Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ; the Holy Priest-Martyr Ignatius the Godbearer (110)
Nativity Fast. Abstinence from meat and foods that contain meat.
Read
Titus 1:15-2:10; Luke 20:19-26
When asked about taxes due to Caesar, Jesus brings in to view the coin, stamped with his image. He then puts them the question: “whose likeness does it bear” evokes something greater than our political allegiances. Genesis reminds us that humans uniquely are stamped with the image and likeness of God. We bear his image and tribute belongs to him and his authority over us. This is perhaps the reason for the tension of the gospel. Jesus’ interlocutors recognize an authority that is a threat to their power. Yet this authority is refreshing, because with it comes knowledge, a truth about who we are. The Canon of St. Andrew of Crete gives poetic exclamation to this fact:
I am the drachma bearing the image of the king * which you once lost, O Savior; * now light your lamp, the forerunner, * to find me and refashion your image.
We are under the pressure of another master, not to give a tribute of silver and gold, which bear the image of the king, but our bodies and souls which bear the image of the eternal God. Today we celebrate St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, who calls himself “Godbearer” in his action-packed letters written on the way to martyrdom in Rome. He is a Godbearer insofar as he willing makes himself a sacrifice to God, telling his faithful in Rome, not to stop his martyrdom, for it is then, and only then that he will become “a human being.”
We can only be what we are, if we offer it to the Lord, returning tribute to the one whose image we bear.