Pay to Caesar What Belongs to Caesar And To God What Belongs To God

10-22-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

The Readings this weekend are concerned with the right relationship that a Christian believer is expected to maintain between human authority and God. Holy Scripture affirms that despite appearances to the contrary, ultimate control of human history and well-being resides in God’s hands. Human rulers have their place and should be given their just due, but even they are ultimately instruments by which God guides human affairs. So, in the midst of human politics, believers should strive not to be distracted from righteousness, which is the right relationship with God.

In the First Reading, Cyrus the Great, a Persian King, is addressed as God’s anointed and servant. Although he does not know God, the Lord called him by name, raised and empowered him for the sake of Jacob to be the one who would restore Israel to its lost glory and re-establish the sovereignty of God over all. Now, Cyrus was a pagan king who around 537 BC began a systematic reversal of the Babylonian exile of nations including Israel. In spite of Cyrus’s pagan origin, the Prophet Isaiah interpreted his benevolent policies as a product of Divine providence. God was using even a pagan king to advance His cause: to restore Israel to her homeland and to legitimize the worship of God among His chosen people. God ultimately controls the world He created and all believers should trust in His benevolent providence.

We must have noticed that in the Gospel passages of the last few weeks, Jesus has been making use of parables to teach the religious authorities of that time about the Kingdom of God and their unfaithfulness to it. In the Gospel passage this weekend, the Pharisees and the Herodians came together with a question designed to ensnare Jesus and to get Him in trouble with either the Roman Government or the Jewish people. Thinking that Jesus could be led into making a mistake by ego massage, they praised Him for being truthful and fearless. Then presented their question: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” If Jesus had answered in the affirmative, he could have been misrepresented to the people as a traitor and collaborator with the despised Imperial Roman oppressors. This could have meant that His claim to messiahship was false. If, on the other hand, He had denounced the dutiful remittance of taxes to the state, He would have risked immediate arrest by the Romans and charged with defrauding the state and inciting the people against legitimate authority. They thought He was trapped.

Jesus demanded for a Denarius, a Roman coin, and it was produced from among them. A Denarius at that time must have had on its face the blasphemous inscription: “Tiberius Caesar, Augustus, son of divine Augustus.” This inscription clearly proclaimed the reigning Emperor as god and so possessing such currency that professed an idea that was outrightly inconsistent with Jewish strict monotheism and thus offensive to their faith clearly exposed their hypocrisy. We can imagine how embarrassing it was for them when Jesus told them to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. He was essentially accused of withholding the true worship that belonged to God, and exhorting them to give to God their entire selves since they were made in God’s image and they carry invisibly His inscription.

While we strive to make the world a better place through politics and the dutiful fulfillment of our civic responsibilities, let us never forget that God is the ultimate controller of all and that He alone truly deserves the glory and honor of the sacrifice of ourselves. May we be aided to seek eternal life which is given only by God, even as we seek to improve on the earthly human condition.

Please be kind and may God bless you.

Fr. Manasseh