The Coin of the Realm

I must have been five or six years old when this happened.

The Good Humor ice cream truck was pulling into our neighborhood, and you could hear the jingle of the bells and the enchanting tune that the ice cream man played over some low-quality loudspeakers. Kids and parents from our neighborhood were lined up behind the truck to purchase their frozen sweet treats.

My parents were in the backyard gardening and I knew that by the time I got to them and begged for money the truck and driver would be gone. So I decided to run into my room and get some of the money that was on top of my chest of drawers.

The Good Humor truck was still there when I lined up for ice cream. I told the man what I wanted. He explained to me how much it would cost, and I gave him some of my money.

Much to my chagrin, the driver handed me back my “money” and told me that it was only “play money from a game, and NOT real money.” I felt so downcast as the ice cream truck drove off with its bells still ringing.

I guess this was one of my first lessons about the “coin of the realm.” The denotation of the phrase means the legitimate currency of a nation (or in the case for many members of the European Union: the legitimate currency for several nations.)

The connotation of the phrase “coin of the realm” has grown to mean the established ways that traditions, folk ways, and customs are carried out. One of my favorite definitions of the word “culture” is: how things are really done around here.

The above memory of 'play money and the lost ice cream treat' came to mind when I recently read an interesting blog by Rev. John Allen. He is the Senior Minister of the First Parish Church in Brunswick, Maine. His congregation is part of the United Church of Christ (UCC). I am very interested in the UCC movement because I think they have a lot to teach us about spiritual communities and social justice.

Rev. John goes back to the story about Jesus being asked if “good Jews” should pay taxes to the Romans. This question is really ironic in a sense. The Romans had all this military might compared to the Jewish people. It would be very hard for a Jew of that time living in the holy lands not to pay taxes to the Romans (or to their proxy rulers) and live to tell about it.

This story about the question of paying taxes is told in Matthew 22, Mark 12, and Luke 20. A few years ago several leading progressive biblical scholars got together to form the so-called Jesus Seminar. The goal of this group was to try to use the best biblical and archaeological evidence possible to ascertain what in the New Testament we can put strong faith in that Jesus really said or did that is depicted in the gospels.

While it wasn’t the only criteria used by the Jesus Seminar, the group of scholars did put added weight into something which three of the four gospels all reported. So this might add real credence that this story about paying taxes actually happened.

After being asked the question, Jesus asked to see the coin that would be used to pay the Roman tax. He was presented with the denarius, which had the face of Caesar on it.

Jesus’ response became one of the most famous quotes in all of history: “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.” Many commentators speculate that the crowd thought that Jesus was finished with his response. But after — what I like to think was a dramatic pause — Jesus looked up and said, “And render unto God that which is God’s.”

Rev. John points out that the politicians who put their faces on the coins of the realm are really trying to gain our attention. They want us to think that they are the center of the universe, and that they are the “Alpha and the Omega.” Unfortunately all too often so many of us buy into this fallacy, Rev. John says. We give the Caesars of our world so much free rental space in our brains.

At the same time, all too often we forget about the second part of Jesus‘s response: “And render unto God what is God’s.”

Rev. John tells about a time when he heard a song in a Boston AME Zion church that he had not heard before. Part of the lyrics of this song follows: “This joy I have the world didn’t give to me/ This joy I have, the world can’t take from me.”

He adds, “Our love does not belong to leaders. It belongs to God. Our peace does not belong to politicians, it belongs to God.”

What is God’s? Let me pick it up from here, Rev. John. Let’s start out with the lyrics from that old song: “I got the Sun in the morning/ and the Moon at night.”

We have our lives, loves, and opportunities. Yes, we have challenges. But it is so often through these challenges that we grow. Also, we have spiritual principles that work. We are one with the One! As Karen Drucker put it, “I am so blessed/ I am so blessed/ I am so grateful for all that I have.”

Friends, you and I are full of the real coin of the realm. As singer songwriter, Joni Mitchell put it, “We are Stardust/ We are golden.” Or as the late astrophysicist Carl Sagan reminded us, “We are made of star stuff.”

I think a key problem is that all too often we have forgotten that we are full of the coin of the realm, and we do not need a Good Humor Truck to give us what we think we want.

Psalm 37:4 points this out in such a loving way: “Delight in the Lord, and you will have the desires of your heart.”

Many blessings,

Rev. Rick