Word to the Wise
Sunday, October 16, 2011 - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
[Isa 45:1, 4-6; 1 Thess 1:1-5b; Matt 22:15-21,27]He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?" They replied, "Caesar's." At that he said to them, "then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."
Some passages in scripture have the sad fate of being "hijacked" to use in circumstances that would make no sense at all to the original hearers! The story in today's gospel is a very good example! The people of Jesus' time, including the Romans, would be scratching their heads at our notions of the "separation of church and state!" In the ancient world, faith was part of everyday life and government and economy. A secular, non-religious person would have been regarded as a strange and dangerous being! Therefore, to use this story as a way of "proving" the value of separation of church and state is anachronistic to say the least. However, there are certain other aspects to the story that do speak to our current situation and are worth pondering.
The first aspect is the desire of the Pharisees to "entrap Jesus in speech." I can only point to the current election stuff taking place, which regrettably will be pounding on us till November of next year! (The election season, like the Christmas shopping season, seems to come earlier and earlier!). There is a constant effort to "entrap" candidates in their speech for the sake of some electoral or journalistic advantage. The result is rarely an informed electorate but rather a careful "performance" by a candidate. Jesus' response to the Pharisees and Herodians (two groups with a very uneasy relationship) is humorous more than political, even though the question is definitely political! By demanding to see the coin used for the tax, someone had to produce it and the Pharisees would not even touch that coin. However, one of the Herodians probably had one, which meant the Pharisees were in the presence of an unclean person! The trap is turned around!
The second aspect does touch on the God/Caesar question but not in a political way. We can ask ourselves which part of this opposition claims more of our attention? It's not a matter of paying taxes, unjust as the Roman head tax was to those poor people. It could be the effort and attention we put into acquiring more and more of those coins! In other words, can we take a look at how much effort we put into "rendering unto Caesar" in contrast to "rendering unto God?" Ironically, the Roman denarius had not only an image of Tiberius Caesar on it, it also had an inscription identifying Tiberius' father, as divine! No wonder the Pharisees considered it unclean and idolatrous. How do we feel about money and our need for it? Good drama always gives us something to think about. When it is the drama of faith, the lessons can be profound! AMEN
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