29th
Sunday of Ordinary Time A – October 18, 2020
In recent Sunday
gospel readings, we have seen Jesus attacking the religious leaders for their
failure to recognize in him the Word of God, the power of God, the love of God.
All they could see was a man who broke their laws. Jesus tried to help them understand
by using parables (vineyards and banquets), but “they had eyes but failed to see, and ears
but fail to hear” (Mark 8:18).
Today, in the first
of four challenges, the religious leaders strike back. Their plan was to get
Jesus to damage his reputation among the people. The first challenge comes from
the Pharisees. Their deviousness is seen in the delegation they sent – a mixture of their disciples (not
themselves) and some Herodians. This was a strange mixture because Pharisees
(nationalists, who detested the Romans) and Herodians (who cooperated with the
Romans) were bitterly opposed to each other. It was a perfect example of the
enemy of my enemy is my friend. Both sides hated each other but they hated
Jesus even more.
Their opening
statement is very flattering. They praise the honesty and integrity of Jesus.
Jesus, in fact, is being praised as endowed with God’s sense of truth and justice, totally
impartial. After this flattering, they question Jesus, “Is it against our Law to pay taxes to
Caesar or not?” This simple question was a red-hot issue. Palestine was a colony of
Rome. The Jews hated the Romans, hated their brutality and their moral
corruption. So, the nationalistic Pharisees felt that the taxes should not be
paid to this oppressor. It was, we might say, an early version of “No taxation without representation”. Jesus, of course, is perfectly aware of
the dangers in giving a straight answer. He accuses them of gross hypocrisy in
setting this trap. They have no desire to know the answer. They have their own
answers already. Their only intention is to lay a trap for Jesus to hang
himself with.
We know the answer
Jesus gives: “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.” He seems to be saying that we all are, in
some way, the citizens of two kingdoms: citizens of the political world and
citizens in God’s Kingdom. As Jesus says, they both require certain loyalties from us.
We depend on our
civil government. We don’t supply our own water, electricity, telephone or internet
system. There are many other services which only a civil authority can provide,
such as education, hospitals, roads, welfare services for the unemployed, the
handicapped, the elderly. For these services to continue and improv they
require the support of the community at large. We do this, for the most part,
through paying taxes.
About the second
part, “give to God what belongs to God”. What exactly is it that belongs to God?
Jesus would answer that question by saying that we as human beings belong to
God because we are made in God’s image. Because we belong to God, we have to give
ourselves to God. If Caesar’s image is on the Roman coin, the coin can be given to
Caesar. God’s image is on each one of us, and, therefore, we are to give ourselves
to God. Besides this God there is no other God. Jesus claimed to be the unique
voice for this one God, and he declares that it is to this one, true God, that
we belong. Because we belong to God, we are to give him ourselves, all our
heart, soul and mind, in love. We give ourselves fully in love to God because
God has given himself fully in love to us through his Son. Jesus was saying,
Caesar can have the coins that belong to him and bear his image, but that’s it.
Those who came to
trap Jesus became the trapped ones: “When they heard this they were amazed, and leaving him
they went away.”
Fr. Don Webber,
C.P.