Rev. Jeff Wood, First Presbyterian Church of Sebastian
WeLoveFirst.org & Facebook.com/welovefirstsebastian
Giving Back
Someone once tried to trap Jesus with a question about taxes. He asked for a coin and said, “Whose image is this?” They told him it was Caesar’s. “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” he said, “and to God what is God’s.” The coin had Caesar’s face on it, so it was Caesar’s. But the first page of the Bible says we are the ones made in God’s image. Jesus was telling them that the coin was the small matter and that they themselves belonged to God.
In 1860 a church in Brooklyn passed the plates to buy the freedom of a nine-year-old enslaved girl named Sally Maria Diggs. People gave money and jewelry, and in one plate was a ring. The preacher put it on her finger and told her it was her freedom ring. Sixty-seven years later, in 1927, she came back to that church as an old woman and returned the ring. She was not paying anyone back. She had been free for most of her life. She gave it out of thanks.
That is a good picture of Thanksgiving. We usually treat the day as a time to count what we have. Jesus’s question goes one step further and asks whose we are. Our days and our health, the people around the table, and our own selves were given to us. (did you notice that Jesus said “give back”?) The Christian claim is that we were made by God, first, and then, second, bought back at great cost, … so anything we give him is only being returned. This Thanksgiving, give thanks for what you have but also give thanks for whose you are.
Rev. Jeff Wood, 1405 Louisiana Ave, Sebastian FL 32958.
Find us online at facebook.com/welovefirstsebastian or at www.welovefirst.org. Call for further information 772-589-5656