RBWords

     Jesus' words in today's gospel scripture have been put to great mischief over the centuries!  The biggest mischief seems to lie in the modern concept of the separation of church and state, which would have been incomprehensible to the people of Jesus' time!  The surface problem in today's gospel has to do with taxes, but it goes much deeper.  The very act of producing that coin would have made a Pharisee unclean!  Perhaps they got one of the Herodians to show it!

     If we go to the first scripture of today from Isaiah, there is a hint at the deeper problem:  "I am the Lord and there is no other, there is no God besides me."  Caesar was no mere mortal.  He was considered a deity and those subject to Rome were expected to show religious submission to him!  He was considered the ruler of the world.  Consider the sign that Pilate put on the cross with Jesus: "the King of the Jews..."  

     Jesus' words meant a challenge to the Christian community which could be lethal.  They might pay taxes, but they could not pay homage!  They could not give to Caesar what properly belonged only to God!  Martyrdom followed for many of them until Constantine made Christianity the religion of the empire!

     Our modern separation of the church and state does not help us here because we do have a form of secular "religion" with its patriotic rituals and documents. [We're not the only ones, either!]  St. Paul does tell us to pay taxes and respect those in civil authority, but we know that there is  plenty in our nation's laws that can easily make us cross the line into giving to Caesar what belongs to God.  This whole subject can give rise to impassioned discussion politically and religiously, but the challenge remains to know what we must give to God.  AMEN