Sermon Archive

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt—these are the four American presidents from our past whose image and likeness is stamped on our four most frequently used coins. Which one is on the penny? [pause for the answer] Yes, Lincoln. And on the nickel? [pause for the answer] Jefferson, yes. And on the dime? [pause for the answer] Roosevelt, indeed. And on the quarter? [pause] That’s right, Washington. And alongside each likeness we find inscribed some words that serve to deflect us Americans from any impulse we might have to “deify” these imaged presidents. Do you know what those words are? Yes, that’s right—the phrase: “IN GOD WE TRUST.”

In contrast, think about the Roman coin that was handed to Jesus in our Second Lesson. It bore the image and likeness of a contemporary ruler, the then-reigning Emperor of Rome, Tiberius Caesar. And coupled with his image were the words “Tiberius Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus, high priest.” And that inscription was intended, of course, to prompt among the people of the Empire a willingness to deify Tiberius.

And how did Jesus respond to those who gave him this coin as a test? He said: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Now, in this account it is quite clear that that which is stamped with the image and likeness of Caesar and that which is, therefore, to be given to Caesar is merely money, simply coins of the realm—and not anything approaching reverence or devotion!

In contrast, that which bears the image and likeness of God and that which is, therefore, to be given to God is nothing so simple as coins of the realm. No, that which bears the image and likeness of God and is, therefore, to be given to God, is something quite complex, namely, a person’s entire self and being—the whole of one’s mind and heart and will and soul. For that which is stamped with the image and likeness of God is not money, but the whole of the human person.

Recall, please, the very first chapter of the first book of the Bible. There, in Genesis, as God was in the process of creating the heavens and the earth, "… God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.…' So …in the image of God [God] created them …" (Genesis 1:26–27)

You see, in this morning’s lesson, Jesus is telling us that it is our whole self, our very being, that we are to give to God. For that is what’s been stamped with the image and likeness of God. As professed in the Presbyterian Church’s most recent creedal statement: “In life and in death, we belong to God.…,” and “nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God…” [A Brief Statement of Faith—Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), lines 1, 78–79] And the reason nothing is able to separate us from the love of God is that we have been created in God’s own image and likeness. We and every person, every child of God—of whatever age, or race, or ethnicity—each and every one of us is stamped with the very image and likeness of God. “Give to God what is God’s! Your whole self,” says Jesus.

But have you ever seen coins that are so worn-down that you can just barely identify the features of the figure that’s stamped on it? Well, it seems to me, sadly, that we humans, on the whole, resemble a bagful of just that very kind of coins, coins on which the likeness of God has been rubbed down to where it is just barely discernible, rubbed down to the point where even we hardly know whose we are, to whose realm we belong—often thinking of ourselves as belonging to the realm of Caesar rather than to the kingdom of God.

Yet imagine with me that in the midst of this sorry bag of worn-down coins that is serving as my metaphor for humankind-in-general—imagine that there is this one single coin that is shining forth with the full luster and radiance of a freshly minted likeness of God’s glory, one single coin that still images perfectly and gloriously the true “face” of the living God.

Well, that single gleaming coin amidst a bagful of worn-down, barely recognizable images is, I suggest, a metaphor for Jesus and us. Jesus is that single shining coin on which the image of God remains fully visible and identifiable, retaining its mint condition.

Now, all useful metaphors must finally reach an end, for no matter how good a metaphor may be, it inevitably possesses some inherent limitation. And the limitation of likening humans to worn-down coinsis that we humans, unlike coins, are not inert. We are living organisms. We are capable of transformation. So unlike worn-down coins that are good for nothing but to be melted down, we sinful humans can be recreated. We can be restored into once-again identifiable images and likenesses of God.

How can such as this come about? How can it happen? Well, first, by looking to Jesus, we can see the model of the perfection of humanity that God intends for us to be, and then, by becoming dedicated followers of Jesus, we can invite the same Spirit of God that was present in him to fall afresh on us and to melt us and re-mold us, so that others in the world can come to behold in us, as in Jesus, an image and likeness that cannot be mistaken for Caesar’s, an image and likeness that can clearly be identified as God’s.

You see, our central Christian affirmation is this: that in Jesus, the image and likeness of God has become fully and perfectly visible.

It follows, therefore, that our first priority should be to imitate Jesus; to model our every action—whether it be saying or doing, stepping forward or holding back, speaking out or keeping silent—to model everything we do on Jesus; to offer our entire self—the whole of our mind and heart and will and soul—to Jesus; to ask ourselves in every circumstance of life how Jesus would think and respond. For this is how we can go about inviting God’s Spirit to melt us and re-mold us, so that through us an ever fuller image and likeness of God may become visible—to the glory of God.

It is the great 19th-century Lutheran thinker, Søren Kierkegaard of Denmark, who has observed that it is much easier to admire Jesus than to imitate him. What Kierkegaard said about persons of his own time and place seems to describe as well our own time and place. So please listen as I share what he says: [the following paragraphs quote from and offer digests of materials by and about Kierkegaard presented in G. McLeod Bryan (ed.), In His Likeness (John Knox Press, 1959), pp. 158–162]

“’Imitation,’ ‘the following of Christ,’ this precisely is the point where the human race winces, here it is principally that the difficulty lies, here is where the question really is decided whether one will accept Christianity or not.”

Even many who call ourselves “Christians really live as though … Christ was [some] great hero and benefactor who once and for all … secured happiness for us, [so that] we only ha[ve] to enjoy the innocent pleasures of the world and let him do the rest. But Christ is essentially the model [for living], and consequently we should be like him and not merely make use of him.”

Kierkegaard once confided to a friend, “With God the Father I could get along easier than with the Son, for [Christ] is the example that must be followed.”

To other friends, he observed that where only sweet poetic images of Christ are spoken, practically everyone is willing to be a Christian. Even where theological assent to the teachings of Christ is added, many still enter into Christianity. Yet where, in addition to those things, the imitation of Christ is emphasized, only a few become Christians.

As Kierkegaard saw it, Christ did not approach would-be followers by lecturing to them. No, he would say to such persons, “[Take] a decisive action [to follow me], then we can begin.” That “means that one does not become a Christian by hearing something about Christ, by reading something, by thinking thereupon[. And one did not become a Christian] while Christ still lived upon earth, by seeing Him once in a while, or [even] by going [out] and gaping at Him the whole day. No, what [was and] is required is … [the taking of] a decisive action”, one that puts each of us would-be disciples into conflict with the normal ways of the world. For Christ wants followers, not admirers. Christ wants not adherents to doctrine but followers in life.

As we live out our lives, Christ asks us to decide whether we will simply be admirers of him, or whether we will take that all- important additional step of becoming imitators of him.

“[You see,] admirer[s] hold[ themselves] personally aloof[.] [C]onsciously or unconsciously, [they do] not discern that the object of [their] admiration makes a claim upon [them] to be or to strive to be the thing [they] admire[].…[A]dmirer[s are] not willing to to make any sacrifices, to give up anything worldly, to reconstruct [their] life, to be what [they] admire[] or to let [their] life express [what they admire]—but in words … [they are] inexhaustible in affirming how highly [they] prize[] Christianity. [F]ollower[s], on the other hand, [are what they admire, or at least strive to be] what [they] admire[].”

Concludes Kierkegaard: Christianity “needs to be [transformed] from learned discussion and doubt and twaddle”—transformed from that, words, into the deeds of a genuine imitation of Christ.

The Risen Christ asks us today to polish and brighten the image and likeness of God with which we are stamped by striving to imitate the earthly Jesus, by striving to imitate the one who was for us the radiantly perfect image of God. Christ summons us to imitate Jesus with the whole of our mind and heart and will and soul. Christ pleads with us to give to God that which is God’s—namely, the whole of our self and being—that which has in truth been stamped with the image and likeness of God. Christ pleads with us to give to God that which is God’s, so that others may come to see in us not Caesar, but God.

Let us pray:

Glorious God, each and every person on earth has been created in Your image and likeness.

Grant that, in recognition of this truth, we may offer to You our whole self—the totality of our mind and heart and will and soul.

And grant that by giving You our whole self we may come in all our actions and ministries to honor the image of You that exists in others and to nurture their ability as well to return to You reflections of Your glory.