Caesar and God

146.doc

Scripture: Lectionary # 146: 29^th Sunday A Cycle: Isaiah 45:1.4-6. Psalm 96: 1.3.5.7-8,9-10. I Thessalonians 1:1-5. Matthew 22:15-21:

We Christians move about in a secular world and a sacred perspective. The sacred and the secular seem to be the themes we meet in our readings especially in Isaiah 45: 1, 4-6 and in the Gospel of Matthew 22: 15-21. The wisdom of Jesus teaches us how to discern the two worlds of the sacred and the secular and how to respond to what they mean in our day. Jesus is confronted by a tricky question from the scholars and leaders of his religion and they want to know whether they, God’s Chosen People, have to pay taxes. He solves the dilemma by having them present him a coin that has an image of Caesar on it probably Caesar Augustus, one of the more peaceful of emperors. “Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” His wisdom gives them an answer they did not expect. He knew how to discern what was sacred and what was secular. He knew about reading the signs of the times—his times. They were occupied by Roman soldiers and had to pay taxes to the Romans. Another story similar to this is the miraculous catch that Peter makes after Jesus tells him to do so and thus he finds enough staters (coins or a coin) to pay both his tax and Jesus’ to the Romans!

We are constantly up against making decisions about our Christian values and our motivations over against the screaming and tantalizing call of the secular world. Wisdom is necessary to discern how not to be influenced or controlled by what is not good in the culture. We are not to be controlled by secular desires and obsession about having all we can have while neglecting to think of our neighbor, our neighborhood, and our planet.

Cyrus was a powerful Persian King who symbolized the secular and its power. However, he read the signs of what would be best for the people of Israel and thereby was called by God to help them go back to their homeland and to protect them in their return. We are called by God as Christians to live in this world without being controlled by its values that often are contrary to the Gospel and the Torah. Culture and religion are part of our everyday experience and they do not always mesh; they are sometimes a “ both…and”, but often are an “either …or” choice for us. Just as Cyrus cooperated with the plan of God in a history of salvation, so must we. When we discern the realm of God breaking into the secular we can transcend our limited view of what is happening in the universe and enter into the bigger picture. This offers a practical way of transcendence to touch what is divine while living in our earthly surroundings.

The Second Vatican Council ((1962-1965) is a blueprint for a theology of how to live in today’s world as a committed Christian. The sixteen documents are based on reflections on the Gospel in the light of the pastoral needs of our living in the world. Some Christians take vows and thus live in the world but are not of the world in their goals and pursuits. They discern the signs of the culture in the light of the divine word of God found in the Scriptures both the Old Testament and the New Testament. We discern how to be in the world without being possessed by it. In certain critical situations we need to be counter-cultural and to keep in mind the principle Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel. We belong to God and yet we realize we belong in some respects to Caesar! The call of God and of Vatican II encourages us to read the signs of the times while having the Gospel embedded within our hearts that we may bring forth the wisdom of Jesus in our decision making, our discernment, and our fidelity to the values of the Scriptures and the Church.

From Cyrus we learn that we too are called by name and have a role in our secular history by realizing God’s plan of salvation is at work (salvation history).

From Paul we learn the great forces of faith, hope, and love. We are to be active in and through our faith, unwearied in our love, and enduring in our hope.

From the Psalm Response we learn our priority: “Give the Lord glory and honor.”

And from Jesus, the Wisdom of God, we know how to give to God what is God’s and to secular society what is “Caesar’s.”

We pray with the psalmist: “The Lord is King, he governs the peoples with equity.” Amen.