29th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
Matthew 22:15-21
and to God what is
God’s”
Our gospel today is one of the controversy-stories in Matthew’s version. Ironically, the Pharisees conspire with the Herodians. These two groups usually do not go together. But this time, they connive a common cause: to trap Jesus. However, their malice could not outdo the wits and wisdom of our Lord. To their surprise and amazement, Jesus retorts with an excellent answer: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” With this, Jesus not only pins them down, but also more importantly, teaches them (and us, of course) the Christian concept of temporal power. Today’s gospel, then, must enrich our understanding on the relationship between divine authority and human authority, and thus direct us with a right attitude towards the church and the state. Among others, the gospel message has the following points for meditation.
1. Respect to Human Authority. The respect to human authority forms a very essential part of human life and living, of human behavior and culture. Take this away from man, and humanity is gone. Nature itself provides the most fundamental experiences that affirm and confirm the existence of human authority, and nature itself too provides the same the same experiences that build our sense of respect to such authority. Right from the very moment of life, we lean and depend on somebody for survival, for growth, for development, for maturity. Little by little, we feel, know and realize that life is not isolation, that indeed, “no man is an island.” Little by little, we also learn that there are people who are greater and better than us in many respects; perhaps in age, in wisdom, in skills, in many others and even in grace. Upon these people we owe and give our respect and obedience.
This consciousness starts from the family and enlarges itself in a much higher level. In this broader spectrum, which we call human society, every family is a member and each family forms its basic unit. So, if there is that authority and respect in the family, there is also that authority and respect in society, which is nothing else but the larger family of mankind. In this sense, giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s is an imperative, which even nature demands.
2. Authentic human authority emanates from God. We respect and obey human authority not only because of the exigency of nature’s call, but also and more so because every authentic human authority on earth emanates from God, who, on the first place, is the author of nature. If God enshrines every human family as a home of human life, he too ordains human society as a big family of his sons and daughters in this world. So, as there must be authority in charge of family’s affairs, so too must there be an authority, which must take charge of the affairs of society. It follows from God’s divine design that human authority must exist and perpetuate as long as humanity exists in order to give service to it and to the world. In so doing, human authority carries the divine plan of God for his people in this world. The temporal power of the state is the seat of this authority. And this temporal power is just one of the manifestations of God’s omnipotence.
3. The exercise of human authority is a vocation. Because authentic human authority emanates from God with its noble purpose of serving the human family, we have that good reason to say that the exercise of human authority is a vocation. It is so sublime and sacred a call both by origin and by end. It comes from God and its purpose is service to humanity and the world. So, the one who holds temporal power and authority is especially called by God. He has that power and authority by vocation, by divine choice. And he who dispenses his power and authority justly and rightly keeps and lives out his vocation faithfully and honestly. In so doing, he is faithful not only to the call of his life but also to God himself who calls him to that kind of life. To him is due our honor and respect. In fact, by honoring and respecting him, we are honoring and respecting God himself. It is in this sense, therefore, that we are not only giving Caesar’s what is Caesar’s, we are actually giving God what is God’s.
But what about in times and situations when temporal authority abuses its power?
4. The authority of God prevails over the authority of man. Any abuses of power create conflict. Here the conflict begins first and foremost with the selfish interest of temporal authority against the loving plan and design of God for his people. This is surely a very bad situation. The citizens are confronted with such difficulty as to whether or not they are obligated to follow the ordinances of human authority.
Today’s gospel offers us the right Christian attitude to and in the midst of this particular situation: “Give to God what is God’s.” This means that divine authority must prevail over human authority. This is not difficult to understand (although it is quite difficult to do). If the exercise of temporal power and authority is a vocation both by origin and by end, we can and must assess its dispensation by the same standards. Now, the abuse of power is clearly an act of infidelity or unfaithfulness to the sacred purpose why temporal power exists. Abuse of whatever kind is going out of the perimeters of what temporal authority is called for. Meaning, it is no longer used or dispensed for the service of the people, of mankind, of the world, but for one’s selfish motives and interests. In shirt, it is a betrayal to the sacred call. And for such reason, the same betrayal must be judged as an open defiance to God from whom all forms of authority come. So, by defiance to God (transgression against the origin of authority) and by infidelity to the call (transgression against its end), temporal authority loses its moral right to perpetrate, and defeats the same moral right to demand due respect and obedience form its subjects. If faithfulness to one’s vocation deserves respect and obedience from the people, in the same way, unfaithfulness makes him unfit and undeserving of the people’s respect and obedience. In fact, the people in turn not only have the sacred right but the moral duty to defy temporal authority. In this sense, civil disobedience is in no way an unjust assault to temporal power. Rather, it even becomes an effective way of redirecting temporal power and authority to the real meaning and genuine imperatives of its vocation. ---Besides, by abusing power, Caesar is already asking what does not anymore belong to him. So, why give to Caesar what is not Caesar’s?
“Give to Caesar
what is Caesar’ and to God what is God’s!”