Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar

“Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God!” This saying of Jesus (Matt 22:21) has been understood in different – often contradictory -  ways. It has been used to mean Jesus taught a strict separation of politics and religion; “the church should keep out of politics.” Leave politics to the politicians! It could also mean the exact opposite: that Caesar and God have different but complementary roles in building a just society.

The saying arose in response to a trap the Pharisees set Jesus, “Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” It was a question coming from fear. Those who posed it could not control Jesus. His teaching did not fit into the dominant religious and social status quo by which the Pharisees, with the connivance of the Romans, enjoyed a delegated power over the people. Jesus was disturbing this and so any means that could bring him down should be tried.

This fear of unknown forces energises the cry that the church should keep out of politics. It betrays an insecurity in political leaders which prevents them from saying openly, “Well, actually, there are some things we don’t know how to handle and we do need help.” In the name of freedom and respect for human dignity many governments today legislate on matters that would have made our forefathers and mothers shudder. Governments struggle to promote and protect the family as the basis of society while at the same time they try to satisfy the desires of those who wish to enter relationships quite different from the traditional family.

A healthy society is one where everyone is listened to: no one is excluded. This is not just a formality but based on the belief that everyone has something to offer and should have a way of being heard. Ultimately it comes down to trust that a consensus will always emerge around the most rational and life giving ways of ordering human affairs. If this is what we can expect from Caesar what can we hope for from God?

In the 1960s the bishops of the Vatican Council wrote, “Whoever labours to penetrate the secrets of reality with a humble and steady mind, is, even unawares, being led by the hand of God, who holds all things in existence and gives them their identity.” (GS 36)  God always walks “with us” (Matt 28:20). There is a role for Caesar and a role for God, but it is the same work and it cannot be broken up into Caesar’s bit and God’s bit. The two “bits” interpenetrate. Ultimately it is all one work.

If we do not accept that God is with us if Caesar tries to march alone, then we are heading nowhere because this is God’s project. Our joy is to be part of it.

19 October 2014                                 Sunday 29 A

Isaiah 45:1, 4-6                                   I Thessalonians 1:1-5              Matthew 22:15-21