About three-quarters of the way through the Gospel of Mark (Mark 12:13-17) an unholy alliance of Pharisees and Herodians, sent by the Jewish leadership, comes together to try to trick and trap Jesus – one of several such attempts to find a way to get rid of this rabble-rouser, by making him publicly state something self-incriminating. Jesus is in Jerusalem at Passover time. Big crowds are hanging on his every word, hoping for some hint that now is the time for him to reveal himself as a conquering Messiah backed by the irresistible power of God, to rid them of the Romans and restore Israel to its rightful place in the world.

Many influential Pharisees are offended that Jesus doesn’t take the Law of God as seriously as they think one should. Especially someone who is teaching and influencing so many. The Herodians are only interested in keeping Herod, their source of status, privilege and wealth, hanging on to his tenuous position as “king.” Herod, son of Herod the Great, ruled the outlying territories of Galilee and Perea. (And those Galilean’s, like this Jesus, were constantly causing headaches – drawing negative attention from Rome). If the Romans become upset or displeased with Herod, his days (and theirs) at the top of his tiny heap are finished. They’re afraid that Jesus will start a riot, or worse, a rebellion, and Herod, responsible for Galilee, will look incompetent as a ruler.

This band of emissaries, oozing with hypocrisy, comes to Jesus and begins with a ridiculous attempt to butter him up. “Rabbi (you can almost hear them choke on this word) we know that you’re a straight-shooter and that you don’t give a fig about anyone’s opinion. You teach God’s way according to truth. Tell us then, is it against our holy Law to pay taxes to Caesar? Help us understand. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” Jesus responds, “What’s the point of this test? Show me the coin with which to pay taxes.” So they huddled up and produced from their purses the silver coin, the value of a day’s wages for a simple worker, and brought it to him. Jesus proceeds to ask them, “Whose image, and whose inscription is on this coin?” “Caesar’s,” they respond.

Here’s the rub. The Caesars had decided and declared that they were divine – like, you know, a god. To have the image of a false god would be idolatrous for an Israelite. How humiliating for them! The Israelites were forced to carry around and use this filthy symbol day in day out.

Jesus states, “Okay, pay back to Caesar what belongs to him. But pay to God what belongs to God.” What belongs to Caesar? What can he claim as his own? Some coinage? What belongs to God? In what can we see God’s image? How about all of creation? Everything that is good, true, loving, beautiful, harmonious, united! The Book of Genesis declares that each and every human being is handmade in the image and likeness of God. What do we owe to God?!?

Christians have long pointed to the Feast of Pentecost as the day that the Church was born. For some time after Jesus had completed his post-Resurrection appearances and returned to Abba-God, his followers, along with Jesus’ mother, continued to gather to pray and to wait for what would come next. Jesus had promised that they would know through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost is another of the celebrations borrowed, and reinterpreted, from their Jewish roots. It came 50 days after Passover, and was also known as The Feast of Weeks – originally to give thanks for the wheat that was ready to harvest. For Christians it marks the launch of their mission as Church – a different kind of harvest.

Luke’s account in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-13) is filled with symbolism. For Luke, the mission needs to begin from Jerusalem – the capital of the People of God (as they referred to themselves). The city is overflowing with pilgrims who came to commemorate the Feast together. Suddenly, where Jesus’ little community is gathered, there comes the sound of a strong wind. Then something like flames of fire appears over the heads of those in the room. These are signs from the Hebrew Scriptures of God coming down with power on the people at Mount Sinai.

These people are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Love. And this Spirit impels them to begin to speak to the pilgrims about God and Jesus and the need to change their way of seeing reality, and their way of life. The pilgrims, from so many nations, hear and understand the Galilean speakers’ message. How can this be? God must be at work! Of course, there are some who attribute this charismatic event to the speakers having indulged in too much strong drink – and so early in the day!

This gift of hearing and understanding would call to mind the mythic story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). In the story, people all shared a common language, and they decided, one day, to build a tower to heaven. Because of the shared language, this enterprise was doable. They didn’t need any divine assistance to achieve heavenly bliss. They could bypass the god or gods and do whatever they pleased. So, God, looking down at the construction project, decides that humanity’s arrogance has gone too far and proceeds to confuse the languages. The people start babbling and are no longer able to understand and cooperate. They separate and scatter into smaller groups around the world.

This is another example of an origin story. Imagine a child asking an elder, “Why are there other peoples, and why do they speak strange words?” It makes for a wonderful nomadic campfire tale. And the Israelites, having seen the high, stepped towers, like the ziggurats, during their exile in Mesopotamia, attribute this gross and sinful attempt to their enemies in Babylonia. Only pagans would try such a stunt!  

The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost creates the possibility for humanity to come together, to hear and to understand one another, no matter the nationality. It undos the fiasco of the Tower of Babel. We now have the opportunity to unite in building up God’s Kingdom, as God desires. We can join forces to end all the divisions that weaken our efforts to make this world better for all. Meanwhile, our broken and divided world continues to babble.