Bay Area Organizing Committee (BAOC)
Psalm 146
My name is Don Ng, the Senior Pastor of the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco Chinatown. I come from a very particular tradition as you have come from your specific traditions. As I stand before you, I will only know how to speak from my context and therefore ask you to hear this theological reflection with as much openness as possible from your perspective as the listener. When we learn the skill of appreciating and valuing how each person is special and gifted in unique ways, we are then able to celebrate God’s creative diversity. I pray that if my words that come from my particular tradition cause you offense, it is not my intention and I ask for your forgiveness. It is my hope and the hope of the BAOC that this day is one that we may learn to partner together as people from our rich and varied religious traditions joined in the name of God for the sake of our common objective.
I have this quarter. I thought it was only on the quarter. As my eyes are becoming dimmer in age, only the capital letters, “IN GOD WE TRUST” is visible on the front of this large coin. But when I took off my eyeglasses and looked closer at the nickel, the penny, and the dime, “IN GOD WE TRUST” is on them too. Then I took out some paper money and the words, “IN GOD WE TRUST” are printed on them as well.
There was a time in our history, in the minds of our founders that God was the Architect of this country. They put the “IN GOD WE TRUST” slogan on US money. They were known as Deists with a “D”, believers of God who blessed America. They were not Theists with a “T”, believers of God who is alive and living among us today. For us gathered here today, religious leaders of our faith communities, we believe in a God who is actively moving and making a difference in our world today. In fact, God is active even when we are not.
In Jesus’ days, there were silver coins too. The Roman silver denarius coin bore the emperor’s image and an inscription proclaiming the emperor divine. It might have said, “In the Emperor We Trust.” The coins were an affront to Jewish law and custom and the proclamation of the emperor as divine was particularly offensive to the Jews. That is why there were money changers in the Temple, enabling those who wished to make an acceptable offering to exchange coins bearing graven images for those without.
Seeing that Jesus was a threat to their authority, the Pharisees and the Herodians wanted to trap Jesus in his words. They asked Jesus whether the people should pay a poll tax. If he says it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, Jesus legitimizes Roman rule. If he says it is unlawful to pay taxes to the emperor, he declares himself politically suspect in the eyes of the Roman authorities and perhaps subject to arrest.
As we know, Jesus said to them, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him. (Mark 12:17)
Jesus diffuses a politically charged and potentially dangerous situation by redefining the significance of the coin from being a symbol of tribute paid to an occupying power to being merely the property of the emperor. As the emperor’s property, it should rightfully be returned to the emperor. Jesus is in fact affirming, however indirectly, that such taxes ought to be paid. In so doing he is also affirming the legitimate though limited role of Rome as the governing authority.
We must not lose sight, however, of the more important lesson Jesus teaches by his response. Jesus avoids the trap of the Pharisees and the Herodians while reminding these, his opponents and us today, that we must return to God the things that are God’s. Whereas the coin bears the image of the emperor, human beings bear the image of God with the law written on the hands, eyes, and mouth. While affirming the payment of taxes, Jesus clarifies the further and more encompassing imperative of serving God.
Religious Liberty
As an American Baptist, we are staunch advocates for the separation of church and state. Before the Revolution, many colonial governments supported “established” churches that enjoyed special powers and privileges denied to others. For example, Baptists were persecuted for their religious practices by the Congregational state church in Massachusetts where I was born.
With independence and the creation of the American Republic, a new concept of church and state appeared—the idea of religious liberty and the separation of church and state. So we have as our First Amendment, as ratified by the states in 1791, begins with these words, “Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
With the freedom to practice religion guaranteed, religious groups flourished and gradually became less engaged in government and politics. As religious people and Americans, we are citizens of two kingdoms; the kingdom of God and the earthly kingdom in which we live. It is possible to be loyal citizens of both.
A pronouncement on religious liberty approved at the 1939 annual sessions of three Baptist conventions, known as the “American Baptist Bill of Rights” states, “We acknowledge ourselves to be citizens of two commonwealths, one earthly, the United States, the other heavenly, the Kingdom of God; and we claim the right to be good citizens of both.” Thus lies the root of the dilemma that we often see today.
It is awfully difficult to live equally as good citizens of two kingdoms. Many of us are comfortable living in the heavenly kingdom of God found in our parishes, churches, and synagogues. But we have become unfamiliar with the earthly kingdom of the United States. About all we do in being good citizens of this earthly kingdom is to vote in November, pay our taxes on time, and recycle weekly!
In fact, the problem is that we delude ourselves by thinking that with words like, “IN GOD WE TRUST” on our money that we can be loyal American citizens and faithful religious people all at the same time. This is not true.
Stand Against
Psalm 146 is one of the five songs of praise with which the book of Psalms ends with an emphasis on the theme of trusting in God and not on human rulers. The Psalmist says, “Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.” Happiness is not defines as the absence of pain and trouble, but rather as the presence of God in the midst of difficulties.
To be in the presence of God, your loyalty is exclusively to God.
“Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.” (146:3-4)
To live a life of praise is to offer one’s whole self to God in worship and work. The opposite of this life is to put one’s trust in human rulers, in those in whom there is no help and whose plans perish with them.
The Psalmist is not suggesting we place no trust in those responsible for civil affairs for without trust, society would descend into chaos. However, we are not to put our ultimate or absolute trust, our faith, in those who after all are only human; who make mistakes, who lose their way, who die and whose plans perish with them. Such faith we are to put in God alone.
The God whom the Psalmist describes is the God of our fathers and mothers in faith, the creator of heaven and earth and all that is in creation; who was long before us and before any of our earthly rulers and who will be long after all of us and our earthly rulers. Listen to the Psalmist,
“Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry. (146:5-7)
The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord.” (146:10)
Having established God’s eternity, the Psalmist goes on to describe how God acts in behalf of those in need, executing justice for the oppressed, giving food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow;
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.” (146:8-9)
God works for justice not as some abstract goal but as an embodied and practical reality. God meets basic human needs. Prisoners are set free and the blind receive sight. Those who are bowed down or oppressed are lifted up and the righteous are loved. The Lord watches over the uprooted and supports the orphan and the widow. The Lord brings to ruin the way of the wicked.
Psalm 146 links God’s concern for justice with the very origins of the creation in God and tells us that justice is now and forever will be the heart of God’s concern. Those who are described in this Psalm are those whom the world, whom we, tend to forget. But God remembers and knows their plight.
If the concerns which the Psalmist list are God’s concerns, then trusting in God and living a life in praise of God means embracing them as our concerns. As we trust God, the Psalmist suggests, we become more concerned about others and, in particular, about those for whom God is especially concerned. As we trust in God we are challenged to keep God’s concerns before us in all that we say and do, including how we exercise our rights and responsibilities as citizens.
To trust in God suggests that we maintain a degree of skepticism regarding the claims and promises of politicians when they are candidates for public office as well as once they are elected. And when candidates ask for our vote, to trust in God suggests that our decision will be informed by a perspective that encompasses more than our own self-interest. For to trust in God means allowing our self-interest to be challenged, shaped and broadened by God’s interest and concern.
First Chinese Baptist
Our 123 year-old Baptist church is located in the heart of Chinatown. We hear firecrackers going off particularly during this time of the year. Our street is on the Barbary Coast Walkway where tourists trace the early history of San Francisco. On the other end of our street is the famous How Tien Buddhist Temple. And occasionally, the city’s homeless people make reservations in front of our doors. What happens outside of our church home is the earthly kingdom. What happens inside is quite different. It is the heavenly kingdom of God.
If I say so myself, “We do a pretty good job being God’s heavenly kingdom.” But as citizens of this earthly kingdom that has coins with pictures of Washington, Jefferson, Lincohn, and Eisenhower on them and the words, “IN GOD WE TRUST” engraved on them, we can do more. We need to know those whom God remembers although we forget. And if there is room in the heart of God to set the prisoners free, give sight to the blind, lift up those who are bowed down and oppressed, watch over the uprooted and support the orphan and the widow, then there need to be enough room in our hearts to live as good citizens of this earthly kingdom too.
But let us be mindful and not forget that the parish, church or synagogue is not the state. And neither should we believe that the state can represent religious communities. When the state, comprised of human beings who make mistakes, who lose their way, who die and whose plans perish with them, then we as religious communities must stand up against the state. Like Jesus stood up against the Pharisees and Herodians of his time, we must stand up against the politicians of our time too.
For us whose ultimate and absolute trust is in God and not in the state, we are able to provide a perspective that encompasses more than our own self-interest, more than the self-interest of the politicians, for the sake and health of all those whom God loves and cares.
My hope is that our church and your parishes, churches, and synagogues would renew your trust in God in order for us to serve as good and loyal citizens of both the earthly kingdom as well as the heavenly kingdom of God.
Love God & Your Neighbor
The Shema said,
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all
your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your
heart.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-6)
When the authorities were trying to test Jesus again after he had already silenced the Sadducees, a lawyer asked him, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40)
The Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees, lawyers in Jesus days challenged him because he was threatening their authority with his ministry. For the most part, religious communities have not been good citizens of this earthly kingdom let alone threatening the authorities of the state. The result of this is that we are hardly in the sight or mind of political leaders at all.
For us to live faithfully as religious people in the Living God that we trust, we must become involved in the affairs of this earthly kingdom in order to care for those whom God remembers.
For us to live faithfully as religious people in the Living God that we trust, we must stand against the princes of the state who are only human beings and their plans perish when they die.
For us to live faithfully as religious people in the Living God that we trust, we must challenge the status quo, the ethical consequences of legislation, the integrity of the candidates, and the mechanization of big government.
We will know that we have fulfilled our responsibilities as equally good citizens of both the earthly kingdom and the heavenly kingdom of God is when we feel the persecution and suffering that Jesus felt. It is not the “God that we Trust” printed on the coins. The one and only true God that we trust is:
The God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry. (Psalm 146:5-7)