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 JUNE 4, 2013  ST. PETER OF VERONA, O.P., martyr

[ scriptures may vary in Dominican locales]

 

    

     We know from ancient sources that modern journalists did not invent "trick questions" or the "gotcha" political game!  Today's gospel scene is a familiar one.  Remember that we are still in Jerusalem in the last days of Jesus' ministry.  He has just demolished the temple folks - the Chief Priests, scribes and elders - and now he faces the "tea party" lay purists - the Pharisees - and some local politicos who support the Roman puppet, Herod.  We are told they were sent "to ensnare him in his speech!"  They try to get him to "take sides" in the unpopular issue of a head tax that the Romans imposed.  To the Pharisees, paying that tax meant acknowledging a kingship in competition with their true King, God!  They even considered the coin itself to be "unclean."  The Herodians, political opportunists, owed their patronage to the Roman puppet "king," and were not burdened with such qualms. 

 

     Jesus' reply involves someone supplying a "denarius," the Roman coin used to pay the tax.  One wonders who had the coin!  No self-respecting Pharisee would touch it, so probably one of the Herodians supplied it.  There is a comic element here!  By asking about the image on the coin, Jesus reduces the question from a religious one to a secular one.  If the human person is made in the "image and likeness of God," then God is the true king.  An image on a coin simply indicates to whom the coin belongs. 

 

     It is one thing to consider withholding tax payments in protest against a governmental policy.  It is entirely another to consider withholding from God what is truly God's - our faith and adoration.  Nevertheless, these may overlap when secular authority tries to compel acts against God's law - as in legislation requiring Catholic health care agencies to provide services that our faith considers immoral, or policies that clearly discriminate against immigrants.  The motive behind Jesus' questioners is a central concern in today's gospel, but the question itself is still a live one!  AMEN