October 18, 2020 Caesar for now, God is forever

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

 

In today’s first reading, God speaks to Cyrus through the prophet Isaiah.  This passage shows that God can use us even if we know God or not.  Whether we convert to any religion or not.  Through Isaiah, God uses the phrase, “though you knew me not” denoting that Cyrus is not a member of the Jewish religion.  Later in the passage, the phrase, “Though you know me not”, is used which indicates that Cyrus has had no conversion experience.  Regardless of this, God has anointed him to be the instrument through which the exiles are released and allowed to go home.  The message for us is that God uses us and has a job for each of us, though we know it not.

Today’s second reading is a pep talk to the Thessalonians.  Paul is encouraging them to keep up their works of faith and labors of love and to endure in hope, assuring them of his prayers as well as the prayers of his companions, Silvanus, and Timothy.  This passage models for us how we are to be, to and for, each other.  We should encourage and pray for each other as we continue to labour in love and hope.  This passage almost serves as a corrective model to the Pharisees way of being expressed in today’s gospel.

The Herodians were supporters of Herod, who was loyal to Rome it was the Romans that he owed his kingship.  According to Josephus,  the Sadducees opposed him but he was favoured by the Pharisees, whom Herod in turn treated favorably.  In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees and the Herodians were in favour of paying the census tax.  Zealots, on the other hand, refused to pay this tax. “The land of Palestine belonged to God.  God gave it to Israel. No other nation had a right to it. A head tax levied by Rome was utterly abhorrent.”[1] 

The question, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”, was meant to put Jesus in a lose/lose/lose position.  If Jesus was silent on the question, they would have reproached him, as not being the honest, faithful, frank, and open man, they pretended to take him to be.  Had he said that it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar, which was contrary to public opinion, they would have used that to set the people against him.  Had he affirmed it was not lawful to do it, they could expose him as a tax resister, a position that would ensure that he would be judged and condemned him, according to the Roman laws.[2]  The answer given by Jesus transcends the mentality of his questioners.

Willard Swartley, suggests of the Pharisees use of the term “Is it lawful” in this and other passages in the New Testament suggest three thing: 1) the Pharisees were committed to their law above everything else, 2) they planned to use the power of their law against Jesus on a very sensitive issue, and 3) they knew that the tax question was so politically volatile that if Jesus hedged in any way in his response, they would have a case for the cross.  Of the take-aways for us, two stood out for me.  First, we must not allow ourselves to take the Pharisees' side in making law the sole judge of moral obligation.  Secondly, we should see clearly that Jesus' answer does not tell us to give Caesar whatever he asks for.[3]

While Jesus answer seems to be saying obey Caesar and obey God, there are times when one has to disobey the law of Caesar in order to obey God’s law.  In our local context, take the case of the Water and Land Defenders who disobey government laws in order to protect lands and waters from further devastation.  Swartley, uses the example of conscientious objectors to war and those who refuse to pay war taxes to illustrate the point.  He states,

The crucial instruction that this insight gives us in our day is that we must be willing to be understood by others in a less favorable, more revolutionary way than we understand ourselves. In our relationships to political authorities, this is a difficult matter. Whether in conscientious objection to war or war tax resistance, we must accept the liability that political forces will brand both our resistance and nonresistance as revolutionary. But it might well be that such discrepancy between their perception and our self-understanding is the critical test of our faithfulness to the ethic of Jesus.

In closing, let us pray that we remember to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s. Grant us the strength, fortitude, wisdom, trust, and faith to cease acting out of fear and accept the responsibility to act out of love.


[1] Swartely, Willard (2020). “Answering the Pharisees: Tax to Caesar”. Sojourners. Accessed 2020-10-13 from https://sojo.net/preaching-the-word/answering-pharisees

 

[3] Swartely, Willard (2020). “Answering the Pharisees: Tax to Caesar”. Sojourners. Accessed 2020-10-13 from https://sojo.net/preaching-the-word/answering-pharisees

 

 

 

 

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