Celebrating our Independence

Preached at Hanover Street Presbyterian Church

On July 3, 2005

By Pastor Thomas C. Davis

Texts:

An excerpt from The Theological Declaration of Barmen,

issued by Karl Barth and other Christian leaders in pre-World War II Germany (1934), in opposition to the National Socialists' (Nazis') increasing use of Christianity to reinforce their propaganda:

As members of Lutheran, Reformed, and United Churches we may and must speak with one voice in this matter today.  Precisely because we want to be and to remain faithful to our various Confessions, we may not keep silent, since we believe that we have been given a common message to utter in a time of common need and temptation.  We commend to God what this may mean for the interrelations of the Confessional Churches.  In view of the errors of the "German Christians" of the present Reich Church government which are devastating the Church and are also thereby breaking up the unity of the German Evangelical Church, we confess the following evangelical truths:

. . .As Jesus Christ is God's assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins, so in the same way and with the same seriousness he is also God's mighty claim upon our whole life.  Through him befalls us a joyful deliverance from the godless fetters of this world for a free, grateful service to his creatures.  We reject the false doctrine, as though there were areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ, but to other lords-areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.

Matthew 22: 15-22

Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said.  So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, 'Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.  Tell us, then, what you think.  Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not'  But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, 'Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?  Show me the coin used for the tax.'  And they brought him a denarius.  Then he said to them, 'Whose head is this, and whose title?'  They answered, 'The emperor's.'  Then he said to them, 'Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's.'  When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Sermon Text

Stoke up your bar-b-que.  Put on your red white and blue.  Tomorrow we will celebrate our independence!  Years ago Alice and I went to a bicycling convention in Newport Rhode Island, and on the way home we took an off-highway route, down the Delaware water gap, through small towns, on the fourth of July.  We had to wait for several parades to go by, but we weren't in a hurry, and the spectacle was glorious:  volunteer fire companies, VFW chapters, high school bands and drum corps, steppers, chamber of commerce beauties riding in the backs of convertibles.  If you've seen one small town fourth of July parade, you've seen them all.  But that didn't matter.   We loved every one. 

Tomorrow we will celebrate our political independence with such happy festivities.  This morning we will pray in advance, thanking God for the sacrifices that were made to found a nation that strives to be a home of the free, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.  My sermon, however, is not about political independence, but rather, spiritual independence.

By the time that Jesus lived in Palestine the Jewish people had lost their political independence several times--to the Romans most recently.  The Jews were, as scripture says, a "stiff necked people".  They would not concede their spiritual independence to anyone.  In the ancient world emperors preferred to have the total allegiance of their subjects, for they knew that if they had the spiritual devotion of their subjects, their political devotion would follow.  That's why the Caesars of Rome claimed to be gods. 

There is an arch in the ancient city of Ephesus bearing an inscription to Caesar.  It speaks of the "good news" that he brought to his subjects.  It speaks of him as their savior.  Before the words, "gospel," and "savior" were used in connection to Jesus, they were used in connection to Caesar.  The Jewish Pharisees knew all this, of course, and they were trying to walk the fine line between allegiance to Caesar who demanded total obedience, and allegiance to the God of Israel, who demanded ultimate allegiance.  Because they were walking this tightrope themselves, they saw a way to trap Jesus.  First, they flattered him.  They said that they noticed he was a sincere man, and that he always strove to tell the truth.  Therefore, they expected that he would answer honestly and forthrightly when they asked him whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar.  If he said no--which he probably was disposed to do,  since paying taxes to a man who pretended to be God was blasphemous--then the Romans would surely arrest him as a dangerous troublemaker.  On the other hand, if he said yes, then he would lose the respect of his countrymen who bitterly resented Roman rule, and wanted a leader who would stand up to them.  So, Jesus was trapped--or so it seemed. 

He asked for the coin with which Jews were obligated to pay their taxes, a coin that bore the beatific image of Caesar, a coin which the Jews detested, because it served not only as currency but also as a conveyor of pagan propaganda.  Holding up the coin Jesus said, "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

Some people have cited this passage as justification for the doctrine of the separation of church and state.  It might seem that Jesus was teaching that our obligations to God and to the state are separate and equal.  But that is not what Jesus intended to say.  Caesar, you see, wanted their hearts and minds and souls.  Jesus' clever response admonished his people not to give Caesar their hearts and minds and souls, for those belong to God.  Therefore, the obligation to state and the obligation to God must remain separate, and they must remain unequal, because, to use Martin Luther's words, "God alone is Lord of the conscience"; God alone deserves our ultimate allegiance.

The first reading this morning was from one of the historic Confessions of Faith which we Presbyterians look to for guidance as we strive to be obedient disciples of Jesus in our own place and time.  That excerpt was from the Declaration of Barmen, issued in 1934.  In that year many German Christians were handing over their hearts and minds and souls to their Fuhrer, Adolph Hitler.  Christianity was being co-opted by the Nazis. Most Christians were quite willing to pay to the Fuhrer what should have belonged only to God, namely, their ultimate allegiance.  Only a few brave citizens of "the fatherland" resisted.  They declared their spiritual independence from the Third Reich.  They wrote:  "As Jesus Christ is God's assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins, so in the same way and with the same seriousness he is also God's mighty claim upon our whole life. . .We reject the false doctrine, as though there were areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ, but to other lords-areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him."

Now, why do I preach about spiritual independence on the eve of our national celebration of political independence?  I do so because patriotism and piety in our land are becoming so mingled that pious people are on the verge of forgetting that their ultimate allegiance belongs to God, not to the state, nor to any political party.  When a pastor insists that all members of his church must be members of a certain political party, spiritual independence has already been surrendered.  When a bishop denies holy communion to members of congress who resist legislation favored by his church, spiritual independence has already been surrendered.  When churches are giving the names and addresses of their members to political parties for their recruitment data bank, spiritual independence has already been surrendered. 

The American colonies known as "the new world" served as a haven for religious refugees.  America did not achieve a happy separation of church and state all at once, however. At first, some colonies handled the church-state relationship the way it had been handled in Europe: whoever governed a certain area would dictate which religion the citizens could practice in that place.  Eventually, though, another doctrine prevailed:  That the state must not dictate in matters of religion.  There must be freedom of religious belief and practice everywhere in the nation, and the state must make no laws that favor one religion over another, or even religion itself over no religion at all.  Most of us now take that doctrine for granted, but it was hard won, and it is hard to preserve.  We must not forget that.  Spiritual independence is hard to preserve. Even democratic governments will inevitably try to use religion for partisan purposes.  It is up to us citizens to protect our spiritual independence by insisting that our ultimate allegiance lies with God, not with the state, nor with any political party.  May God give us the brave but humble spirit of Jesus, the spirit of compassion which never surrendered to the system of domination present in the Roman state of his time, and has continued to be present in all states, throughout time.  We do have a moral obligation to work with other people of good will to create democratic processes of government.  And we do have an obligation to obey the laws of our land which have been duly passed, and which do not violate our conscience in the light of Jesus.  But our ultimate allegiance is not to the state whose independence we shall celebrate tomorrow.  Our ultimate allegiance is to God.