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Is.

45: 1; 4-6
Cycle A Thes. 1: 1-5 22 October 2017
Mt. 22: 15-21
INTRODUCTION:
Our Gospel for today
contains one of
Jesus' greatest one
liners: "Then give
to Caesar what is
Caesar's and to
God what is
God's." (v. 21)
INTRODUCTION:
This rejoinder has inspired an
enormous amount of controversy over
the centuries. Before going to the
controversies, let me first deal about the
context of this saying of Jesus.
1 As we may have noticed in
MT's Gospel over these past
several weeks, the Pharisees
and Jesus have been getting
at each others' back.
1

These Pharisees were


advocates of religious rectitude
and an uncompromising
living-out of the Old
Testament Laws, especially
those dealing with religious
purity.
1
Jesus without denying any of
these represented something
different, making plain the heart
of the Law, which is living in
friendship with God --
a relationship which he
characterized as
"the Reign/Kingdom of God."
1
We are meant to see here a
contrast between two visions of
religion. As a result, the Pharisees
are out to get him.
As the story opens, they
concocted a very clever plot.
1
In the presence of these politicos,
the Pharisees asked Jesus about
the legitimacy of the census tax
being paid to the Roman
Emperor.
1 Either way, they have him!
If he says yes, then he alienates
his own followers whom he had
evangelized to a different view of
things as of the Kingdom.
If he says no, then the
Herodians will report him as
seditious and a rebel.
1

Jesus in his infinite depthness


avoids the question and evades
the horns of his dilemma.
2
Note the meanness of a lot of religious people!

Up and down the centuries, people


talk about the special sort of hatred
that religious people can muster
(odium theologicum).

They hate for theological reasons!


2
One has a different
religious opinion than
mine and I want to
destroy him by killing
him at most or at the
least by destroying his
reputation.
2
This is very rampant in
religious circles! If you
doubt me on this, just
look at articles in
periodicals and on
websites.
2
Bottom line Principle:
you can't serve the God of
Love by hating people!
By the very fact of hating,
you undermine the God
you are trying to proclaim!
2
This is the problem with the
Pharisees: out of hatred
for Jesus, they were up
to destroy him, even if at
the beginning they were
trying to flatter him!
2
That is why Jesus did not
want to honor or cooperate
with the question of the
Pharisees. He knows that
this is not an honest
theological question.
He does not play their
game!
3
Jesus gives a "both
and" response to a
question that was
forcing him to give an
"either or"
3
Sometimes, questions are "either. . .
or. . ." even in the spiritual order.

Have you done your


assignment or not?
Is God your ultimate
concern or not?
3
More often than not,
theological and spiritual
questions invite a
"both. . . and"
answers. Why?
3 The answers to these questions are not
that simple. One of those areas is the
relation between Church and State or
between religion and politics. We have
been fighting over this in all centuries of
Church life.
3
What is clear here is that there is a
legitimate distinction between the
spiritual and the temporal. Government
and governors have a legitimate sphere of
influence and operations. Neither the
Pharisees of old nor the priests of the
present should be government officials.
3
Pope Benedict in his talk
in Regensburg has pointed
out that Christianity at its
best has never derived the
particulars of political law
from the data of Revelation
but from the practice of
Roman Law and from
reflection of Greek
Philosophy.
3
To some degree, there is a
legitimate independent
functioning of Government apart
from the Church.
3

In the ultimate
scheme of things,
everything
belongs to God,
the Creator,
including Caesar!
3

Everything including this legitimate


independent functioning of
Government, falls under the aegis of
God and his commandment.
CONCLUSION:

Here is something of the


complex answer to this
question posed to Jesus
not as "either... or" but

+ART

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