TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Isaiah 45: 1, 4-6; 1 Thessalonians 1: 1-5b; Matthew 22: 15-21
(Rev. Dr. Francis Perry Azah)
In the first reading, Isaiah encouraged his contemporaries with the news that their political fortunes were changing for the better, not simply because one earthly power had prevailed over another but because God had so willed and provided. The Matthean Jesus, when confronted by adversaries, counseled his listeners regarding their proper and respective allegiances to civil authorities and to God. While these themes certainly merit the assembly’s attention, there is a phrase in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians that fairly demands careful consideration: “Our preaching of the gospel proved not a mere matter of words for you, but one of power” (v. 5).
The good news, as Paul had proclaimed it among those ancient Greeks, had not fallen on deaf ears and hardened hearts; it had been welcomed and allowed to take root in the fertile soil of their faith and hope. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, present within Paul and those who received his message, the gospel of Jesus Christ became an incarnate, flesh-and-blood, profound experience in Thessalonica. Is not this the intended goal every time the good news is announced? But how can the words of the gospel leap from the pages of the lectionary and become power? How can these words leave the safe sanctuary of the church and become a lived reality and a force to be reckoned with in the street, the office, the market, the factory, the school, the club, the restaurant, and the boardroom? Words can become power only if we take them with us.
In our gospel today, the Pharisees were asking Jesus about civic duty. They asked Him: “Is it lawful to pay tax to the emperor or not?” Jesus answered them: “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. We all know that if Jesus said yes, the people would resent and reject Him because nobody likes to pay taxes, especially to a foreign government, like the Roman government, which dominated them during that time. For the Jews, it is an insult to their religion and a blasphemy against God because they held that only Yahweh is their King. Their nation was a theocracy, and to pay taxes to an earthly king was to admit the validity of his kingship and thereby to insult God.
On the other hand, if Jesus says no, the Pharisees would report Him to the Roman government as a revolutionary person or an insurrectionist. The Roman government would then arrest Him and put Him into prison. But Jesus did not bite their trap on Him.
What Jesus meant here is that he points out that we are citizens of two worlds – the world we see and the unseen world. As such, we have duties in both worlds, that is, to a person and to God. It is like, love your God and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Our duties to a person include not only what we owe to the government, such as paying taxes and allegiance, but also what we owe to others. These include: taking good care of their health, providing them with education, and giving them time to rest and relax, especially for workers and laborers. A Christian, for the reason that he is a Christian, must be a responsible citizen of his own country; that is, if he fails to be a good citizen, he is a failure in his Christian duty. But the Christian is also a citizen of heaven. There are matters of religion and religious principles in which the responsibility of the Christian is to God. As Christians, we owe to God praise and thanksgiving, honor and glory. In other words, we owe to God worship because He is All Good and the source of all that we have and are.
In the question of whether it is lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, the adversaries of Jesus thought they had cornered him beyond escape. If he said it was lawful, they would say that you have betrayed Israel, you side with its oppressor, you have no backbone, you also fear for your skin. They would say that they had been mistaken in saying that: "that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion, for you do not regard a person's status." If he said that it was not lawful, they would accuse him to the Roman authorities for having disobeyed the laws and for inciting others to do the same, and Rome would deal with him for them. They saw no other way out of their trap.
In his unique wisdom, Jesus not only gives an answer that takes his adversaries by complete surprise, but he also gives us a principle by which we must live. We have a double duty to the state in which we live and to God. To society we owe many things: education, electricity, security, social amenities, etc. To society we owe our contribution to the common good. We cannot stand completely aloof from it. As good citizens, we need to pay taxes. We have to pray for our leaders. Those of us who can play a political role must do so in a way that edifies others. At the same time, our primary duty is towards God: to live as God wants us to, shining in the world like bright lights, showing others the way to salvation. The two ways need not contradict each other. We can be good citizens and God-fearing people at the same time.
The primary relationship in our lives should be our relationship with God. We should love Him, honor Him, adore Him, and worship Him. He loves us with all His heart. We should strive to love Him with all our hearts. Then the other aspect is: What belongs to Caesar and what should we “repay” him? In the current context we find ourselves, the thing we owe to Caesar the most … is our prayers. We need to pray for our political leaders and all those who hold temporal authority in the world today that they will use this temporal authority in ways that cooperate with God’s will and not in ways that oppose His will. What we need to give to Caesar is our prayers. So, as we give worldly obligations their due, our highest commitment is to be to God and his commandments. We are to raise people’s thinking and lift their actions to make the world a better place. We are citizens of heaven first, but we can still love, respect, correct, and challenge those who govern us on earth. May our commitment to God make a difference in the world around us.
