The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (January 30, 2022)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

In 6 A.D., Quirinius, a Roman governor of Judea, imposed a census on the region. This census provoked resistance from a Jewish leader named Judas of Galilee who encouraged his fellow Jews not to participate and actively resist. His group of discontents went so far as to burn homes and steal the livestock belonging to Jews who registered in the census. At the time, there were three major factions in Israel: there were the Sadducees, who could be considered the elite religious establishment who had actively partnered with their Roman occupiers. There were the Pharisees, who emphasized the purity of the Jewish religion in such a way that made them more theologically conservative and opposed to the Roman occupation. The third group was called the Essenes who were a kind of proto-Monastic group that withdrew into the desert and were awaiting God’s return and judgment. Judas of Galilee added what might be considered a fourth sect into the mix that was based on a radical theocratic nationalism. They believed only God ruled Israel and, therefore, staunchly opposed sending any taxes to Caesar. This group’s actions were credited by Josephus, the Jewish-Roman historian, with inciting the First Jewish-Roman War which lasted from 66-73 AD and far from being a success for Israel, included the destruction of Israel’s Temple in Jerusalem and the mass suicide of the last Jewish resistance fighters at the siege of Masada.

Now, it’s commonly agreed upon by scholars that Paul’s writing of Romans precedes the events of the Jewish-Roman war because he most likely wrote between 56 and 57 AD. But as a Jew, he would have had his finger on the pulse of political tensions and attitudes of his countrymen. He intimately knew the tendencies of the four sects because he was “a Pharisee of Pharisees” and would have been familiar with the more radical tendencies in the popular Jewish psyche. It’s in this milieu that he penned our Epistle reading from today which is a continuation of the Romans’ passages we’ve been studying the past few weeks in our series, “Living Sacrifices: Living into the Christian Story.” What we will see is that Paul continues to flesh out that story for us today as he carves out a middle ground, a tight rope for Christians to walk, one that avoids the anarchy of the theo-nationalists like Judas of Galilee while simultaneously avoiding the idolatry of the imperial cult of Rome that worshipped the emperor. What Paul argues, on the foundation of the Old Testament, is that God works for our good, even in the actions of the state (which God has appointed) so that we can grow in holiness.

Paul’s discussion about obeying government officials is interconnected with his discussion in chapter 12 where he expressed our Christian duty to love both our brothers and sisters in Christ but also those we encounter outside the walls of the Church. The trajectory of Paul’s larger argument moves from our individual private lives to how we engage with the public, civic sphere. As such, his goal is not so much a systematic treatment where he prescribes a particular mode of governance like democracy or monarchy but rather, his focus is on discussing our orientation, as those who are in Christ and participating in his self-sacrifice, toward the state. We can, therefore, understand that while Paul’s context is very different from ours in that he was writing in the context of a Roman Empire that was at best indifferent and at worst openly hostile to Christianity, the principles he lays out in our reading this morning transcends his particular context and become enduring even for us today.

The first point Paul makes is that Christians should obey governing officials because the government is appointed by God. This instruction is for “every soul” meaning that it’s something we should all take seriously. This is not a thought original to Paul. He’s drawing heavily from the Old Testament here. For example, Proverbs 8:15 reminds us that “By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.” Daniel 2:21, “He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings: He giveth wisdom unto the wise, And knowledge to them that know understanding.” Jeremiah 1:10 “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” The Deuterocanonical book Wisdom of Solomon 6:1-3 echoes similar sentiments: “Listen therefore, O kings, and understand; learn, O judges of the ends of the earth. Give ear, you that rule over multitudes, and boast of many nations. For your dominion was given you from the Lord, and your sovereignty from the Most High; he will search out your works and inquire into your plans.” So we owe obedience because these are divinely appointed institutions. The Church Father Ambrosiaster explained that obedience to the state is a tool to help us learn how to obey God. But there is a balance here. Contra Judas the Galilean and the radicals, obedience is the norm; contra the Romans and their emperor worship, Paul reminds us that the government is appointed and judged by God.

At this point, it’s helpful to answer the question everyone asks when they read Romans 13: should obedience be unconditional then? St. Augustine in his commentary on Romans says no. He reminds us that the state’s authority extends over matters temporal. Nor should we read Paul as saying God endorses every temporal action a ruler takes. Rulers may be wrong. But what he reminds us is that they are ultimately accountable to God. So, for example, if the state tells us we need to wear masks, social distance, etc. I see an obligation to obey. But if the state were to say, “You as a minister are no longer allowed to say Mass,” I would have to respectfully disobey. But our default should be obedience.

The reason for that posture of obedience is that resisting the state is resisting those appointed by God, an act Paul warns that leads to judgment. Because a ruler should punish bad conduct but if you do good, you receive commendation. One can think about how our very own Raynaldo Brown has so enriched our community through his activities that he’s received the Dallas G. Pace Humanitarian Award. At the same time, the ruler bears the authority of the sword, which means they are a legitimate means whereby God executes his judgment in the world. As we pray in the Prayer for the Whole State of Christ’s Church: “We beseech thee also, so to direct and dispose the hearts of all Christian Rulers, that they may truly and impartially administer justice, to the punishment of wickedness and vice.”

But, Paul reminds us, our obedience is not purely because we’re interested in avoiding punishment or gaining temporal rewards; there is something deeper at work. We obey “not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.” It’s not just because we fear punishment, but because we know that disobedience is bad for our souls. Understanding and abiding by God’s providential ordering of our world is good for us. Not doing something out of fear is less good that if our motivation comes from a love of him and desire to be built up into the image of Christ. So, contrary to Judas of Galilee, Paul concludes by saying that as Christians, we should pay tribute (which probably speaks to property taxes), customs or revenue (which probably refer to sales taxes), and honor (which speaks to a respect for those in offices of authority that leads to a larger posture of obedience.”

Anglican Bishop and Pauline scholar NT Wright reminds us that Paul was attempting to avoid both anarchy and emperor worship. The respect he describes that’s due to officials are not because they are divine themselves but because their authority is derived from God because he has ordained them. In effect, St. Paul situates us in the tension of dwelling in our present moment while anticipating God’s eschatological justice in the future. So, Wright tells us, “The Church must live as the sign of the coming complete kingdom of Jesus Christ; but since that Kingdom is characterized by peace, love, and joy it cannot be inaugurated in the present by chaos, hatred, and anger.” In many ways, then, we can say that the obedience and respect we pay to governing officials is an expression of the kind of enemy love St. Paul has been describing throughout chapters 12 and 13 of his epistle to the Romans.

As American Christians, we occupy a democratic republic in which we can participate to a greater extent than Christians in Paul’s day. And I think we should participate to the extent that we can by voting, writing letters to our representatives, etc. with the goal of bettering the lives of our neighbors and human flourishing. At the same time, Paul gives us an important reminder that our engagement with the political needs to avoid the pitfalls endemic to our larger culture, namely the fashioning of politics into an idol, partisanship, and the hatred that comes with it. One could say that he who lives by the 24/7 news cycle dies by the 24/7 news cycle. Our moral imaginations shouldn’t be formed by talking heads on our favorite news station but by the Church’s teachings and the words of sacred Scripture. Further, to avoid partisanship, we have to remember that we aren’t the action wing of the Democratic party nor are we the Republican party at prayer; we are ambassadors of Christ and resident aliens. Whoever we might identify as our political “opponents” should be understood first and foremost as humans who bear the image of God for whom Christ has died. Which reminds me of Anglican minister John Wesley’s three principles for voting: first, vote for who you deem most worthy; second, speak no evil of who you vote against; and third, don’t allow your spirit to be sharpened against those who voted differently. These recognitions and practices are only possible when we take to heart St. Paul’s reminder: God is ultimately in control. He’s not in heaven ringing his hands hoping that x candidate or y official don’t mess up his plan. He sets up nations and rulers; he roots them out and pulls them down; he plants them and builds them up. There is a greater question wrapped up in all this about how God’s will is related to our human choices and, a complete treatment of that question is out of the scope for today, but the Scriptures and the Christian tradition tells us is that there is no tradeoff between God’s will and our choices; that even when humans act with the intention of evil, God brings about our good.

So to close I want to pray a prayer from the letter of First Clement, one of the earliest Christian writings we have outside of the Scriptures, penned sometime in the mid-90s AD. Let us pray:

“Give harmony and peace to us and to all who dwell on the earth, just as you did to our ancestors when they reverently called upon you in faith and truth, that we may be saved, while we render obedience to your almighty and most excellent name, and to our rulers and governors on earth. You, Master, have given them the power of sovereignty through your majestic and inexpressible might, so that we, acknowledging the glory and honor that you have given them, may be subject to them, resisting your will in nothing. Grant to them, Lord, health, peace, harmony, and stability, so that they may blamelessly administer the government that you have given them. For you, heavenly Master, King of the ages, give to human beings glory and honor and authority over the creatures upon the earth. Lord, direct their plans according to what is good and pleasing in your sight, so that by devoutly administering in peace and gentleness the authority that you have given them they may experience your mercy.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.