In covenanting with God, we find a reorientation to the way of justice in the world. We prepare ourselves for this consummation by getting the oil, resting, and remaining watchful of the signs of the times.

Sure, the coin has Caesar’s head on it. Pay your taxes. Vote. Be a good citizen. And…do it all not because it is the obligation Caesar has burdened you with. Do it with a worldview that entrusts every action, every gift, every movement of your life to be a part of a whole picture of how God calls you and I to live.

We wrestle with this difficult text in order to find a meaning for ourselves and a calling to share the good news with others. You and me, we are invited...and that invitation is to be received in obedience and then shared so others can join in too.

While the religious leaders look to logic and philosophical musings to stump Jesus, we see that the way of God is unfairly bent toward blessing those who act upon God's instructions. It's not fair that our questions don't always get answers. And its unfair that God's grace is given to even those who had once turned their backs on God. This is the beautiful unfairness of the Gospel.

The parables and prophets of the Scriptures agitate our privileged vantage point, disrupting how we believe God's grace is "supposed to work" to illuminate the radical way of welcoming all, calling all to repentance, showing us all a belonging in the loving family of God.

Do Not Judge Another 14 Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. 2 Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 3 Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for…

Love for One Another (Cp Mk 12:31; Jas 2:8) 8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed…

In the house of God, we first and foremost seek to love God and love each other with a profound yielding, mutual, supportive posture. This is challenging in a world of self-sufficiency and independence. And therefore, Christian love becomes all the more radical, subversive, and refreshing -- a balm that soothes the deep wounds of sinful division and evil.

On the Sabbath, we are instructed to "rest as if the work is done." True rest comes out of a posture of trusting in God's abundance. There is always enough...enough to eat, enough to sustain us, enough to bring healing. To rest on the Sabbath in the "enough" of God is also to participate in the opening up of rest for all who long for it, all who seek healing, justice, and peace. Our enough (found in Sabbath practice) allows the followers of Jesus to be liberators of those who do not yet have enough.

The powers of the world want to hold us back, to stop our movement home, to stifle our imagination for a world where God reigns and all is made right. But the Holy Spirit will not let this happen. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is calling us forward into that new day. No power of hell, no scheme of man, no might of empire: when we are called home, we are called home.