Whose Image?

Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A

Isaiah 45:1, 4-6; Psalm 96; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5; Matthew 22:15-21

“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."
Matthew 22:21

Our text seems eerily appropriate as we are only weeks away from a presidential election.  It speaks to the dichotomy, or the balancing act, that every Christian is called to observe.  We have dual citizenship.  We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven by Baptism and we are citizens here by birth or naturalization.  How do we live as good citizens of both?  Today’s Gospel gives us a key insight.

First, it would probably be helpful to understand what is meant by our Lord’s statement.  The occasion of this exchange is a confrontation with the Pharisees.  They, along with the Herodians, another sect of Judaism, wanted to trap Jesus into saying something that would either undermine His credibility with the people or bring Him trouble from the Roman authorities.  Both would be even better.  They thought they had Him pinned into a no-win situation.

The questions they posed was this: “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?"  If Jesus said yes, He would be seen as a traitor to the Jews who viewed the paying of such a tax as an odious reminder of their subjugation to uncircumcised Gentiles.  If He said no, He would run afoul of the Roman government.  Jesus’ answer was actually amazingly simple.

“Show me the coin that pays the census tax.  Whose image is this and whose inscription?"  The answer was, of course, Caesar’s.  Then our Lord concluded, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

To understand our Lord’s reasoning, let me borrow a quote from Tertullian, one of the Church Fathers, who, writing around the end of the 2^nd century, commented on this passage: “That is, the image of Caesar, which is on the coin, to Caesar, and the image of God, which is on man, to God; so as to render to Caesar indeed money, to God yourself. Otherwise, what will be God's, if all things are Caesar's?”

To Caesar money; to God yourself.  That was the emphasis.  If Caesar’s image is on the money, then the money belongs to him.  And if God’s image is on the person, then the soul belongs to Him.  To broaden this out we could say that material things belong to Caesar, or the civil government.  But our souls, our very devotion, and all our worship belong to God.

That sounds pretty simple, and, indeed, it is.  But sin has an insidious way of complicating things and we find it no different in this area.  So I would propose that a great many of us have almost turned this on its head and we do the reverse: we give money and material things to God, but our hearts are given to this world- to Caesar.

You may be inclined to disagree.  But stop and think about it for a moment.  There are a great many people who think the sum of their duty to God is to spend an hour in church where they will be sure to put some money in the collection basket.  Others, going a bit further, think they will gain favor with the Most High if they make a sizable donation to the church.  Still others believe that by donating of their goods or even of their time they will gain good standing in the eyes of God.  But their hearts are kept for their own interests and pursuits and, therefore, they need the favor of Caesar.

To put this theory to the test ask yourself how much time and energy you have put into worrying about the upcoming election.  Shouldn’t we be concerned about such things?  Of course we should.  But they should not consume us.  Nor should we find ourselves with a growing sense of dread if things don’t turn out the way we hoped.  Even if it were to be the end of American life as we know it, what difference would that make to the person whose heart is truly set in heaven?  I am certainly not advocating a “too heavenly minded to be any earthly good approach” nor am I attempting to minimize the importance of choosing good people to lead us.  But if our perspective is truly as that taught by Jesus then the worst that will happen is that we may lose our money or material goods, or perhaps even our personal freedoms.  But our souls will be thoroughly intact and we will continue to worship God freely in our hearts until the day when we step into glory.  Then no one will take our rewards from us!        

This is the perspective that fueled the martyrs.  They looked with disdain on the things of this world.  Material goods were passing and so they were to be used, but not loved.  God was their focus and their heart was set ablaze with love for Him.  Nothing thrilled them more than to think of the moment when they would behold Him face to face. 

I think the issue at present is that we are too earthly minded to be any heavenly good.  Our worries are the symptoms to let us know that we have heart trouble- our heart has been given to temporary things here instead of the eternal things hereafter.

I am praying for the upcoming election.  I am researching to find out what I can about the candidates and the issues.  I will vote in the election.  But then it will be in the hands of God and so will I.  Regardless of what happens in time, God will remain master for all eternity.  I will cultivate the place of worship in the sanctuary of my soul and I will live, by His grace, faithfully until my life here is finished and my life in eternity begins.

Temporary things deserve momentary attention.  Eternal things should be our focus continually.  May God grant the necessary graces so we have the perspective straight and God will indeed be all in all!