The Liturgy of the Word for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, (Isaiah 45:1, 4-6; Psalm 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5b; Matthew 22:15-21), calls us to offer God what is due to Him (Matthew 22:21; Psalm 96:7-9). Because He is the Lord and there is no other, no God besides Him (Isaiah 45:5-6, 21-22), being the Creator (Isaiah 45:7-13, 18), the Savior (Isaiah 45:17), the Ruler of justice for glory (Isaiah 45:23-25). We also give thanks for enabling us to bear fruit of our work of faith and love, through His word and the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 1:1-5). It is, after all, about our exclusively faithful relationship with the Lord, only whom we believe and revere as our Lord (Exodus 20:1-7).
What do we owe to God, our Lord? And how do we pay
what we owe to Him?
These are important question to ponder as we engage in
the Word for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday.
*****
Having asked opinions of the chief priests and the elders
of the parables given by him to expose and confront their wickedness (Matthew
21:28-22:14), as read on the Twenty-Sixth Sunday, the Twenty-Seventh Sunday,
and the Twenty-Eighth Sunday, Jesus is now asked his opinion by Pharisaic
disciples, sent with the Herodians, by the Pharisees, to him, in order to trap
him in his words (Matthew 22:15). So they asked Jesus whether it is right or
not to pay taxes to Caesar (Matthew 22:16-17).
The Pharisees’ intention behind this question is to
blame Jesus with unfaithfulness to God if he gives an affirmative opinion to
paying taxes to Caesar and to charge him with treason if his opinion is against
paying taxes to Caesar. They were hoping to trap Jesus in either way. For this
reason, the Pharisees sent the Herodians with their disciples (Matthew 22:16),
for they were political supporters of Herod, who ruled the Jewish people on
behalf of Caesar. Herod was not a kind of king, like David, who was anointed by
God and ruled the Jews on His behalf (1 Samuel 16:1-13), but appointed by the
Roman Senate. He is a Roman client king, namely, a Cesar’s political puppet, to
work with a Roman governor, to rule the Jews. The Pharisees did not like the
Herodians, for their pro-Rome orientation by their association with Herod, as
they hated the tax collectors, Jews who worked for the Roman Empire. Nevertheless,
they brought them, in order to ensnare Jesus with the question about paying
Roman taxes.
Knowing his challengers’ malicious intention, instead
of answering the question in an “yes or no” manner, Jesus said:
Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show
me the coin that pays the census tax (Matthew 22:19).
Then, they handed Jesus a Roman coin, and Jesus asked
them whose image and inscription were on the coin (Matthew 22:20). And they answered,
“Caesar’s”(Mathew 22:21a).
So Jesus said to the Pharisaic and Herodian contesters,
who tried to trap him:
Then repay to Caesar what belongs to
Caesar and to God what belongs to God (Matthew 22:21b).
They were amazed by this response of Jesus and went away (Matthew 22:22). In other words, they failed their mission to entrap Jesus to blame him either against God or against Caesar, because Jesus did not respond to their dualist question with a dualist answer.
Had Jesus ever answered to refuse to pay taxes to Caesar,
then, the pro-Roman Herodians would bring treason charge against Jesus to have
him killed. In fact, though Jesus did not advocate against paying the Roman
taxes, he was falsely charged to have incited the public not to pay taxes to Caesar
because he was the Messiah-King, to make an impression as an enemy of Caesar,
when he was brought to Pontius Pilate (Luke 23:2). And had Jesus ever said affirmatively
to pay taxes to Caesar, then, the Pharisees would accuse Jesus for belittling
God for Caesar, standing against God, who is the Lord and no other (Exodus
20:3; Isaiah 45:1).
Jesus was not entrapped in the entrapping dualistic
dilemma set by his contenders.
Now, what is significance of Jesus’ answer to repay
what belongs to God to God and repay what belongs to Caesar to Caesar?
Our faith in God, making our repayment of what we owe
to God to Him, does not mean that we refuse to pay taxes to our civil
authorities. Jesus does not teach
against our civic duties, such as paying taxes and voting, or working as civil
servants or government employee or being elected officials. In fact, the way we
commit ourselves to civic duties can be done to close the gap between the world
and the Kingdom of God. We live in this world to commit ourselves to align our
civil authorities, to which our taxes are paid, to align with God. So Paul
wrote:
Let
every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no
authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God.
Therefore,
whoever resists authority opposes what God has appointed, and those who oppose
it will bring judgment upon themselves.
For
rulers are not a cause of fear to good conduct, but to evil. Do you wish to
have no fear of authority? Then do what is good and you will receive approval
from it, for it is a servant of God for your good. But if you do evil, be
afraid, for it does not bear the sword without purpose; it is the servant of
God to inflict wrath on the evildoer.
Therefore,
it is necessary to be subject not only because of the wrath but also because of
conscience.
This
is why you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, devoting
themselves to this very thing.
Pay
to all their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, toll to whom toll is due,
respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due (Romans 13:1-7).
As responsible citizens of the world, are we
committing ourselves to make our civil authorities respectable and honorable in
juxtaposition to our reverence to God? After all, it is about God, not really
the world and civil authorities.
We must remember - no matter what our civil obligation may be, we
cannot let it compromise our faith in God. For us, God is our utmost priority, as
we are in the exclusive covenant relation with Him, for He is the Lord, our God,
no other God, to believe and revere (Exodus 20:1-7). This is why idolatry is an
offense against Him (Exodus 20:5-6) and we shall love God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). And
keeping God as our priority does not mean that we are disobedient to civil
authorities.
However, fulfilling our civic duties as responsible
citizens, as allegorically summarized by Jesus’ statement of “repay to
Caesar what belongs to Caesar”, does not mean that we conform ourselves to
the world (Romans 12:2). In fact, we, as chosen by Christ out of the world,
does not belong to it (John 15:19). If we do not accept this, why do we need to
be Christians? In other words, we are not just worldly citizens, no matter
where we live and regardless of our nationalities. We are, indeed, called out
of the world to be the citizens of the Kingdom of God, which Christ has come to
proclaim (Mark 1:14-15; Luke 4:43). So we seek the Kingdom (Matthew 6:33) and strive
to enter the Kingdom by dong the will of God (Matthew 7:21).
In terms of our payment of what belong to God, it
cannot be done with what does not belong to God. This is why Jesus did not
choose whether to pay taxes to Caesar or not, in his response to the Pharisaic
and Herodian challengers’ entrapping question. He kept the matter of Caesar,
worldly obligations, separate from our commitment to God. Thus, our oblations
to God cannot be money with images of worldly leaders.
So what are we to offer God as our repayment out of
our indebtment?
There is no way that we can repay God for what He has
done for us – giving His only begotten Son to pay our debt of sins (Colossians
2:13-14). Nevertheless, as our way to enter the Kingdom, we can offer our works
of faith to fulfill the will of God on us (Matthew 7:21), namely, our work of
faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before
our God and Father (1 Thessalonians 1:3). And it is important to remember that
our being is essentially our oblation to God, making it holy and pleasing to
Him (Romans 12:1), by not conforming to the world but being transformed by renewing
our minds and discerning God’s will (Romans 12:2). This means to live a life in
the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:1-4) and a life in Christ (Romans 6:1-10). So, we
shall offer the fruit of our work of faith, as our repayment to God and offer
ourselves as the living sacrifices.
We repay to God not worldly moneys out of obligatory
feeling but our of our gratitude for being praise-worthy Creator and mighty
Savior, especially for sending His Son to be sacrificed to reconcile to pay our
debt of sins, and for enabling us to offer abundant fruit of our work of faith
to enter the Kingdom. And let us make our offering to God to honor and glorify Him! And we do not engrave an image of God on our coins and print it on our bills, for money is not worthy payment to God and it is a blasphemous idolatry.
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