The Gospels which we shall read over the next three Sundays proclaim serious lessons that Jesus taught, not in the form of parables as has been the case in past weeks, but within the framework of harsh confrontations with Scribes and Pharisees. These teachings will show in full light what characterizes the Gospel and the life lived according to it, in opposition to die hard religious conceptions and practices that to the present day threaten to distort Christian behaviour into a caricature. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (Thirtieth Sunday) These are genuine questions that must be asked. But in what spirit are they asked? Is it with a sincere heart and in order to conduct oneself according to the Gospel, or is it to find loopholes through which to escape exigencies? Beyond this—and we see once again a constant theme of Matthews Gospel— is our religion vain ostentation or loyal and sincere practice? Fighting against Pharisaism, Jesus speaks to us with a rare vehemence, the accents of which are unforgettable.
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” This axiom, borrowed from the Gospels, is still quoted today. Jesus pronounced it as an answer to a deceitful question put to him with the intention of tripping him up. Since then, people have often quoted the axiom in the case of conflicts between civil power and religious obligations. What is the exact state of affairs here?
The Gospel explicitly relates. The occasion in which the question was posed and with what intention. The evangelists attest to the obvious bad faith and hypocrisy of Jesus’ interlocutors. The Pharisees (“Pure ones”)are plotting against him with the complicity of Herod’s followers. The former are intransigent toward the usurpation of power by the occupying forces; the latter are members of the faction favourable to Romans. The leaders of the Pharisees remain cleverly in the background. They send some of their disciples. They think that Jesus will be less distrustful if undistinguished people ask a question apparently sincere and without ulterior motive, especially if these delegates suspect that they are being manipulated. For, in effect, there was a problem of conscience for many. “Is it lawful to pay tax to Caesar or not?” In other words, “Does the Law order us to refuse obedience to the occupying forces or does it authorise compromises?” Without going as far as participating in armed rebellion, must we not support that movement by at least being tax resisters? This is a serious debate. But those who had suggested the question addressed to Jesus have only one thing in mind: to fault him by presenting him with a dilemma. Whether he answers yes or no, he is lost. If he answers “yes” he squarely opposes the popular sentiment and sides with the detested collaborators. His apparently merciful attitude toward Tax collectors will seem to be complicity with their advantageous service to the Romans; he will seem obviously contemptuous of the Law. If he answers “No” Herod’s partisans are ready to denounce his revolt against the established power, and by denying his testimony, the Pharisees will be rid of him.. The trap is perfectly contrived; Jesus cannot escape. But these people with their clever calculations have overlooked the wisdom of Jesus, who reads the secrets of the heart.
“Show me the coin for the tax ….. whose likeness and inscription is this? They replied Caesar’s. Then he then said to them, ‘therefor render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s—and to God the things that are God’s.” With this answer, Jesus avoids the trap that appeared to be inescapable. Moreover, he confounds those who want to find fault with him and set him against both Pharisees and Herodians, whose relations must not have improved after such a misadventure. But is this all? Must we be content in admiring Jesus’ wisdom and skill that day, as if his words did not contain any teaching for us today? Certainly not.
People have often understood Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees’ delegates and Herod’s followers as stating a principle of compromise between duties to God and obligations to a temporal power. At certain times, thinkers elaborated a theory— “of the two swords”—according to which the Church, which held God’s power while respecting Caesar’s, exercised a supreme jurisdiction, even over the princes of this world: it judged them and they were to be submissive to it. In fact, the question was not whether it was allowed to pay the tax to Caesar, but whether to pay it after having recognised the supremacy of the universal jurisdiction of the Church. It was a principle that was to confine God’s sovereign power, exercised by the Church, and Caesar’s subordinate power to their respective domains. This prevented neither minor quarrels over boundaries nor violent confrontations, especially when the Church also exercised a temporal power, and when the Pope and the emperor were both strong personalities. But in any event, by declaring “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” Jesus did not advocate a law of compromise between two powers.
In modern times, the separation of the Church and state, whether it is imposed or negotiated, has become the rule. Nevertheless, the principle “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” continues in force, but with another meaning. Certain persons see in it an affirmation of the total autonomy of political power that has its own laws independently of God, of the Gospel, and all the more, of the Church and clerics. Any interference on the part of the Church or clerics is felt as an intolerable attack. Their sensitivity on this point is sometimes so acute that they want to confine religious values to the private sphere. Some Christians give to Jesus’ word a similar meaning. For them, faith and its expression in actions—what they give to God—constitute a domain of their life juxtaposed to the other—what to give to Caesar—which covers all things political, but also all the rest: their social and professional activity, sometimes even their family life. They consider themselves irreproachable if they fulfil their “religious duties,” even at low cost and sometimes after much haggling. Jesus did not advocate this sort of dichotomy or this Manichaeism.
The Gospel does not underestimate the duty to give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s. “Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the approval of those who do good. For it is still the will of God that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish people. Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but of slaves for God. Give honour to all, love the community, fear God, honour the king.” (1 Peter 2:13-17) This clear apostolic guideline was given at a time when public powers persecuted Christians and the Church. We must therefore discharge our duties to Caesar without hesitation but give back to God what is God’s. Jesus directly teaches this: the duties toward God bind all, everywhere, always. He, and he alone, demands that we give back everything to him. The rest—the duties toward Caesar—do not come afterwards but simultaneously, in the light of this absolute, “For the Lord’s sake,” because such is God’s will. Jesus has not been appointed to settle our disputes over our inheritances or our political, or other problems: these are our responsibilities. However, he has not left us to our own resources. “Give back to God what is God’s.” “Judge everything, take your responsibilities in the light of this absolute that is laid down on the Church and on everyone, without possible compromise.”
We cannot conceive obedience to God’s laws in the same terms as obedience to kings, emperors, governors and other earthly leaders, for they are subject to the same obedience to God as we are. They can require our money, our services, a part of our time. But to God alone do we owe everything. To him we must give back our souls, because we are created in his image—stamped with it—and because faith has been put in our hearts by the power of his Spirit.
“In the same way as Caesar looks for his image on a coin, God looks for his in your soul. ‘Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s,’ the Saviour says. What does Caesar demand from you? His image. But Caesar’s image is on a coin, whereas God’s is in you. If the loss of a coin causes you to weep because you have lost Caesar’s image, would not any damage brought in you to God’s image be for you a cause for tears.” (Saint Augustine)
“Ascribe to the Lord glory and power.”
