God is not man’s rival; he can make “Caesar” an instrument of liberation
Isaiah 45:1, 4-6a; Psalm 96; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5b; Matthew 22:15-21.
Dear brothers and sisters,
1. The texts of this Sunday’s Eucharistic liturgy offer us a profound teaching on our Christian vocation in the world, particularly concerning our relationship with political, economic and social life.
2. In the Gospel, this teaching emerges from Jesus’ confrontation with a group of adversaries. The Pharisees were seeking to trap Jesus in his words. To do so, they sent him a delegation made up of their disciples and the Herodians. The latter were Jews who supported the dynasty of Herod the Great. Since Jesus was a Galilean, he came under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas. By sending Herodians, the Pharisees hoped that the slightest political blunder by Jesus would reach the ears of Herod, who would then take the necessary steps with the Romans who had installed him in power.
3. The Pharisees’ message to Jesus begins with a description of him: “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status.” It is highly significant to see your adversaries acknowledge your moral and spiritual qualities. What they say about Jesus is true, but those who say it are false.
What they say is true, as all the Gospels attest. For example, the Pharisee Nicodemus declares: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him” (Jn 3:2). That Jesus lets himself be influenced by no one, not even the king, is proved when he dares to call Herod a fox in front of Pharisees: “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose’” (Lk 13:32). So the Pharisees are telling the truth.
However, they are false, because their attitude towards Jesus does not match what they say about him. If they claim that Jesus is always truthful and teaches the true way of God, why then do they not welcome his message and follow him? They condemn themselves by their own words. That is why the Lord, knowing their malice, calls them hypocrites.
4. The trick question they put to Jesus is whether or not it is lawful to pay the tax to Caesar. This was an annual tax levied on adults from the age of 12 or 14 up to 65. It had been introduced in the year 6 AD, when Judea became a Roman province. Most Jews disliked this tax, which was a bitter reminder of colonisation. The Pharisees had shrewdly worked out their strategy. Indeed, if Jesus answered yes, it would be easy for them to portray him as lacking patriotism and encouraging submission to Rome. Yet many of those who followed Jesus hoped that he would set Israel free (cf. Lk 24:21). And if Jesus answered no, he could easily be accused of stirring up a rebellion against Rome.
5. Christ perceives very clearly everything at stake in the question; it is a real test, or temptation. That is why he says: “Why are you testing me?” The verb he uses is the same as the one used in the account of Jesus’ temptation in the desert after his baptism (Mt 4:1ff). The Pharisees are, in a way, playing the role of Satan, the tempter, against Jesus.
Jesus, the victor over Satan’s temptations, will overcome this one too. How? He asks them to hand him an imperial silver coin, since the annual tax had to be paid with this coin alone. Jesus carried out his public ministry under the reign of Tiberius. At that time, the coin bore this inscription: “Tiberius Caesar Divi Augusti Filius Augustus Pontifex Maximus” (“Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus, Augustus, High Priest”). For devout Jews, these words were blasphemous. Knowing this, and since the tax had to be paid with this coin, Jesus then says to his questioners: “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”
Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar: by paying the tax to the emperor, you have the opportunity to hand back to him this coin that bears his image and words you consider blasphemous. Symbolically, one could say that it is a gesture by which one chooses one’s freedom, ridding oneself, if only for a moment, of what recalls colonisation. The delegation is astonished: “they were amazed,” says Saint Matthew (22:22). And, like Satan in the account of the temptations, they leave Jesus.
6. The Lord Jesus also says that we must repay to God what belongs to God. Does this mean that the Church should take no interest in the things of this world, on the pretext that they are Caesar’s business? Some politicians think so. For them, the Church should confine itself to preaching about the seven sacraments and leave questions related to the organisation of the earthly city to political and economic actors. A famous African politician, now deceased, liked to quote this Gospel text to remind the bishops and priests of his country that they should not meddle in the country’s political affairs, stressing that Christ was categorical: “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” Should we follow this line of thought?
7. Let us now turn to the first reading. Isaiah presents us with the case of a pagan king, the Persian Cyrus, who, in the exercise of his temporal power, becomes God’s instrument of liberation for his people. Here we have a prophetic oracle in favour of a foreign ruler whose work of liberation reflects that of God. So God is not man’s rival. God can make “Caesar” an instrument of liberation. Caesar can become this instrument by repaying to God what belongs to God. From this perspective, our mission as Christians, especially those who hold political office, is to act in keeping with the God who liberates and saves humanity from every situation of oppression.
8. In the second reading, Saint Paul, addressing the Thessalonians, speaks of their work of faith, their labour of love and their endurance in hope. The way we exercise our political, economic or social responsibilities can also become for us an opportunity to give an account of the hope that is in us, or the mark of an active faith and of a charity that becomes self-sacrifice for others.
9. So, while we must indeed distinguish between what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God, Jesus does not ask us to set Caesar against God. However, when Caesar takes himself for God, the disciple of Christ has the duty to remind him that “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). But when he acts for the common good, in the perspective of the Kingdom of God, we must submit to him and work with him.
Let us pray for our leaders in the earthly city, that they may become instruments of the God who liberates rather than images of the Pharaoh who oppresses. May we too, with the strength of the Holy Spirit, act in accordance with our mission to transform this world in line with the Kingdom of God. Amen.
Originally published on SPIRITANS AFRICA AND ISLANDS on Substack.