Show me the coin used for the tax. And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ Matthew 22:19-21

I noticed her before we crossed the road. It would be an understatement to say her behavior was peculiar. Many would have written her off as a crack addict. Unfortunately, no one noticed her. She was invisible to those who passed her. It wasn’t deliberate. They are just doing what they do everyday. They are absorbed in their own worries and concerns. The present day technologies do not help any. Then she did something I suspected she was going to do from the beginning. She stripped off her top and walked around with her top half exposed. She was just skin and bones. No one noticed her even in this distressing state. She was truly like the character of H.G. Wells’ novel. Only difference is that people acknowledged the presence of the Invisible Man when he had his clothes on. Maybe it was her intention to gain visibility without hers. She was on the other side of the street. Although I am not sure what we would have done if we were close by. Mostly likely nothing. It is hard to respond rationally to such a strange situation. She should be somewhere where she could receive treatment and attention. Such a place doesn’t exist for someone like her. She is homeless and, therefore invisible to the concerns of the “Empire”.

We had to stay focused. There are so many things demanding our attention and we can be easily distracted. We continued on our way to meet our homeless young people. The first person we stumbled upon was Bruno. The first thing he did was to wake his dog up to let it know that we had arrived. Lala came up and greeted us. She is a healthy terrier mixed mutt, perhaps a little overweight. Bruno spoils her a lot. He was in good spirits today. He told us that he has been waiting for us all day. We found a quiet spot and sat on the floor. I am not sure when this happened but sitting on the ground has become a feat nowadays, not to mention getting up.

The children have changed location and as always we go where they are. They are presently in a place known as the Japan Town of São Paulo about a block away from where we used to meet them. The actual name of this place “Liberdade” which means “Liberty”. Sounds like a promising name but unfortunately history tells a different story. A quick research revealed that it was a place where the “unruly” slaves seeking freedom were hanged. Death was considered their final and only possible liberty. It was formerly known as the “Fields of the Gallows” before being renamed. The first Japanese immigrants settled here about a hundred years ago. Now, most of the Brazilians of Japanese descent have moved on to other areas and the tourists have invaded this place. Most of them do not realize that most of the stores are now owned by recent Chinese immigrants, not Japanese. Furthermore, it has become the ideal place for our children and teens especially for those who stay away from criminal activities. There is ample food here and they can beg without any problems.

Bruno was keen to talk about something “the emperor” is doing in the world. It was nothing new really. The “emperors” of this world are not very creative. Despite this, it doesn’t stop people from talking about the latest actions of the “Emperor”. It is the conversation topic which follows the weather. Bruno read the headlines of the newspaper. Like almost everyone, he already had formed an opinion about the matters concerned.

A few days ago, he shared with us a childhood memory, something which he rarely does. Most of our children and teens are reticent about their childhood memories. It takes years of relationship building to get to this point. Bruno grew up in an orphanage most of his life. He shared about his first day in school and how he was among the first to read. Of course, he had help but he can not remember how or who helped him. He said that he had memorized the national hymn completely by the age of 7. The Brazilian national hymn is one of the most complex national hymns I have heard and it has an awkward melody which makes one wonder what was going on in the minds of the original composers. Not many adults know all the words to the hymn. Our children and teens tend to exaggerate many things but in this instance, Bruno wasn’t making this up. We have know him for almost ten years. We can testify that this young man is extremely intelligent. He loves to write things he has observed or read in his notebook daily. He writes purely for the love of writing. We have bought tons of notebooks for him and within a month or so, he would have them filled with little notes. Unfortunately, he has been invisible all his life and no one ever paid any attention to his intelligence nor potential. Now, he begs in the streets. There was a time when he was inspired to do great things but then he realized that he will always be an invisible person in this society. The “emperor” does not see Bruno at all, let alone know all his potential. It is the not the fault of a particular “emperor”. It is just how the empires of this world function. People like Bruno are always invisible.

We told Bruno that we rather not talk about what the “emperor” is doing instead we wanted to play a game. He enthusiastically agreed. Where we sat, there are several benches and an elderly tourist was sitting and resting on one. She was curious about us but tried not to show it. I caught her eavesdropping on our conversations. Then two Chinese immigrants came by and watched us play the game. They made some comments in Mandarin to each other and were smiling. I assumed that it was something positive. Maybe they were making a joke at our expense. No harm done. As long as they got a good laugh out of it. Soon after the other children joined us. It was like the movie, “if you build it… ” The elderly woman started searching frantically for something in her handbag. Almost like a cliché, she took out a box of candy and gave it to the teens. They smiled and thanked her and then she went away.

Sometimes, these invisible people wear a tragic mask. Consequently, we are tempted to look away because it is too difficult and heart wrenching. It doesn’t have to be a homeless person. It can be a lonely neighbor. It can be people we meet in the grocery store who are a little awkward and strange. It can be someone very close to us. We can walk by these invisible people constantly without noticing them because our minds are distracted. Many times with things which have very little bearing in our daily lives. We might be listening about what the emperor is doing in the world while missing out on noticing the Kingdom of God being manifested in our reality. The Kingdom of God makes the invisible people of this world visible to us. However, we don’t see their presence merely in the tragic sense but the Spirit of God helps us go beyond the superficial and discover the beautiful face of our King present.

The elderly woman sitting at the bench saw something and she wanted to be part of it. She reached into her bag and found something to help her connect with us. She was rendering something to God. In doing so, she helped us see something beautiful present in her. It was a simple gesture but performed a miracle. It destroyed the lie that our boys are invisible.

‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’

Many times people have these words to promote the interest of the Empire. However, Jesus is setting the limits here. The empire always makes loud noises to call attention to itself. However, the concerns of the empire, more often than not, seek to strengthen the “emperor”. The small still voice of the heavenly King beckons us to do things to make a difference in the lives of people. They may not be great deeds which gain recognition of the empire. In the Kingdom of God, simple gestures, like sharing candy, go a long way. It is just enough to show someone that they are not invisible.

In the Kingdom of God, we can be valuable citizens who make significant difference in others. However, we can not do anything significant if we are constantly distracted by the voices of the empire. We have to decide to listen attentively to God’s Spirit and only then we will learn how to render to God the things that are God’s.

Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” And he was speechless.- Matthew 22:8-12

For a long time, I was just “Uncle” to our children and teens. Everyone who is older is “uncle” and “auntie” in the streets. This respect for older people is ingrained in them. Eventually, we became Uncle Stephen and Auntie Mary. We made the transition from being anonymous people who deserve respect to becoming someone meaningful to them. It took our children years to address us by our names. Moreover, in the recent years, they introduce me to curious passers-by as a priest. This is a new development. It is because the older youth have access to the internet and they saw a picture of me in my clericals. It just takes one to notice and soon the news spread. Now they are aware that I am a priest. They want the world to know that they have their own priest among them. However, they still address us “Uncle Stephen” and “Auntie Mary”. Sometimes the “smarter but lazier” ones call us collectively as “Uncle Mary” or “Auntie Stephen”.

I never revealed the fact that I was a priest, neither did I hide the fact. They always knew that our ministry is about knowing and sharing the person of Jesus. However, I wanted my vocation to manifest itself naturally through our relationship with the children. Unfortunately, words like “pastor” and “priest” are meaningless to our children. They never grew up in a church and now they don’t feel completely welcomed in one. Not that churches are hostile towards them. They just don’t feel like they have the right “clothes”. They feel like everyone knows that they are homeless and outsiders.

All of our children think that there is a price tag of some sort to be accepted and they can’t afford to pay it. They learned this through observation. It is the spirituality being lived out in society. We decided to make sure that they understood that we are here for them without any conditions. However, this is easier said than done. “Without conditions” means accepting the good and the bad, just like the invitation extended in the parable. In the streets, nothing is hidden. One sees bad actions committed before one’s very eyes and it often leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth. Consequently, including the bad is hard. Nevertheless, these are the ones who surprise us most of the time. The ‘good’ ones many times forget to dress properly for the banquet. They end up taking things for granted. They often think that having accepted the invitation is sufficient. This is also something that they observed in the society.

This parable is quite scandalous. Most of us can accept the first without much controversy. Usually, we read from the perspective as one who has accepted the invitation. Therefore, we imagine that these people have nothing to do with us. Unfortunately, Jesus never stops where it is convenient for us. He goes further. The last part is perhaps the most disturbing for modern ears, especially after having been taught about God’s unconditional love and acceptance. The ending to this parable seems to imply rejection. Perhaps the most polemic part of it was that the guest was rejected for not wearing the proper clothes. It sends a confusing message, especially to our homeless children.

As a young man, when I read this parable, I was a little disturbed. Clothes distinguish us from each other. People wear clothes to reflect their status. People wear certain clothes to make a statement about themselves. Some use them to show their affiliations. The children knew I was a priest because of the clothes I wore in the pictures. The poor and desolate in our context wear whatever is available and given to them. They don’t have a choice in this matter. These were the people who were invited to the banquet but one was rejected because he did not wear the right clothes. Over the years, with careful study and exposure to ancient culture and practices, I understood that the host provides the guests with the proper clothes for the banquet. It was actually part of the invitation to wear the clothes provided by the host. This way, everyone in the banquet is considered to be equal and the clothes did not separate one from another. In other words, an invitation to a banquet in those times means a participation in the household without any social barriers. The man only accepted the invitation partially and in doing so, he insulted the host in the same manner as the guests who rejected his invitation.

I have mentioned before that we moved to a new apartment. Our new neighborhood is quite strange to describe. It is not dangerous by any means. Our place is in a small residential building in the midst of micro industries and auto body shops. It is not the prettiest neighborhood but it doesn’t make it less interesting. However, it is the kind of neighborhood where our youths would not feel intimidated to visit. In fact, our first guest in our new place was Edson. He is one of the youth who is trying find a way to get out of the streets. For the past two years, he did odd jobs which helped pay his living expenses but he still had to sleep in a tent in the streets. His salary was not sufficient to pay for room and board. Recently he found a space in abandoned building where a group of squatters live. This is a common practice here in the center of this city. We have over a hundred abandoned buildings suitable to be transformed into housing but nothing has been done to that effect. Instead, poor working families group together and invade these buildings and live as squatters there. Edson doesn’t have to sleep in the streets anymore for now. He receives his correspondences at our place and uses our address whenever he applies for job. He came by to pick his mail and I invited him to enter and have coffee with us. His face lit up when I extended the invitation. He stayed for an hour or more and felt extremely comfortable in our home much to our delight.

About a month later, Edson came by again and this time Aline was with him. She is just like him in many ways. She spent many years in an orphanage and ended up in the streets. She found a place similar to Edson’s and decided to go back to school. She always loved studying. Recently, she is learning about the cold war and is curious to know what it was like living during that period. She mentioned our names to Edson in a conversation and he suggested that they should visit us. Both of them were extremely happy to be in our house. Aline could not contain her joy to just sit on our sofa and talk with us. Unbeknown to them, our friend, Elvis, yes that is his name, was on his way to our house. After he arrived, we had a household of people from completely different backgrounds. Edson and Aline were initially shy with Elvis but it didn’t take long for them to overcome this. Soon, experiences and encounters were shared and everyone was feeling that they had something concrete and meaningful to share with each other.

Edson had to leave early because he had to work. He works the graveyard shift. Aline is going to night school. Elvis remained behind. Before leaving, we invited them to come on another day when we can all share a meal together. Aline was especially happy with this. She told us that she wants us to visit her at her place. She assured us that she is a good cook and we don’t doubt her. After they left, Elvis found out that they were both once homeless and now squatters. No one would have known this if they came to our house that day. It is because they wore the right “clothes”. They did not come into our house as homeless people. They came because they are our friends and brother and sister. They left their former “garments” outside knowing that in this household they can be one with us. This was the desire of the Host in the parable. He invites us to participate in His household. However, those who refuse to become part of his household and insist on holding onto the their “old garments” of status in this world will never understand the true nature of the invitation. All are invited but only a few understand what it means to be invited. Over the years, many teens and youths from the streets have come to our house. They usually feel insecure and self conscious. Edson and Aline felt at home. We hope many more will come. We have an intuitive feeling that these two will spread the news of the invitation to the others.