Give Back What is Due to Whom It is Due [Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time]

AN ANCIENT ROMAN COIN.
Image from flatplanet.wordpress.com via google.com

So Jesus said to them, 

"Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar 

and to God what belongs to God." 

They were utterly amazed at him. 

- Mark 12:17

The Pharisees and the Herodians tried once again to pin down the Lord Jesus Christ, this time through the issue on taxation. The Jews abhorred paying taxes to the Romans for it reminded them of being subjects to other powers when in fact they still consider themselves free [see John 8:33]. Hence they tried to trap the Lord hoping He gets the wrong answer this time. Instead they got the surprise of their lives! Not only was the Lord able to evade their trap, they had a lesson in life which hit them to the bones.

When they asked Him about whether it was right to pay census tax to the Roman Emperor or not, they were hoping He would either answer: No, which would make Him a rebel in the eyes of the Herodians, and consequently to the the Romans; but if He says, Yes, He might hurt the sentiments of the Jewish people and so appear insensitive to their plight as a proud nation whose only Master and Lord is God, never a foreign ruler.

But the Lord knew what they were thinking and so He asked for a coin. Then He asked them as to whose image was inscribed in the coin and they all agreed it was the Emperor's image. So the Lord simply answered them to give back to the Emperor what is due to him, and to God what is due to God. They were amazed with the answer.

Perhaps we are amazed too by the wise response that the Lord gave to those trying to ensnare Him with a double-edged question. But it would amaze us more if we could see the deeper meaning of the answer. It was not simply a reply to silence the Pharisees and the Herodians. It was a reply that is directed to each and everyone of us even today.

Maybe we could ask the Lord: is it right for the Church to meddle in politics? Maybe He would then ask us too before making His answer: who are the people involved in politics? Do you know the answer? Whether you would honestly accept it or not, the people involved in politics are the same people that the Church ought to serve in the religious, spiritual and moral spheres. Maybe you'd say that not everyone is a Christian, more particularly, not all Catholics. But this is what makes the Catholic Church different from others, she serves not only her members but all those who are in need of being provided with service, and that means everyone!

Since the Church serves everybody and not just her members, she cannot but be involved in politics - not necessarily direct political participation such as fielding it's own candidates for elective government posts but - at least in the general operations of politics for this field also needs to be sanctified just like any other aspect of life! Here comes the need to understand deeply the Lord's response to give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. As citizens, people have to defend, protect and do everything to make the country truly developed, progressive and prosperous. But they must do these in accordance with what belongs to the sphere of God: in accordance with truth, goodness, righteousness, propriety.

Many times even among us Catholics there are those who shut the Church out of the political field by repeating and again and again the principle of the separation of the Church and the State. Unfortunately, they think that the principle is an absolute prohibition from one meddling in the other's business, and vice versa. Does the State have no obligation to deal with Churchmen who are accused of pedophilia? The laws of the State surely doesn't allow exemptions to the law just because one is a member of the Church! 

So we must never forget that we must give back to the Emperor, or to the State, what belongs to the Emperor, or to the State; and to God, and to the Church, what belongs to God, and the Church. It is foolishness to think that we can absolutely separate the temporal and spiritual aspects of our lives for our bodies are composed of body and soul and we know what happens when the soul leaves the body.