Payback
Ezekiel 34:11-16; Matthew 25:31-46

November 23, 2008


Unless you have just returned home from a distant planet, you are very much aware that the world’s markets and financial institutions are being devastated by an economic tsunami. It is an anxious time, especially if you have stocks and bonds and your livelihood depends on income from investments. We watch the evening news, and when the numbers come on the screen, we ask, of the TSX, “How much lower can it go?”

Margaret Atwood, in her timely book, Payback, has revealed that she had anticipated that this apocalypse was coming. She also offers a gloomy outlook for the environment. It is the thesis of her book that the economic disasters we are currently witnessing, and “the wrath that is coming,” are the consequence of not honouring our debts. Whether you think of debts in terms of individu¬als, nations, or humanity as whole, the principle is the same. If you have debts, and do not pay them when due, there will be consequences. If you do not believe Atwood, then believe the texts for this Reign of Christ Sunday!

Atwood cites research confirming that the obligation to honour debts is innate in the human psyche. It is a corollary of a sense of justice that we are born with. For example, give to each of any two three-year-olds a piece of cake, one piece being obviously bigger than the other, there will be an outcry, “UNFAIR!” - the outcry coming from the child receiving the smaller piece. (The child receiving the larger piece, like those of us living in the first world, may not be so sensitive to the injustice).

It is an oughtness of the human condition that there be a balance between what WE OWE, and what is OWED TO US. For example, from earliest childhood our parents have taught us to say “Thank You” when someone gives us something or does something for us. Our “thank you” is payment of the debt. When, for example, someone holds the door for you when you are going into the Mall, you respond, “Thank You,” and if you don’t, the person will feel slighted, or “unpaid.”

When you allow another motorist into your lane, you expect to receive a wave of appreciation. It is also not uncommon, on the daily commute, to receive another gesture - which serves to illustrate that we can respond to our obligations with gratitude and faithfulness, or with contempt and incompli¬ance

When it came to debts it was Jesus’ position that we should pay them - all of them. This is made clear in his repartee with the Pharisees and Herodians when they conspired together to ask the no-win question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” For the Pharisees the only law was the Law of Moses. There was nothing in the Torah about Caesar or paying taxes to him. But it was simply a fact: that Roman Law had been established in Judea. The Romans had marched in and “liberated” them. And they had soldiers and swords and a very efficient tax collecting system.

It could have been argued, as did the Zealots, that “the Romans shouldn’t be here,” and the whole Roman occupation was unlawful. But they were there, and they all held their noses and paid their taxes.

It did not matter whether the government was legal or if they liked their rulers or if they agreed with their policies, they had an obligation to “render to Caesar.” For us also, our taxes are a debt we will pay. We will pay it whether or not we like our leaders, and whether or not we agree with their policies. If you don’t agree with the Afghan mission it’s not an option to deduct $1,500 from your tax bill. As debts, taxes are a no-brainer. You will pay they, and there is no way out. Consider the box to check on the form, “Is the taxpayer deceased?” If “yes,” then sign your name at the end and provide a telephone number! There is no way not to pay your debt to Caesar!

A more relevant question that the Pharisees did not ask, would be, “Do I need to pay my VISA bill?” We have our complaints about how the banks gouge us with their myriad fees, service charges, penalties, etc. Jesus would say, “Render to the bank what belongs to the bank.” “Render to the Power Company what belongs to the Power Company.” “Render to the Telephone Company what belongs to the Telephone Company.” .

Jesus’ teaching on debts was that we should pay them - all of them. Paul spelled it out, “Owe to no one anything, except to love one another.” (Rom 13:8)

What Jesus was concerned about, and the Pharisees not concerned about enough, was OUR OBLIGATIONS TO GOD “Render to God, the things that are God’s.”

What belongs to God, and our debts to God, are clearly spelled out in Scripture.

“The earth is the LORD’s and the fulness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein” (Ps 24:1)

All belongs to God, even what Caesar controls. We owe it to God to look after this world, which has been entrusted to our stewardship. We owe it to God to care about “those who dwell therein.”

Our debts to God have been spelled out in the writings of prophets and parables of Jesus. Humankind has always known it has debts to Deity. Many attempts to pay the debts have been with unacceptable currency. As far back as there are historical records, blood sacrifices - animal and human - have been offered to settle accounts with the Deity. And the landscape is dotted with temples and cathedrals erected to balance the books of human-divine contracts.

In response to attempts to settle accounts with such currency, the prophet Micah declared what God required:

... “What does the LORD require of you
but do justice, to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

And in the words used so powerfully by Martin Luther King Jr., Amos revealed what would constitute satisfactory payment: .

... “Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an everflowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)

The benchmark for wickedness and unfaithfulness in the writings of the Old Testament prophets and in Jesus’ preaching is the behaviour of the residents of Sodom. This was the city for which Abraham interceded, that it might not be destroyed if ten righteous persons were found. They were not to be found, and the city was destroyed.

What was the sin of Sodom? The sin of Sodom was NOT sodomy. There are inferences to some nasty proposals of some Sodom citizens regarding Lot’s guests which have been improperly used for the bashing of gay people. The sin which brought their downfall is defined in Ezekiel 16:49:

“This was the guilt of your sister Sodom; she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.”

These words of Ezekiel are written to the people of Jerusalem, whose city has been destroyed by the Babylonians, and who have been taken into exile in a foreign land. Payback time had come for Jerusalem, as it had for Sodom, because they had a debt to the poor and needy, and did not honour it. The attitude of the fat sheep to the lean and hungry sheep was, “Let them buy stocks!”

We listened to the reading of the scene of Judgement in Matthew 25. All the nations are gathered before the King of the Universe. Some are judged to be Sheep Nations and others Goat Nations. It is PAYBACK time for their payment, or non-payment of debts. And the criteria which will determine whether the scales of justice are balanced in their favour is their treatment of the hungry and homeless, the thirsty, the refugee, the sick, and those in prison.

Another memorable parable about debt and payback is that off the Unmerciful Servant (Matt 18:23ff). When a certain king has his books audited it is found that one of his servants is in arrears to the tune of 10,000 talents. Last Sunday Dr. Kitchen defined the exchange rate. 10,000 talents is the equivalent of 10,000 buckets of gold. That is a huge amount of money - possibly enough to bail out an investment banker, or jumpstart an automotive company. The servant fell down, begging for mercy and promising that if his master is patient he will pay the debt. His master has compassion on him and forgives the entire debt. Payback Day comes when he encounters a fellow servant who owes him $100. The servant falls down begging for an extension but his pleas for mercy fall on deaf ears. When the incident is reported to the King he is incredulously angry and has the unmerci¬ful servant thrown in prison until he pays his debt. And the outstanding debt is not the 10,000 talents, but the obligation to deal with his fellow servant with compassion and mercy.

Margaret Atwood notes in her book that an unavoidable feature of any debt is the due date for payment. You will find it on all your bills. If you miss the due date, there are penalties. She cites Scrooge as an example of someone who is past due in settling his accounts. Scrooge is a person who has taken and taken, but has never given anything back. One Christmas Eve the Spirits come to call in the loan. When he pleads for mercy he is given an extension. In seeing and in remember¬ing the poor, Scrooge finds salvation.

Atwood offers a picture of the modern Scrooge. He has made a bundle on the stock market, but unlike his forebear he spends lavishly on himself. He owns a yacht, a villa in Tuscany, a wine cellar with all the best vintages. He is on his fourth trophy wife, all of whom have been featured in “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” His current wife regularly shops in Milan for state-of-the-art stiletto heels. For this modern Scrooge there is no awareness or concern about global warming or melting ice caps. He is oblivious to atrocities and genocide in Darfur, or reports that in Haiti, the poor have been mixing mud with rice for their children to make it go further.

The Modern Scrooge is visited one day by the spirits of “Earth Day past, present and future.” Atwood does not speculate whether this story will have a happy ending! The outcome will be a result of how we, the human family, deal with our debts. Whatever payback comes will be determined by how faithfully we have “rendered to God what belongs to God.”

In the days of the prophet, Haggai there was an unstable economy. Can you identify with these sentiments which he expressed?

"Consider how you have fared. You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes." (Haggai 1:6)

If you feel this way, could it indicate an overdrawn or overdue balance in your spiritual account?

Preached by Howard Hanson
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan