Word to the Wise
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 - Tuesday in the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
[Tobit 2:9-14 and Mark 12:13-17]Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God
This oft-quoted statement by Jesus has been used for many different purposes! In our own country where separation of church and state is a contentious and delicate matter, the phrase has been used as a justification for our governmental and constitutional system. This has the effect of making Jesus an American! Suffice it to say, our nation was not in the picture at the time! Well, then, it may behoove us to look to the scene itself. The questioners are Pharisees and Herodians! They represent two different interests. The Pharisees represent Jewish heritage and practice. To these folks, the Romans were an occupying PAGAN military power! The Herodians owed their position of power to the Romans who put Herod in power as a kind of vassal! So, on the surface, Jesus is being asked to comment on a current situation which was, to put it mildly, a powder-keg. The possibility of riots and rebellion against Roman occupation was a constant concern (uppermost in Roman minds when Jesus was crucified). However, the real reason for this encounter appears to be the desire to get rid of a troublesome rabbi who was challenging the incumbent religious powers, not the Romans. Jesus sees through this hypocritical maneuver and turns it back on the questioners in an amusing way. He asks for a Roman coin. To the Pharisees, even that coin would make one unclean! One wonders who had the coin? When all is said and done, we can ignore the context and play with the famous statement, arguing church and state issues forever. Or we can look to the motives and goal of the question which clearly indicate that "honest questions" are often ways in which we try to "trap" others in their speech. Perhaps our Senate Judiciary committee will provide us with an interesting example of both when they question the new Supreme Court nominee soon! AMEN
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