(James Tissot)
"Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God"
Is 45: 1, 4-6
1 Thes 1: 1-5b
Mt 22: 15-21
The Word for Sunday: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102217.cfm
A number
of years ago, I remember being told by a Bishop of the Church, “You can’t run
the Church on Hail Mary’s.” That may
sound a bit sarcastic or too focused on the dollars but we live in a world in
which that is true. We trust in God for
all things, of course but we also have a personal responsibility to support the
works and the mission of the Church. It
begins in our parish and extends out universally from there. Let's face it money makes things happen and a great deal of good can be accomplished through responsible use of that necessary source.
In
fact, the motto “In God we trust” first appeared during the Civil War on money
printed for the North. But it became a
permanent part of our currency during the time of the tensions between the
United States and the Soviet Union. If
they put their trust in Atheistic Communism, aka Karl Marx and others, then we
put our trust in God.
Where
does our loyalty fall? To whom do we really give submission and honor? While we may not be able to take that on for
a Nation still as individuals, we need certainly ask ourselves that important
question. It goes to the heart of the
Christian Gospel and the Commandments of God and is an expression of the way we
Christians live under a secular government.
Many
things may run through our minds here in light of the Gospel this Sunday. In a clear effort to entrap Jesus, the
Herodians and Pharisees join forces to pose a question to Jesus that would
reveal on whose side he really was – or so they thought. Is he on the side of the pagan Roman
occupiers and their pagan Emperor Tiberius Caesar? If he said “no” you should
not pay the census tax, then he would anger the Romans and side with those
rebels whose intent was to bring down Rome.
If he said “yes” then he would challenge the very Commandment to the
Torah to have no other God’s before you by siding with the Romans and their
brutal occupation of Israel. For
Tiberius claimed divinity as the coin they showed to Jesus stated on it. “In Tiberius, the son of a god (Augustus), we
trust,” was the implication on the coin for imprinted there is the image of
Caesar and a proclamation of his god-like divine status. What does Jesus do in
this apparent attempt to finally trap him?
Obviously,
he knew of their dark intent and would not be trapped by it. They approach him
with a near sickening flattery that has no one fooled, let alone Jesus. “Show me the coin, “Jesus stated. As Pharisees, being representatives of the
Sacred Law, they should have no such graven image in their pockets let alone in
their hands. Still, someone does although it isn’t stated who but the very fact
that it is produced for Jesus proves their complicity. They possess the coin which pays the census
tax, which reveals their complicity with Rome.
“Repay to Caesar
what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God,” our Lord responds.
Wouldn’t you love to have been there to
see the expression on the face of Jesus interrogators? Out of the blue, he turns the cards on them
and does not answer their question but rather reveals their motive.
Typically,
he answers their question with another question – “Whose image is this? “They have to now answer the question they
posed to Jesus – “To whom are you loyal – God or Caesar?” It is clear they have
not given “to God the things that belong to God.” They, the Pharisees, have colluded with the
pagan occupiers and at least by non-resistance, accepted the claim of Tiberius’
divinity! And we, many centuries later in a very different time and culture, might
be tempted to give a very American answer based upon the separation of Church
and State. Yet, the question is not
about that so much as it is about our ultimate loyalty.
It
is relatively easy to determine what is “Caesars,” that is taxes, obedience to
law and order, good citizenship, and patriotism is pretty clear. Government
officials have a legitimate authority to protect its citizens and we work for
the common good of all in this Country.
We all know how fortunate we are to have a say in our own governing.
But the things of God may be more difficult to determine because it is hard to imagine what does not belong to God. All authority ultimately comes from him, as Jesus stated to Pontius Pilate: “You would have no power over me whatever unless it was given you from above.” (Jn 19: 11) and in Matthew before his Ascension: “Full authority has been given to me both in heaven and on earth . . .” (Mt 28: 18). Our first reading from Isaiah today reminds us how God used the Babylonian King Cyrus as an instrument to return the exiled people to Israel: “I have called you by your name, and giving you a title, though you knew me not.”
We
as human beings, belong to God, including legitimate leaders throughout the
world. Money is printed in the image of
an earthly Nation but human beings are created in the image of God. And all that being what it is it may be not
so difficult to recognize that when it comes to our human obligations to our
government pitted at times against those that call us to Christian
discipleship, we find a tension.
It
may be for us matter of how the human person is recognized, respected,
protected, and honored by our government.
If we live in a culture which looks at life more as a financial burden
rather than as sacred, then our allegiance must be always to the higher moral
standard which God has established. If
the poor, the elderly, the frail, the unborn all unable to support or safely
protect themselves are ignored or dismissed, then we rise to make a difference
and speak to “Caesar” so that laws can be changed. We give to God what is God’s.
We
are called to good citizenship and to make a contribution to the good of our society. Yet our faith can be a valid contribution to
contribute to the common good and is a gift we have to bring in the marketplace
and not from the fringes. Pope Francis, for example, has made it starkly clear
that the poor and vulnerable among us cannot be ignored by our secular
governments.
So,
while we may separate our allegiance to State and Church we cannot live as dual
citizens – one way for one and another way for the other; one way in Church and
another in the public place. The choice must be ours. We are Catholic/Christians who live in a
secular culture and we cannot compromise the things of God for the things of
Caesar. As citizens of a Nation life
stops here when we are gone. But as
citizens of the kingdom of God, we go on beyond this world where our total
giving will be for God alone. So, whose
image do we follow?
Grant, O Lord, we pray,
that, benefiting from participation in heavenly things,
we may be helped by what you give in this present age
and prepared for the gifts that are eternal
Through Christ our Lord.
(Prayer after Communion)
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