{"id":33394,"date":"2024-10-31T20:11:07","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T03:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2024-presence-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-10-31T20:31:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T03:31:02","slug":"2024-greatdivide","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2024-greatdivide\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Divide"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"text-align: right;\">By\u00a0Tim Gustafson<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-33395 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/linus-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/linus-1.jpg 400w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/linus-1-300x230.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In a classic\u00a0<em>Peanuts<\/em>\u00a0comic strip, Linus\u2019 friend berates him for his belief in the Great Pumpkin. Walking away dejectedly, Linus says, \u201cThere are three things I have learned never to discuss with people . . . religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Great Pumpkin existed only in Linus\u2019 head, but the\u00a0<em>other<\/em>\u00a0two topics are oh-so-real\u2014dividing nations, families, and friends. The problem occurred in Jesus\u2019 day as well. The Pharisees were deeply religious and tried to follow the Old Testament law to the letter. The Herodians were more political, yet both groups wanted to see the Jewish people freed from Roman oppression. Jesus didn\u2019t seem to share their goals. So they approached Him with a politically charged question: should the people pay taxes to Caesar? (Mark 12:14\u201315). If Jesus said yes, the people would resent Him. If He said no, the Romans could arrest Him for insurrection.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-33396 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/linus-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"238\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Jesus asked for a coin. \u201cWhose image is this?\u201d He asked (v. 16). Everyone knew it was Caesar\u2019s. Jesus\u2019 words resonate today: \u201cGive back to Caesar what is Caesar\u2019s and to God what is God\u2019s\u201d (v. 17). His priorities in order, Jesus avoided their trap.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus came to do His Father\u2019s will. Following His lead, we too can seek God and His kingdom above all else, directing the focus away from all the dissension and toward the One who is the Truth.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-33397 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/linus-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"564\" height=\"564\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/linus-3.jpg 564w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/linus-3-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/linus-3-80x80.jpg 80w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/linus-3-36x36.jpg 36w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/linus-3-180x180.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 564px) 100vw, 564px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Daily Bread Canada<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":33395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[29],"class_list":["post-33394","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/33394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/33394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33398,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/33394\/revisions\/33398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33394"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=33394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}