29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle A
It is serendipitous that this gospel reading falls
during an election year, and especially these past couple of weeks, when the
question of faith vs. the law has been foremost in the news. How are people of
faith to live as faithful citizens? Are we to separate our religion from our
citizenship? Can there be a true separation between church and state for us? What
does that really mean? Can we truly put our faith in one box here and our
interactions with the world in a box over there?
Is it acceptable to pay the census tax? The Pharisees
were really asking Jesus if it were acceptable for the Jews to submit to Roman
authority. The two great symbols of Roman oppression were the Roman army and
Roman taxes, both of which were overwhelming and ever present. A sign of
allegiance to the Roman empire was the payment of taxes. To resist paying was
treason. That is one reason why tax collectors were so hated. Not just because
oftentimes they cheated and got wealthy off their neighbors, but because they
were seen as Roman sympathizers, traitors to their people. And so, the
Pharisees were asking Jesus if it were ok to commit an act of civil
disobedience, rebellion actually. If he said yes they could turn him over to
the authorities. If he said no the people would turn against him.
He said to repay to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give
to God what is God’s. Was Jesus telling them to practice separation of church
and state, to offer dual allegiance both to the emperor and to their God? Was
it ok to serve two masters? Was he telling them that it was ok to support the
emperor, but only on the outside? Sort of like, throw the coins in the basket,
but cross your fingers behind your back?
Jesus was practical about it. The Roman occupation was
a reality, and he understood that earthly authority had its place, but God’s
people were to ultimately submit to a higher authority. The kingdom his
followers were to be subjects of was not of this world. It was in the world but
not of it. Yes, we have to submit to earthly authority, if for no other reason
than it allows societies to organize themselves safely, but we are not to offer
our ultimate allegiance to it. That is reserved for our true king and creator. I
think Jesus was preaching a rebellion of the spirit and of the soul. His
message from the moment he began his public ministry was “Repent, the Kingdom
of God is at hand”. In that message and mission he refocused our allegiance
where it truly belonged. To Him.
This is a tough duality and is often really hard to
balance. Do you choose your faith based upon your politics, or are your
politics determined by your faith? If there is a political position or law that
is contrary to the gospel, what are we to do? If a law is immoral, are we called
to observe it anyway or are we called to change it? Are we called to resist it
or even overthrow it? The questions are even more basic than that. Where does
law come from? There is God’s law and there is human law. Where does morality
come from? Is it a human construct or does it come from the creator? These
questions were actually the basis of the Declaration of Independence, and they
are the questions of conscience we all must face.
Why would faith in God be contrary to human law in the
first place? Flip that around. Why would human laws be contrary to God’s law if
they are just? If morality comes from God, then justice also comes from God.
Therefore, laws that are just must conform to the law of God if they are to be
moral and good. This may be hard for some people to
grasp, but it's important. Catholics don't hold their positions on moral
questions because of "deeply held religious convictions." Rather,
they are held because of the conclusions of right reason applied to the understanding
of the Natural Law. To be a good citizen means to live in the world but
to order our lives around the moral and the good, and we do that best through
the eyes of our faith.
In Gaudium et spes, the great Pastoral Constitution of
the Church in the Modern World from Vatican II, the fathers stated, “The
Council exhorts all Christians, as citizens of both cities, to perform their
duties faithfully, in the spirit of the gospel. It is a mistake to think that,
because we have here no lasting city, but seek the city which is to come, we
are entitled to evade our earthly responsibilities…But it is no less mistaken
to think that we may immerse ourselves in earthly activities as if these latter
were foreign to religion…”
Jesus gave us the great commission to go and make
disciples of all nations, and to do that we must teach them everything he has
commanded us. We are to be active in the world and actually convert it. We are
to spread Jesus’ commandments of loving God and our neighbor. We cannot just
compartmentalize our faith and our interactions with the world. Our faith must
be our interaction with the world. We have a responsibility to society and to
one another. We cannot simply remove ourselves. We are our brother’s keeper. Jesus
is the truth. We are to testify to the truth.
Two opposing positions cannot both be true. Either one
is right and the other wrong or they are both wrong. To what truth do we
adhere? I know plenty of people who have left the Catholic Church because they
do not agree with this or that teaching. They go and find a church that agrees
with them rather than take the time to really understand what the church is
telling them. Because it is easier to do that than to admit that me might have
to change our views and change our lives. It is oftentimes easier to render
unto Caesar.
We are approaching one of our greatest privileges and
responsibilities as citizens in a few weeks – voting. We exercise this
privilege as citizens of the world. How we vote should be exercised as citizens
of the Kingdom of God. As mature Christians we must vote our conscience, but
that conscience must be properly formed. Again, do you choose your politics
based upon your faith? Everyone has a conscience, but if you do not knowingly
and willfully form that conscience society will do it for you. And we Catholics
should turn to our church to help us form ours.
St. Paul said in his letter to the
Romans, “Do not conform to
the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good,
pleasing and perfect will." Jesus Christ established
his church on earth upon his apostles and said that the Holy Spirt would always
be active in and through it, until the end of time. He gave his apostles
authority both in heaven and on earth. “What you bind on earth is bound in
heaven.” He declared that he and his church are one in the same. He said, “He
who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects
me rejects Him who sent me.” And the one who sent him is our king. And so, the
Church has the moral authority to help us form our consciences.
So, whether you have made up your mind on how to vote
or not, take some time to check your conscience. The US bishops put out a good
guide for voting called Faithful Citizenship that you can find on the USCCB
website. It is very balanced and does not endorse any political party. It does,
however, state some truths of our faith as they apply to the public square that
we should all consider and adhere to. Give to Caesar by voting. Give to God by
voting with a properly informed conscience.
How would the world be if we truly lived
as subjects of our true king? How would your lives and the lives of those
around you be changed if you and I truly lived according to the two greatest
commandments? The world fears the rule of God because it threatens earthly power
and licentiousness. We do not.
What is Caesar’s are material things. What belongs to
God is our souls.
We submit to authority but understand who the ultimate
authority is.
We must work for justice in the world because we know
who the ultimate judge is.
God himself is intimately involved in the world, so we
are intimately involved.
The rule of Caesar is flawed and temporary.
The rule of God is perfect and eternal.
