Whose Eikōn is this?

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas

October 18, 2014; 19 Pentecost, Proper 23, Year A, Track 2

Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

Matthew 22:15-22 – The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus 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 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.

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Jesus takes the coin, a Roman coin, and asks, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" The Greek word translated here as "head" is the word eikōn. It is often translated "image" or "likeness." Jesus holds the coin and asks, "Whose image or likeness is this?"

Caesar's eikōn is on the coin. Then, give it to Caesar. But give to God the things that are God's.

Let's go back into the recesses of time, before money or Caesar. In the first chapter of the Bible, as God finishes the days of creation, God declares, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness… So God created humankind in God's image; …male and female… [And] God blessed them." (Gen. 1:26f)

Now just hold that for a few moments. We’ll get back to it.

I want to tell you about an essay I read last week that really grabbed me. It was an essay about "devotion." Now that's not a word I use very often – "devotion." It's got a sweet and syrupy tone that I tend to shy away from. But listen to this description:  "Devotion is extremely dedicated, unwavering love that is selflessly oriented toward the good of another – who may be God, a cause, a profession, a work – really anything, which indicates the great fluidity of devotion that, when entered, opens and fills the interior soul life." [i]

Devotion is extremely dedicated, unwavering love that is selflessly oriented toward the good of another. Now that's something I can get excited about. I want to live a life like that. I want to live a life full of devotion, full of dedicated, unwavering love… selflessly oriented toward the good of another. I can see devotion in my life. I'll be you can see devotion in your life too.

I've got "dedicated, unwavering love" toward my family, and it is sometimes "selflessly oriented toward (their) good." I find it easy to be devoted to my work and to this church. To friends. And, when I think about it, I find I have a considerable degree of devotion to some things that might be considered of less significance – to sports, to the Razorbacks and the Rebels. You might not be exaggerating if you described my attention to some football games at times as being "extremely dedicated, unwavering love that is selflessly oriented toward the good of" my team. As I put it that way, I don't think I'm particularly proud of that.

It makes me wonder whether it's really love, or is my sports obsession more like an addiction? What is the difference between love and addiction? I think that's where the second half of that definition comes in. An addiction is all about me and getting my needs met. Devotion is "selflessly oriented toward the good of another."

What are you dedicated to? To what do you give unwavering love, selflessly oriented toward the good of another?

If we are fortunate, we can all count some devotions in our life. People, relationships; jobs if we are lucky; certain causes or special interests. To who or what do you give yourself for good?

The writer of the essay about devotion was writing particularly about contemplation and contemplative prayer. As I read, he stoked a fire and passion that is inside me – a desire to be passionately dedicated to God, and a desire to enter prayer with an "extremely dedicated, unwavering love that is selflessly oriented toward" God, the goodness and wholeness at the center of all.

Yet when I do orient myself toward God with deep devotion, I find it is I who becomes the subject of a "dedicated, unwavering love that is selflessly oriented toward my good." I discover it is God who is dedicated to me with unqualified love. Sometimes the experience of that love is so profound that I even feel myself to be created in the image of God. Which takes us back to the story of the coin.

One reason I can believe in a God of unqualified love is because I was so fortunate to have a grandfather who loved me in a way that approached unqualified love. I realize how fortunate I am, for not everyone receives such divine love from another human being.

Sometimes when I am especially fragile, I will use the image of my grandfather as an eikōn of God, and I can approach the infinite and holy with intimacy and warmth.

The radical truth is -- we all are eikōns of God. We are all created in the image of God. And that makes our interactions with each other not unlike the loving relationship of the Holy Trinity – one person of the Holy Trinity pouring unwavering love, selflessly oriented toward the goodness of the other, and the other receiving and returning that love in equal measure. All of creation is breathed into being by this living, loving dynamic. We are invited to live and move and have our being in that relationship of infinite loving devotion.

It seems to me that there are two transformations that we must allow our imaginations to embrace. One is humbly to accept that we are created in the image of God. You carries the imprint of God's spirit. You are capable of loving dedication. The other transformation of the imagination is for us to be willing to see every other human being as created in the image of God.

Wally Odum is a non-denominational pastor who was serving outside Baltimore a number of years ago. He read about an assignment a local college professor gave to his class. The professor asked the students to go into the economically impoverished communities to get case histories of 200 young boys. As part of the case history, the students were asked to write an evaluation of each boy's future. In every case the students wrote something like, "He hasn't got a chance."

Twenty-five years later a sociology professor came across the earlier study, and he decided to have his class follow up to see what had happened to those boys. Twenty of the boys had moved away or died, but the students were able to interview 180 of them. 176 of those 180 remaining boys had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors, and businessmen.

The professor was astounded at the results and decided to pursue the matter further. He had the class return to the 176 and ask each of them the question, "How do you account for your success?" In each case the reply came with feeling, "There was a teacher…"

Investigating, the professor learned that the teacher was still alive. He went to speak with her personally. He asked her what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement. The teacher looked at him, broke into a smile, and said, "It's really very simple. I loved those boys." [ii]

She seems like an image of devotion, doesn't she? While some people looked at those boys and said, "They haven't got a chance," she looked at them with extremely dedicated, unwavering love, selflessly oriented toward their goodness, and they were transformed. She saw the image of God in them and treated them as children of God. I believe, when those boys experienced her devotion toward them, they looked back at her and saw the image of God in her. In that exchange of vision, those boys were transformed. They began to live out of their true image, the image their teacher saw, not the false image the world tried to give them. They became the persons God created them to be.

God takes you into God's divine hand, and asks, "Whose image or likeness is upon this person?" The whole creation looks at you and answers, "God's image." God asks you to look upon your neighbor, whoever that might be, and God asks, "Whose image or likeness is upon this person?" And we must answer, "God's image."

Then give to God the things that are God's.

But don't merely give to God those things made in the image of God. Give also your devotion. Give your devotion to the image of God, in yourself and in others. Offer your extremely dedicated, unwavering love, selflessly oriented toward the goodness of others, and be fully alive, an eikōn of God.

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[i] Robert Sardello, The Contemplative Action of Devotion, published in Oneing: The Perennial Tradition, Franciscan Media, 2014.

[ii] http://wallyodum.blogspot.com/2008_02_23_archive.html

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