(Deacon Mick was up in the pulpit this weekend. Some good things to ponder here.)
There is at least one word in the English language that
has the power to elect politicians to a high office,
finance the military,
cause economic hardship,
and get you to pull your hair out of your head.
One word.
Wars have been fought over this word,
nations established,
and people sent to jail for not taking heed
when this word was spoken.
The word is taxes.
In today’s Gospel,
the enemies of Jesus thought that
they really had Jesus in trouble this time.
The gospel tells us
he was approached by Pharisees and Herodians.
Now, these two groups were bitter enemies.
Israel was under Roman rule
and the Herodians were totally loyal to Rome.
They would have immediately accused Jesus of
promoting civil rebellion and revolution
if he had said “don’t pay the taxes.”
The Pharisees, on the other hand,
held that God alone was their king and Lord
and they viewed the paying of taxes to Rome
as caving in to the hated Roman emperor, Tiberius Caesar,
a foreigner and a pagan at that.
This hot issue was made worse by the fact that
Rome’s tax burden on the Jewish people
was extremely heavy.
Jesus asked them to show him a Roman coin.
The fact that they could produce one was evidence that,
like it or not,
they participated in Rome’s commerce and economy.
Jesus’ answer to their question is well known,
“Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s
and to God the things that are God’s”
Jesus avoided getting caught in their trap.
He reminded us
we have obligations to both God and civil authority.
We need good leadership in our country
and in all the countries of the world.
With good leadership the citizenship will prosper.
Without it, the people will suffer.
Even St. Paul reminds us to
pray for our leaders and obey them.
In this particular confrontation from the Gospel,
Jesus did imply that
since the people chose to participate in the Roman economy,
they had obligations there.
But Jesus didn’t answer how
we are to treat some of those modern thorny issues that
we have to deal with in a society that
believes in the separation of church and state.
We have to figure out most of those issues ourselves,
taking a cue from other things Jesus taught us,
especially from his teaching that
obeying God is our greatest responsibility.
When we break the laws of our country,
we get arrested or fined or
have to pay some consequence.
When we break God’s laws, however,
God doesn’t come knocking on out door
ready to fine us or lock us in jail.
If he did,
there wouldn’t be many people out on the streets.
God isn’t in the business of being a policeman.
Rather
he is interested in having us love him
and doing what is right because of love.
And love cannot be forced;
it must be given freely.
God could have made us all robots
and we would have done exactly what he wanted us to do, but
if we were robots
we would not be human
nor would we be capable of love.
When God gave us free will,
God took a big chance that
we might choose not to love him.
Apparently, he thought it was worth taking that chance.
Give back to God what is God’s, Jesus tells us.
And because God does not come knocking on our doors
when we do not give him what we owe him,
it’s easy for us to say I’ll pray later,
or I’ll go to church later next week
or I’ll be a good person later.
My friends,
later just may not be there for any of us.
Nothing is more important than our relationship with God.
Someday we will leave behind
all the other things we think are so important,
and the only thing we will have left
is the love for God and for others that
we have demonstrated in our daily lives.
That love will grow and develop
only by prayer and good works.
In our society,
which wants immediate results,
many important things in life
do not give immediate pay offs.
When we plant a seed in the ground,
it doesn’t produce fruit the first day.
If we buy stock in a good company today,
it probably won’t go up 50 points tomorrow.
A good education takes many years
before it pays dividends.
The things we do to serve and obey our God
are an investment,
an investment that will bless us in this present life,
but the full reward of living such a life are off in the future.
As St. Paul tells us,
“…eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
nor has it entered into our hearts
what things God has prepared for those who love him.”
What God asks of us is simple;
Prayer, obedience, love,
love of God and for each other.
In line with prayer,
we cannot neglect the most important prayer we have,
the Eucharist.
“Do this in memory of me,” he said.
That’s why we are here today,
to give to God our ears to listen,
our hearts to be united with him,
our gratitude, our expressions of faith
as we praise him and receive him.
We will get in trouble with the law
if we do not give back to Caesar
the things that are Caesar’s,
but we have the most to loose
if we do not give back to God
the things that are God’s.
That loss could be our eternal happiness.