“Whose image is this and whose inscription?” was the question that Jesus asked. Though directed to his adversaries about the coin in his hand and in the broader scope, – the rendering to Caesar what is his and to God what is God’s – it seems like one of those ‘bigger questions that stands on its own. It is one that kind of ‘floats down the ages’, one that has less to do with politics immediately and everything to do with how we view one another. If you remember way back in that first story of creation in the first chapter of Genesis (vs.26) you hear God saying: “Let us make man and woman in our image …” If we really see whose image is “written” all over the people around us; if we really saw the ‘inscription’ that marked them at God’s sons and daughters by baptism; if we really let THAT truth sink in, wouldn’t it hugely effect how we “spend” our time with them, or how we treat them. If all of the people around us belong to God – and we know this because we can see God’s image in and on them, then this passage is really about how we “repay” or offer back to God, the gifts of those around us.
<<pick up chalice>> This chalice belonged to Msgr. Sprenke. I used it a lot when mine was being repaired. I have always been struck by its beauty. I’ve always wondered about the large diamond that is in the center of the cross. Certainly it is stunningly beautiful. Almost distractingly so, as I usually turn the cross side to face you so I don’t get caught up in admiring it as I consecrate the wine.
So what if our safe broke and I sent this home, student by student, day by day during the course of the year, for you to keep safe and then to bring it back for the following Sunday’s mass – how do you think that would go? Don’t you think that people would treat this as the treasure we know it to be, something of complete value and worth? I’d like to think it would not get tossed on the pile of dirty laundry in the corner of the room. I’d like to think each would treat it with great care, and great honor, respecting both the dignity of its beauty, but also what it is used for – to hold the precious Blood of Jesus. Wouldn’t we honor it and care for it? I think so.
And yet, we who are much more in God’s image than this chalice, don’t we treat each other so poorly at times. We can find all kinds of ‘good’ reasons to do so. “He started it.” “They looked down their nose at me”. “They never remember my name.” And those are just the ‘good’ justifications for bad behaviors. And as humans, we can behave in pretty ugly ways toward one another, can’t we, that makes it hard for others to see the God-self beneath our exterior. We can find a hundred ways to forget that question: “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” in the person who is before us, as well as the person looking back at us in the mirror.
- I was on the sidewalk walking to get into the college church a while back on my way to a wedding rehearsal and a young boy about 9 or 10, with his father and a sister a few steps behind approached me. He asked for a handout. I wasn’t prepared for that question coming from a ‘family unit – individuals, maybe, but not a dad and two kids’. I didn’t even make eye contact as I mumbled some kind of response and walked on. I was so busted. Though I may not have been obliged to give them assistance, I was certainly called to treat them with the dignity of the sons and daughters of God.
“Whose image is this and whose inscription?”
Our faith tells us that God has written the Divine image into each sister and brother and carved their name into the palm of his hand.
Practically this week, as often as a coin comes across your hand this week – ask the question – whose image, whose inscription is on the face of the person closest to me at that moment. Maybe it is the cashier at the store. Maybe it is the roommate who came in drunk last night. Maybe it is the sister you don’t always see eye to eye with. Whoever, it is, treat them as you would repay your debt to God.
It is an amazing chalice (pick it up). Perhaps one day I’ll know the story of the diamond on the center of the cross that so captures my eye with its beauty. But I can tell you this about it, as often as I pick this up and see that diamond, it is never worth more than you whom I see past my hands as I hold it up. This is just a beautiful chalice. YOU – you are the image and likeness of God.
“Whose image is this and whose inscription?” -God’s. Only God’s.