Did you watch the Oscars? Fortunately for me I teach a group of young adults each Sunday night so I wasn't subjected to too much of it. I've never really gotten caught-up in all the hype of celebrities patting themselves and each other on the back during the awards season. However I did catch the last few awards. One of these was "Best Actor" in a lead role and it was won by Sean Penn. Now, I think Mr. Penn is a terrific actor. He blew me away a couple years back with his role in "I Am Sam" and I'd love it if he did another role like his classic Jeff Spacolli in "Fast Times At Ridgemont High." But I found his comments awkward. In one breath he said that people who voted against gay marriage should fell ashamed, and in the next breath he praised our new President, Barack Obama, who has publicly stated on several occasions that he is against gay marriage. It seems that Mr. Penn is being slightly inconsistent. I am not commenting on gay marriage or President Obama here, I'm just pointing out a celebrity blunder that will likely go generally unnoticed.
I think it will go unnoticed because both supporting gay marriage and verbally complimenting the President are popular things to do right now for the Hollywood elite. And their biggest party of the year, the Oscars, is the best place to display how socially relevant you are. They all get dressed up in outfits that cost ridiculous amounts of money, (and claim to care about the poor and starving), then strut there wears on the red carpet for all to ooh and aah. Because in Hollywood, your image is everything. And can I tell you something? They're right about that. Image is everything.
Now before you start cursing me as a heretic hear me out. One day some of the religious leaders of the day figured they could throw Jesus off his game with a trick question. They asked Him if it was OK with Jewish Law for them to pay the taxes to Caesar that Roman Law required of them. So Jesus tells them to bring Him a coin and they did. He held it up to them and asked, "Whose image is this? And whose inscription?" (Matthew 22:20 [TNIV]) They answered Him correctly saying that the it was Caesar's image and Jesus responded saying, "Give back to Caesar was is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." (Matthew 22:21 [TNIV]) What a great answer! What strikes me most about it is His use of the word "image."
Jesus points out that since the currency of the day contained Caesar's image we should feel free to give it back to Caesars. The image on the coin is what determined who it should go to. Caesar's image, Caesar's coin. It's that simple. We give the coin back to Caesar because it has his image on it. But Jesus also said to give back to God what is God's. How do we determine what that is? To answer that we need to go back thousands of years before Jesus even said this.
In Genesis Chapter 1 verse 27 it reads, "So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27 [TNIV]) So what is it we're supposed to give back to God? He created our entire being in His image. We bare the image of God just as the coin bore the image of Caesar. Jesus insists that God isn't at all interested in who or what we pay taxes to, He's only interested in who or what we give OURSELVES to. Because He knows whose image is on us.
So what are we supposed to give back to God? Everything that we are! Ou bodies, our souls, our minds. Every breath and every heartbeat. Every fiber of our beings belong to God because we bear His image. His inscription has been on us since the day we began living and Jesus insists that we are to give it back to Him. What does this mean for my life? For yours? What changes must we make in order to pay what Jesus insists are the divine taxes we owe to God because we bare His image? God help me to give back to You what is rightfully Yours. Body, soul and mind. Each breath and each heartbeat. Every fiber of my being. Teach me how to give it back to You. Because I bare Your image. And image... is everything.
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