 choices
-
pay the tax – in
with Romans – what kind of prophet are you?
-
Withhold tax – in
trouble with government - cannot win
Jesus asked for a coin – NOTE
– he does not have a coin - had image of Tiberius Caesar on it. “Pontifex
Maximus”
Whose image? – Caesar – give
to Caesar what is Caesar’s – to God what is God’s
1) Give to Caesar what is
Caesars - Caesar has his rights - to do
that must collect taxes - and
use money for common good – hope they can protect from Ebola - but
we should question how money is used e.g. subpoenaed sermons in Houston
2) Give to God what is God’s
- what is God’s – everything! Prisoner
of war, after undergoing torture – looks up at sky, sees stars, they can’t
touch that. Andy Dufrain “Mozart”
What our country needs are
faithful citizens - who love their country and who live their faith without
excuses and without apologies. Separation of church and state does not mean we
cannot be involved – we must be involved. We have something to add to the
discussions!
After all - what is the motto
of our country? - “In God We Trust”
