Readings: Is 45: 1,4-6; Ps 96; 1 Thes 1:1-5; Mt 22:15-21
About 40 years ago I developed a friendship
with an archaeologist. We taught at neighboring colleges. He went on to be a
big-time archaeologist working in the Middle East. But way back then, he gave
me a gift, an old coin, a 1st-century Roman denarius, found in Israel
near Jerusalem. I think it was worth about $40 back then. I’ve been told it
might be worth $1,000 now, but I’ll never sell it, although one of my kids
probably will.
You can still make out the image of Tiberius
Caesar, and an inscription declaring him the “son of the divine Augustus,”
the son of God. I’ve always wondered: Could it be the very coin the Pharisees handed
to Jesus as He confronted them in today’s Gospel passage? There were probably tens
of thousands of those coins floating around the Holy Land in the 1st
century, so I suppose it’s highly unlikely. But not impossible so I’ve always
assumed it was that very coin. Hard to prove a negative, isn’t it?
Of course, the emperors weren’t fools – well,
most of them weren’t – so they placed their images on their coinage…It was
great advertising. When the people held a coin in their hands, they saw the emperor’s
face, projecting an image of power, stability, peace, and prosperity. Roman Emperors,
like politicians of every age, believed image was politically important.
The prophet Isaiah, however, knew that human image
was just a small piece of human power, that God allows men to wield earthly
power. Isaiah reminded Cyrus, the great Persian Emperor, that God alone empowered
him to overthrow the Chaldeans, those pesky Babylonians, and free God’s people
from their captivity in 539 BC. Cyrus is told: “I have called you by name. I
am the Lord…there is no God besides me.” [Is 45:4-5] Yes, indeed, God calls
each of us by name, too, because we’re created in the image of the One Who
anoints us and calls us “beloved.”
Sadly, the Pharisees were blind to this truth.
God stood in their midst, and they failed to recognize Him, failed to see His
image within them. Oh, but they had images all right, such different images…
So intent on projecting their image as
religious leaders, they forgot what it meant to be holy.
So intent on projecting an image of obedience
to the Law, they never considered why God gave them the Law in the first place.
So pleased with themselves, they
ignored God’s call to bring His Presence and love to others, especially to the
poor.
Have you ever seen yourself in the Pharisees? Know I have, perhaps too often. Like the
Pharisees, I can find myself so weighed down by externals, all the stuff of my
life, that I fail to internalize the radical command to love God and neighbor. Usually,
though, through God’s grace, I snap out of it and realize how blessed I am that
God created me in His image.
But the Pharisees…well, they do the unthinkable.
They scheme and plot to entrap the eternal Word of God, joining forces with those
they despise, the Herodians…yes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Oh, they
conjure up that clever question, don’t they? The one with only a lose-lose
answer. They turn to Jesus, flattering Him with words they don’t believe, then ask:
“Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”
If Jesus says, “Yes, it’s lawful,” the
Pharisees can condemn Him to the people as a friend of the despised Romans. If
He says, “No,” then the Herodians, who happily served the Romans, can bring
charges against Him for telling the people not to pay their taxes.
But once again, Jesus ruins their schemes. He
holds that Roman denarius (the one I have at home) and asks, “Whose image is
this and whose inscription?” the Pharisees reply, “Ceasar’s.” Our
Lord then offers His famous command: “Render to Caesar what belongs to
Caesar, and to God what belongs to God."
Now a lot of folks focus on the first part of
that command – the rendering to Caesar part – but how many of us consider the
second part? We pay our taxes and today’s elected Caesars use them for all
kinds of wondrous things, and a few not-so-wondrous things. Their images, too, are
on our coins and our paper currency. And now we’re now in election season, but
I won’t tell you for whom to vote. You’re Catholic Christians and can figure
that out for yourselves. Just realize, that since the days of Isaiah and Cyrus,
and really since the days of Adam and the serpent, we’re in the midst of
spiritual warfare.
So, what should we render to God? Can we render
anything to God? Does God need anything? No, but it’s not what He needs, but
what He wants from us.
You see, like Tiberius and Isaiah, Jesus tells the
Pharisees that image is important, but He’s referring to a different sort of
image. Since we’re created in God’s image, we’re called to give Him all that we
are, all our being! By giving ourselves to God, we render to Him His image. For
Jesus, the question isn’t “How much do you owe me in taxes?” But rather, “Who
do you look like, and who are you called to be?” When we realize who we truly
are, that we are created in His image, we can then begin to recognize Him in
the faces of those around us.
I remember how it struck me one day, probably
20 years ago, at the Wildwood Soup Kitchen. As I served a plate of my wife,
Diane’s, wonderful cooking and handed it to the woman standing before me, I suddenly
realized I was staring into the face and image of God. Even if she didn’t
believe in God – and she did – I could still see in her the image of God. It
was one of those amazing mini-revelations in the midst of daily life: to
realize that God reveals Himself to us through others.
When the Samaritan found that wounded man on
the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, what did he see but the image of God
beaten, bloodied, disfigured – a foreshadowing of Jesus’ passion. What did he
use to ensure the innkeeper would care for the man until he returned? He used
money, two denarii, each with an image of Caesar. He didn’t misuse money as
Judas did when he sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, thus betraying the image
of God made man.
Money is simply a means. Yes, we need to have
some, but when we have a lot of it, we run the risk of using most of it for
selfish ends, believing we can create a little piece of our own paradise here on
earth. How fitting that our nation’s currency bears the words, “In God we
trust” – reminding us that by placing our trust in money, we worship a
false god. Much better to use the wealth God has given you to help your
neighbor, seeing in him the image of God!
You see, sisters and brothers, at some point we
will be judged. We won’t be asked how many holy hours we’ve made, or how many
Rosaries we’ve said. Those are good things, very good things, because they’re
prayerful. They build our faith and keep our minds and hearts tuned and turned
to God. But how do we live our faith?
We all know what we’ll be asked. It’s one of
the clearest texts in the Gospels, Matthew 25. Jesus, our judge, will tell us:
“I was hungry. I was thirsty. I was sick and in
pain. I was in prison,” then He’ll ask. “Did you see me in all of those? What
did you do? You should have known that I hide, not only within the poor, but
within sinners as well. You know, those people you avoid like the plague. Did
you miss me, day after day, every day. Oh, you handed me your spare change, or
a few bucks, and sometimes you even wrote big check. But why? Was it only to ease
your conscience…? Yes, I took your money, but I hoped you’d offer yourself. I
wanted you to offer your time, to shower others with your love, with My love.”
When God says all this to us, will you and I
will stand there sputtering:
“Lord, do you mean to say You were that guy I
sometimes played golf with, the one I heard was in hospice. The one who died
alone. But I didn’t have time.”
“…or that irritating woman, in front of Walmart,
always looking for a handout? She was You too?”
“…or that neighbor who loves to complain about all
his troubles, boring us all to tears? That’s you?”
Yes, you and I are here today at Mass, worshiping
the One who suffered and was abandoned and uncared for, whose best friends left
Him alone. The one whom no one thought of comforting, and whose passion can bring
tears to our eyes. Then, we’ll all leave, through those doors. But when we meet
Him later, will we recognize Him?
We used to call it a sin of omission, but I
prefer to call it a sin of indifference. Our indifference to others offends God
far more than the mistakes we make on this journey of ours. St. Paul, in our 2nd
reading, reminds us that “Loved by God…you were chosen. For the Gospel
didn’t come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit.”
But how often do you and I call on the power of
the Holy Spirit? In the Creed, we call the Holy Spirit, “the Lord and Giver
of life.” To refuse God’s gift of the Holy Spirit is to refuse life. The
life God gives us is His own, His Eucharistic life, a life of loving with an
active love. For us to reject God’s life is to reject the gift of eternal life.
As Mass ends today, Father will extend God’s
blessing to us all; then you’ll hear me say¸ “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord
by your life.” With our lives filled with God’s life, the Eucharistic gift of
Jesus, we can carry the Gospel, carry His love, to all we encounter.
If we accept the challenge, if we carry God’s
love into the world, the Holy Spirit will come and teach us all things. He’ll
change us, if we want Him to, if we welcome Him, if we stop resisting Him, and
if we look to Him for everything.
If we render to him all
that is His…our very being.