Jesus was born into a very contentious political situation. Much like our own day there were many different political groups and attitudes in early 1st century Palestine. One of the groups was known as the Zealots. Today, if someone called you a zealot what would that mean? That you had great passion for some subject or issue. Well, the Zealots of the 1st century were passionate about their national and religious identity, and they wanted to overthrow the roman occupying force because they loved Israel. They believed the Jews should organize to overthrow the Romans, who they saw as an idolatrous and immoral force, imposing their ways and their rule upon the Jews. Afterall, the promised land had been given by God, not to the Romans but to the Jews.
Politically opposite the Zealots were a group of Jews called the Herodians. The Herodians swore fidelity to King Herod. Now, Herod was part-jew and part-pagan. He was not solid in his faith, and in many ways had become the puppet of the roman emperor. The Herodians would say anything, do anything to stay in power, even betray their country and religion.
And the third group we hear about a lot, actually, were the Pharisees who were very religiously observant Jews. They were willing to go along with whoever was in power as long as they had the freedom to practice their religion as they saw it.
So in the Gospel today we heard how the “Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus”. They plotted with the Herodians—two groups that really had nothing to do with each other plotted against Jesus: they wanted to embarrass or discredit him or provoke him to do something that would get him arrested by the Romans.
So, they came to Jesus with a question: “Teacher” they called him. But that was hypocrisy because they didn’t really come to Jesus to learn but to trap him. They said, “We know that you are a truthful man And, Jesus, you are not concerned with anyone's opinion, for you do not regard a person's status.” Now, Jesus had a reputation for being objective, he doesn’t just accept a person’s opinion because of their political status. Jesus transcends all of the party lines.
Then they say to him, “Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" Now, there were a number of taxes the people had to pay, like we have to pay today. They had to pay the temple tax to support the temple and the priests of the temple. And the census tax was the tax the jewish people had to pay to the roman occupying force.
What would the Zealots think about paying this tax? They would be absolutely against it because it funded the occupying enemy army and government. The Herodians would have been absolutely for it. And the Pharisees would have paid the tax, but not liked it very much.
Many group would be affected based on how Jesus answered this question. If he said yes we should pay it, then the Zealots would condemn him and the Pharisees would be suspicious of him. If he said no, then the Herodians would probably report him to the Roman authorities. So, they are trying to put Jesus in a lose-lose situation.
And then he gives his answer. And his answer is how we determine what is expected of all of us as Christian disciples living in our relationship to whatever civic authority is over us.
Jesus says to them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God”. He doesn’t say yes, pay Caesar or no, don’t pay Caesar. It’s a great answer, because it really demands that we respect legitimate authority while also fulfilling our obligations to God.
Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. We have a lot of responsibilities to our country. One of those responsibilities is paying taxes. So, we can’t just go about evading our taxes or committing tax fraud. Tax money is supposed to serve the common good—to do for the group what we can’t do for ourselves individually—pay for our roads, our sewers, support our schools, support our military. For any Christian to say that he doesn’t owe the community ‘anything’ would be very wrong.
We need to be good Patriots. Patriotism is an important Christian virtue. That doesn’t mean we have need to claim that everything our government does is okay. As we know, laws are sometimes enacted which are repugnant and contrary to God’s commandments. In that case we have a God-given right and responsibility to oppose evil and malicious laws.
True patriotism is when we pray for our country, our president and government leaders, and work to shape our nation in conformity with the commandments of God.
As Christians we aren’t called to act like the Zealots and overthrow the government and make the Pope king. Neither are we to act like the Herodians, compromising our faith and claiming that anything the government does must be right. Nor do we act like the Pharisees who say, just allow me enough freedom to practice my faith. Because we might wake up one day with our freedom taken away by a tyrannical government. It’s happened before in Christian history, and it could happen again if we are irresponsible.
When Alexis de Tocqueville, the great politlcal thinker and historian visited the United States in 1831, he was astonished by the commitment the Christian people had in working for and maintaining Democracy. It astonished him how all the Christian denominations came together to work for a just and virtuous society.
Our first president George Washington held that without religion, liberty could not be maintained. He said, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable.” Without morality, without virtue and religion, freedom and justice will quickly disappear.
Separation of Church and State does not mean separation of politics and faith. Our faith must inform our political involvement. We most promote and defend laws which are reflective of God’s laws, particularly those that defend basic human rights, especially the right to life.
For really, every decision we make, whether political or otherwise, must be formed by our faith. For the Christian, every decision is a religious decision: how we spend Sundays, how we educate our children, how we reach out to those in need, how we vote, how we respond to the evil we see in our society or in our hearts, what television shows we’ll watch, what internet websites we’ll visit. With every choice we must first ask ourselves, is it in keeping with our faith.
As we heard in our second reading, “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.” Religion is not just about giving God lip service, but in allowing Him to transform us, and fill us with conviction for doing his Holy Will for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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