October 19^th 2014.  Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Gospel: Matthew 22:15-21

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL Matthew 22:15-21

The Pharisees went away to work out between them how to trap Jesus in what he said. And they sent their disciples to him, together with the Herodians, to say,
‘Master, we know that you are an honest man and teach the way of God in an honest way,
and that you are not afraid of anyone, because a man’s rank means nothing to you.
Tell us your opinion, then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

But Jesus was aware of their malice and replied,
‘You hypocrites! Why do you set this trap for me? Let me see the money you pay the tax with.’
They handed him a denarius and he said, ‘Whose head is this? Whose name?’ ‘Caesar’s’ they replied.
He then said to them,
‘Very well, give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.’

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Sometimes we read this Gospel and we think that Jesus intends us to split life into the religious sphere and the worldly sphere. We are to keep God and civil matters firmly separate. But this schizophrenic division does not fit in with the Gospel at all! The early Christians were persecuted by the Romans because they would not sacrifice to the Emperors; they would not render onto Caesar that which belonged to God. The ironic thing is that these Christians were not subversive at all - they simply refused to deny the priority of God in their lives. Jesus is not asking us to separate our faith from our dealings with the world. His entire message reveals that our faith is something that lifts up the world. It does not subvert it. Our first priority in life must be to render onto God what is God’s. This entails giving the Lord our hearts, living for him, seeing everything with the eyes of faith and acting accordingly. Once we do that, then our dealings with material things are transformed. To live for the Lord does not require withdrawing from the world. Indeed, withdrawing from the world does not guarantee that we live for the Lord at all. Even when we enter a monastery, our material attitudes enter with us. Our primary focus must be to give to God that which belongs to God. My heart belongs to God. My sole concern must be to give that to him.

A clever attempt to trap Jesus. Does Jesus’ response create a schizophrenic split between religion and the material world?

In Sunday’s Gospel, the Pharisees set a trap for Jesus, asking him if they ought to pay taxes or not. There seems to be no good answer to this question. If Jesus tells them not to pay, then he sets himself against the civil authorities and places himself in danger of legal sanction. Equally, if he tells them that they must pay the tax, then he appears as a mouthpiece of the Romans and risks rejection by the people. There seems to be no escape for Jesus, but he responds with a third way that is usually translated as rendering onto Caesar what is Caesar’s and onto God what is God’s.

But in the first reading God’s work is done by Caesar!

The first reading, however, gives a completely different perspective on this issue. Isaiah tells us of the liberation by Cyrus of the people of Israel from slavery and exile. Cyrus is not a believer, but he is the chosen instrument of God who issues the edict that sets the Israelites free. There may be no direct personal relationship between Cyrus and God, but, according to the faith interpretation of the Israelites of their own story, this foreign ruler is given a place in history by the Lord. Curiously, Cyrus combines the work of Caesar and the work of God!

Christians are not against Caesar but they will not give to Caesar the fundamental thing that belongs to God – their hearts

The early emperors persecuted Christianity extensively, even though they could not sustain the charge that the Christians were a subversive element of the population. What was objectionable about Christians was the fact that they would not make Caesar their priority. They would not sacrifice to the emperor. They would not give to Caesar that which rightfully belonged to God. The message of this Gospel reading is not simply about the need to separate the religious and the civil spheres. The first reading demonstrates how a pagan political entity can be used as an instrument of the providence of the Lord. The challenge is not simply that of withdrawing from the world and giving ourselves over to God, leaving Caesar to his own devices. No, what we must do is that which Christians have always done – be in the world but not be of the world. The Gospel is not challenging us to be in a particular place; it is challenging us to be for someone in particular – the Lord rather than Caesar.

The Gospel challenges us to turn away from worldliness by making God our priority in all of our dealings with Caesar

The questions we should continue to ask ourselves are: “Who do I belong to? To what is my heart attached?” In all our dealings with the world, even our dealings with Caesar, what matters is that we belong to the Lord. The relationship with him must not be compromised for any reason. A mistaken interpretation of the Gospel can lead to a schizophrenic attitude towards reality in which we place God against Caesar. Instead, what we must focus on is belonging to the Lord whilst living in the midst of things. We might think that the monastic life enables us to subtract ourselves from life and live totally for the Lord. But when we enter the monastic life, material things enter with us and affect all of our relationships. Even if we think we are out of the context of Caesar, it is still a challenge to belong to God. The Gospel is exhorting us to evaluate things in the light of the Holy Spirit. We don’t need to reject the world, but welcome it with the love of God. As St Paul says, the man of spirit and the man of flesh are not two separate people. Either we obey our passions or we obey the Spirit, but when we obey the Spirit we must do so with all of our flesh. We must remain the property of the Lord, prioritizing him, invoking him, seeking him in everything we do, behaving as one who loves the Lord and is loved by him.