Twenty-ninth Sunday in
Ordinary Time
A Homily - Cycle A - 2010-2011
by Fr. Luke Dundon
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First Reading - Isaiah 45:1, 4-6
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 96:1,3,4-5, 7-8, 9-10
Second Reading - 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5b
Gospel - Matthew 22:15-21
Matthew wrote to show that Christ
was the
Messiah and fulfilled the Jewish prophecies.
The
Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. They
sent their disciples to him with the Herodians, saying, "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. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it
lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" Knowing their malice,
Jesus said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that
pays the census tax." Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said
to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?" They replied,
"Caesar's" At that he said to them, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to
Caesar and to God what belongs to God" When they heard this they were
amazed, and leaving him they went away.
Render
unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and render unto God what is God’s. So, what
does belong to Caesar, what does belong to God? Better read the
labels…which I didn’t do during the Christmas time of 2nd Grade.
Seven years of age, with seven years worth of common sense…I had a great time
purchasing gifts with my eight dollars at Santa’s Workshop at school, and
proudly brought my presents home for wrapping. An ice scraper for my dad, a
little flip-address pad for my mother, a bouncy-ball for my sister (wrapped in
lots of wrapping paper…she never forgave me for that…. So, the big day
came…after opening Santa’s presents, my sister and I presented ours to
everyone. Such a joyful occasion, so much joy and excitement! So much
excitement, in fact, that I committed a slight error in the delivery of my
presents. My sister got the bouncy ball, my dad got the ice scraper…and,
short-circuit of the brain and no labels on the presents, my dad also got the
address book. As I went back to get Mom’s present, I then realized that Dad was
opening it instead. Mom got a hug for Christmas. Not so bad, though I thought
better next time about labeling my presents, for it helps knowing which
belongs to whom!
This
was a sore issue for the Jews, who were oppressed by the Roman authorities that
overtook their country and suddenly demanded taxes from them, money they really
needed for themselves. And so the overtook their country and suddenly
demanded taxes from them, money they really needed for themselves. And so the
Pharisees use this to try to trap Jesus – tell us, Rabbi, do we have to pay
these taxes to Caesar? If He says yes, He’s supporting the oppressive Romans.
If He says no, then He is advocating rebellion. And our infinitely wise Lord
helps to clarify the issue for them – the coin bears Caesar’s label on it, give
Caesar what is due to Caesar!
But
then, Christ ends His comment with a twist…give to God what belongs to God.
What is God’s? Whatever it is, it must be valuable! God has no image on a
coin…so what is owed to Him? We offer His Church some money in the basket (and
I thank you all for that, it supplies my coffee craving!), but what should
we be giving Him? What belongs to our Lord?
Isaiah
helps us – the Lord has called you by your name, giving you a title (label)…even
if you didn’t know Him! He is the Lord, there is no other, it is He who arms
you. The Lord calls us by our name, He can name us, and why can He do that?
Listen to seven-year-old wisdom…Unlike my Christmas present catastrophe, I had
my wits about me when I made my first lego boat. Couldn’t put labels on
presents, but I could build a boat! I carefully sculpted every corner, placed
every cube in multi-color splendor, finalizing with a product that was genuinely
my own, my own “creation,” in a sense. And so I knew I could name it,
U.S.S. Dondon, it was mine! Similarly, the Lord who made all
creation could name all creation, it was His. As Genesis tells
us, He spent the first five days creating things and naming things which He
looked upon as “good.” Once He had made man and named him on the 6th
day, He looked upon what he had made and said that it was “very good,”
and thus He could finally rest on the 7th day, His physical creation
had been fulfilled.
That
which belongs to God which is very good, is us! We, body and soul, are a
precious creation of God. We are the intersection of physical and spiritual
creation. At the end of our lives, the only thing we will have to offer is just
that, ourselves, body and soul. That will be our gift to Him - we are
already named by Him, we are His sons and daughters. A boat reflects the
boat-maker…a beautiful statue reflects the sculptor – we are images of the
Divine Sculptor! We are not images of simply earthly illusions on
commercials or in the media. The Image of the divine coin in us,
and so we should care for the gift that we see in the mirror each morning, and
anything we give to Caesar should be given in view of the priority and
respect to the gift of tremendous value, the gift that belongs to God…and
is each day returning to Him.
This
weekend has been established by the Diocese as a Sunday for Formation in
Christian Chastity, especially for our young people. It’s good to have, for we
are all called to chastity, whether we be single, religious, priest or
married, because we are, each of us, gifts that will be offered to our
Heavenly Father at the end of our lives, and we should treat this gift of
our body and soul with dignity, and preserve the purity of this gift. We
respect and love what He has given us, both in how we treat ourselves
and how we treat each other, for we are named by Him, and we find our
true selves in Him…consequently, we will never want to allow anything to
abuse or hurt our body or soul, for both are established for a specific purpose
– to know, love and serve the Lord in this life, and be happy with Him forever
in the next. There are many distractions now, but at the end of our lives, we
will clearly notice in ourselves this Divine Label, this God-like Image and
Likeness. He calls us to live this realization now, and when we do, we will be
heroic reminders to ourselves and to others. This will influence how we
respect brothers and sisters, how we respect boyfriends and girlfriends, how we
respect husbands and wives, how we respect ourselves!!! Caesar can take
his coins, the world can keep its presents, we have a present which is so
much more valuable and incredible, both physical and spiritual…we have
ourselves! Keep the gift safe, because, once we give the Lord such a gift,
we can only begin to imagine…what He will give to us in return…
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