Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Exodus 33:12-23
Their time at Mt. Sinai would soon be over. For some, it was a place of rest; for others, it was a place of death, but most importantly it was the place where God-Yahweh gave shape to his covenant with Moses and the Hebrews he had led out of bondage. Finally, “the LORD said to Moses, ‘Get going, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt. Go up to the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I told them, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’”
Moses, it seems, wasn’t quite ready to go. He needed a depend- able assistant. The Hebrews’ administrative structure worked, but it required a dominant central authority. Aaron’s decision to make the golden calf made it plain that he was unreliable. But who would take his place? As Moses prepared to lead the Hebrews out of Sinai, Joshua was being groomed for the role, but that was still in the future (Numbers 27:18-23). Fortunately, although they often forgot it, the Hebrews weren’t dependent on human leadership. They were God-Yahweh’s own people, and he would personally accompany them as they moved on to the Promised Land.
When God described his plan to rescue the Hebrews out of slavery, Moses had protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”
God responded by revealing, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:13-14). Now, as I AM sends Moses back out to lead the people, readers are re- minded of the importance of names, an importance that goes back to humankind’s deepest past (see Genesis 2:19-20, 23). Not only did Moses know God-Yahweh’s name, God-Yahweh knew his. They were, we might say, on a first name basis, and that relation- ship set them “apart from all other people on the earth.”
Finally, before he left Sinai forever, Moses appealed for an even more intimate relationship with God. Moses was an eyewit- ness to God’s power. Now, he asked, “show me your glorious pres- ence.” The beatific vision is, perhaps, the deepest desire of the faithful; the Apostles Philip and Paul would make similar requests (see John 14:8 and Philippians 3:10). So Moses hid in the crevice of the rock, covered by God’s hand, and he could only see God “from behind.” Centuries later, Moses, standing with Elijah and Je- sus on a Galilean mountain, would see far more (Matthew 17:3).
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Although Paul and Silas had been exonerated in Philippi, site of the first European church, local officials urged them to leave (Acts 16:39) and the two missionaries moved south along the Aegean coast, following the road south towards Athens and Corinth. Ninety miles from Philippi, they reached Thessalonica.
As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people. He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah” (Acts 17:1-3).
Paul and Silas remained in Thessalonica for several weeks, supported in part by gifts from the Philippian congregation (Philippians 4:16). It wasn’t long, however, before their success attracted the attention of both the Roman authorities and Jewish leaders, who accused them of “turning the world upside down” (Acts 17:6 NRSV). At the behest of the new believers, Paul and Silas cut short their work and moved on to Berea (Acts 17:10).
Later, Paul dispatched Timothy to encourage and strengthen their faith; while their faith remained strong, they had more than a few questions; this letter, the earliest manuscript included in the New Testament, is Paul’s response.
Paul writes in the traditional Greek style, identifying himself, along with Silas and Timothy, as the authors, and “the church in Thessalonica” as the recipients. This format was as familiar to ancient readers as a modern business letter would be us. A word of peace and good wishes was also standard form, but here Paul’s originality creeps in as he offers the twin blessings of “grace and peace.” The mention of grace in the opening lines of a letter would have surprised the Thessalonians; there is it is possible that the combination of grace and peace originated with Paul.
He then continues with warm words of thanksgiving for his Thessalonian friends. Their “faithful work, loving deeds, and en- during hope” serve as a role model for believers in every genera- tion, faith, love, and hope anchored in their relationship with “our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In verse 5, Paul provides a glimpse of what made his ministry so effective. Paul’s message didn’t depend on words alone. In- stead, he ministered with power, as the Holy Spirit gave his listen- ers a deep, life-changing confidence that Paul’s message was true. Unfortunately, Acts 17 doesn’t shed light on the power dimension of Paul’s Thessalonian ministry. Whether it involved healing, de- liverance ministry, or other signs and wonders, we can only guess. However, from Paul’s perspective, the Thessalonian believers “re- ceived the message with joy from the Holy Spirit,” and, because they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they were looking forward to Christ’s imminent return.
Matthew 22:15-22
The conspiracy, fomented by the religious authorities in Jerusalem, was gaining speed. They were convinced that Jesus would soon overstep himself, and, effectively handing himself over to their schemes. It seems unclear how the Pharisees were involved the conspiracy; Matthew gives no hint that they were directly com- plicit in Jesus’ death. Indeed, Matthew mentions them just once in the Passion Narrative, when they join the leading priests asking for guards to be placed at Jesus’ tomb (Matthew 27:62). Personally, I wonder at this detail: the combination of the chief priests and the Pharisees was unusual at any time, and it would “have been ex- traordinary for [the visit to Pilate] to have occurred on the Sabbath” (Word Biblical Commentary: Matthew 14-28).
But there is no doubt that here, the Pharisees were actively con- fronting Jesus, this time in an even more unlikely combination, “with the supporters of Herod,” the Herodians.
The “Herodians,” who are linked with the Pharisees again in the Gospel tradition only in Mark 3:6 where they plot to de- stroy Jesus, were apparently royalists who supported the family of Herod and had a vested interest in the maintenance of peace and the status quo in Palestine (WBC: Matthew 14-28).
The actual ploy is simple enough. Did Jesus believe in paying taxes or not? If he answered “yes,” he would, to some degree, be discredited with “the average taxpayer” who despised to paying taxes to support the Roman occupation of their land. On the other hand, if he answered “no,” it would contribute to the contention that Jesus threatened Roman hegemony over Israel.
Jesus’ request – “show me the coin used for the tax” – seemed harmless enough. After all, they were about to close the trap; the coin, a Roman denarius, was simply bait, until Jesus sprung the trap on them. The denarius carried the emperor’s image, the image of a man who was increasingly considered divine in the eastern provinces. I remember hearing that it least some of the coins would have carried the words, “Caesar is god.” While the Herodians were toadies of the Romans and so may have had no objection, the Pharisees would almost instantly recognized Jesus’ point. Carrying that coin, for any purpose, especially at Passover, was a potential violation of the second commandment (Exodus 20:4). So Caesar’s money belonged to Caesar; it could never be confused with the things of God. In fact, the moneychangers who occupied stalls in the Temple courtyard were there precisely to exchange ritually un- clean Roman coins for something more acceptable. No wonder Jesus branded the Pharisees and Herodians hypocrites!