Jesus Didn't Tell Us to Win

When did being right become more important than being kind?

We live in a world where everybody wants to win the argument, 

Politics, religion, social media. Thanksgiving dinner!

And we often take the bait, stooping to the world's ethic of winning at any cost, instead of living into Jesus's, of loving one another.

In Sunday's Gospel, a group of corrupt leaders try to trap Jesus with a question about paying taxes.

They aren't interested in learning anything. They aren't interested in growing, they aren't interested in changing. 

They just want to catch him saying something wrong.

Sound familiar?

But Jesus won't play.

Instead, he asks whose image is on a coin? Caesar's, they answer.

So give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, Jesus says, and give God what belongs to God.

But here's what I love about that.

The coin bears Caesar's image.

You and I bear God's image.

And so does that person we can't stand!

Which means I can disagree with someone, challenge their ideas, even fight against injustice, But I must never ever forget their God-given dignity.

So here's my challenge this week.

The next time you get into an argument, ask

Am I trying to win?

Or am I trying to love?

Because Jesus' overriding call to us is not to win every argument.

It's to love one another.