The Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]
Isa 45:1,4-6 + 1 Thes 1:1-5 + Mt 22:15-21
October 22, 2017
He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?”
The last sentence of today’s Gospel passage is well-known. “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” Jesus’ reply to the malicious, hypocritical disciples of the Pharisees is effective in shooing them away, as the verse following today’s passage reveals. But Jesus’ rhetorical skills aren’t the point of this passage. His reply leaves an implied question unanswered: “What exactly belongs to Caesar, and what belongs to God?”
Some might reply, “Everything belongs to God!” But the context of today’s Gospel passage suggests otherwise, with Jesus implying that the coin does indeed belong to Caesar. This doesn’t contradict the plain truth that every good thing ultimately comes from God. But the fact that something comes from God doesn’t mean that it belongs to God. God has reasons for entrusting things over to our belonging.
But is the coin one of these good things? If the coin belongs to Caesar, perhaps Jesus is admitting this because it’s bad? In the last sentence of the passage, is Jesus simply making a distinction between bad and good, between the things of earth and the things of Heaven? If so, then why didn’t He encourage His disciples to flee from society and everything associated with it, including “filthy lucre”, as some call it? Continue reading →
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