29th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Matt 22: 15-21
St. Vincent’s Hospital, Harrison, N.Y.
Oct. 19, 2014
“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God” (Matt 20: 21).
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| Tribute to Caesar (Gustave Dore') |
I liked the old translation, “Render unto Caesar what belongs to
Caesar.” In any case, that verse is one
of the most famous in the NT, and not because it shows Jesus’ cleverness in
evading a trap set for him by his enemies.
Rather, it’s famous because of the
challenge it presents to Christ’s followers to balance our lives and allegiances
between this world and the next, between what St. Augustine identified as the
city of man and the city of God, or in common American speech, between State
and Church. Jesus challenges the
officials or authorities of both Church and State to know what their
responsibilities are and where their limits are; he challenges us citizens of
an earthly city who are his followers to give due attention to both God and country.
Thru the course of history, we’ve seen many
examples of Caesar, i.e., the State, trying to control every aspect of the life
of his citizens, including their consciences.
Recall not only the Roman Empire’s demands that everyone worship the
emperor and the gods, but also the religious wars of the 16th century, the
Nazis, and Communism. In May of this
year an American tourist in North Korea, James Fowle, left a Bible in a public restroom,
apparently intentionally. He was
arrested, charged with anti-State activity, and is awaiting trial and the possibility
of a long prison sentence. In our
country, numerous religious institutions—schools, hospitals, nursing homes,
etc.—many of them Catholic, but of other denominations as well, have had to sue
the Dept. of HHS to defend their rights of conscience against the coercive
regulations implementing the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare—regulations
that, among other things, seek to define what is religious practice and what
isn’t, and to confine religion only to worship in your church building and to
catechism class. Various institutions
and individuals are being coerced by city, state, and educational authorities
to approve homosexual behavior; the latest example I’ve seen is that the New
England Assn. of Schools and Colleges is giving Gordon College, a Christian
school in Massachusetts, a year to “review” its policy prohibiting homosexual
behavior on campus because it’s sinful behavior.[1]
On the other side, there are both
historical and contemporary examples of religious leaders interfering with
affairs of state, e.g., Popes attempting to depose secular rulers or Muslims
running or trying to run countries by strictly religious rules (the imams in Iran,
Boko Haram in Nigeria, the “Islamic State” so much in the news these days).
How do you and I render to Caesar—to the
State, to civil society—what is due to it, and to God what is due to him?
To start where today’s gospel starts, we
owe the State taxes. Yes, however
painful that is. Our taxes provide
government services, such basic things as trash pick-up and snow-plowing,
managing the public airwaves, coordinating air transportation, running the
subways. They pay for police and fire
protection and help us cope with natural disasters. We expect that governments to do something
about the Ebola epidemic and not leave it entirely to Doctors Without Borders
and missionaries in Africa. Our taxes
paid for the personnel and weapons that saved the world from the Nazis, saved
Western Europe from Stalin, and, we demand now, will save the Middle East from
the Islamic State. (Whether our taxes
are always wisely and ethically used is a separate question.)
As citizens in a democracy, we have an
obligation to vote, to make our voices heard on election day. Our elections help determine public policies
about war and peace, social justice, public health, and all sorts of things
that concern the common good. Voting
carries with it an obligation to be informed about the issues and the
candidates and any ballot questions that may come up. It’s unconscionable—sinful, in other words—to
vote for someone just because the person belongs to a particular party, is a
certain race or nationality, is a certain gender, comes from a certain city or
state, or has Hollywood good looks.
It’s also good for us to let public
officials know our opinions outside of election time, e.g., by letter-writing
or peaceful public protest, or even to be involved in politics or public
service. In making our voices heard on
public issues, however, it’s important that we speak the civil language. We may not promote a certain policy to the
general public—whether it’s about abortion, immigration, the environment, or
civil rights—because of God’s Law or what the Bible says. That’s a religious intrusion and doesn’t carry
much weight with the U.S. Constitution or the general public. (How religious leaders address their own
congregations is another matter, of course.
Right now I’m telling you what
the Gospel requires of you.)
We all have an obligation to contribute to
the common good, and not just by paying our taxes and voting. Do we get involved in our kids’ school? in some form of youth or civic
activity—volunteer work of some sort, like a soup kitchen, Midnite Run, Habitat
for Humanity, EMS where that’s done by volunteers, the Red Cross, Scouting, etc.?
Jesus also tells us to render to God what
belongs to God. For us as individuals,
that begins with worship, both public (as on Sundays) and private (our daily
prayer). It ought to include regular Scripture
reading, an important way of listening to God.
Serving God includes more than prayer,
tho. We need to be involved in our
church, our parish, performing service of some sort (greeter, usher, cleaner,
council member, helper at socials, catechist, participant in the parish’s
outreach to the community, etc.).
Our service to God, our adherence to
Christ, is a 7-day responsibility. We
can’t be Christians on Sunday and pagans Monday thru Saturday. A few weeks ago, a couple of guys in Montana
who’d gotten “married” to each other were told by their pastor they could no
longer receive Holy Communion; the bishop backed the pastor, but the parish was
divided. One of the men involved told
the media, in disbelief, “We didn't think anything would happen. Church is one thing; civil society is another.” One Catholic blogger reacted this way:
The logical end of this thinking seems
to be that it only matters what happens in Church and then once you step
outside the Church (or maybe the parking lot) all bets are off until next
Sunday. This is the exact opposite of truth. Christians are given a very
specific task to live the gospel, not just for one hour a week on Sunday.
It's the same line of thinking which
bring the loud proclamations that the Church doesn't tell me what to do in the
bedroom. I've always wondered what other rooms of the house the Church is
banished from? According to many, it would seem all of them.[2]
That’s why at the end of Mass we’re often
dismissed with lines like “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life” or
“Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.”
That’s why our prayers at Mass often contain lines like today’s: “Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours…”
(emphasis added).
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| A denarius of Tiberius Caesar emperor during Jesus' public life |
Another way of looking at our obligations
to God is this. When the Pharisees
presented Jesus with a denarius, what did he ask them? “Whose image is this?”—the image indicating
ownership or title, like a brand on a steer or a corporate logo. Now look at yourself and the people around you. Whose image are you and they? You all remember the verse from
Genesis: “God created man in his image,
in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them” (1:27). God’s image is stamped on us. We belong to him. To him we have to render our whole lives, our
whole selves. The teaching of Christ, in
our case as his disciples, must imbue everything we say and do, wherever and
whenever.
God bless you!
[1]
Matthew Archbold, “Christian College Could Lose Accreditation. Guess Why,” National Catholic Register on-line, Oct.
3, 2014: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-archbold/christian-college-could-lose-accreditation.-guess-why/
[2]
Matthew Archbold, “What Happens in Church Stays in Church,” National Catholic Register on-line,
Sept. 26, 2014: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-archbold/what-happens-in-church-stays-in-church/
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