Church and state
Day 445, Thursday, Oct. 30
Matthew 21:23 – Chapter 23
It’s challenging and a bit risky to try to come up with a theology of the ideal relationship between church and state. That relationship changes throughout scripture, from the times in the Old Testament when there was no separation at all to the times in both the Old and New Testaments when the faith was sometimes oppressed and sometimes tolerated by foreign governments that had political control.
The question of paying the imperial tax in chapter 22 is one of the most direct times that Jesus himself addresses the question.
He holds up a coin and asks whose picture is on it. The people respond that it is Caesar’s picture. “Then he said to them, ‘So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’” The implication is that the coin has the ruler’s image on it and can return to the government. However, people were created in God’s image, so we belong to God.
To Jesus, it seems, the obedience we owe to God and the obedience we owe to the government are two different things. You could draw the same conclusion from what we recently read in Daniel. Daniel was willing and able to work for a foreign ruler to the extent it didn’t require him to abandon his faith. He did not, though, refuse to have anything to do with the foreign government.
We live in a time, like all times, when it’s not always easy to tell how far we should go in conforming to the demands of a secular government or in trying to conform a secular government into our vision of the kingdom of heaven.
Looking back over the history of the priesthood, the judges, the kings, the prophets, Jesus and the New Testament Church we see that even the people of scripture struggled with the question. Be cautious of anyone who says they have easy answers.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Thursday meditation

Psalms 18:37-45
I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me. You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—to the Lord, but he did not answer. I beat them as fine as windblown dust; I trampled them like mud in the streets. You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations. People I did not know now serve me, foreigners cower before me; as soon as they hear of me, they obey me. They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.

Prayer focus
Lord, grant us the wisdom to be good citizens while never forgetting that our real home is your kingdom.