Render to God what is God's

It is truly a pleasure to be with you this evening - one more baby step toward something resembling normalcy in our pandemic-laden lives. And I’ll admit it - I’m especially thankful for being able to address you from up here without a mask for a change.

Perhaps a good place to begin exploring today’s Gospel is with St. Thomas More, the English martyr who was personal councilor to King Henry VIII and Lord High Chancellor of England. If you’ve been a member of our parish for any length of time, you may’ve heard Father David refer to the dramatization of St. Thomas More’s dilemma — A Man for all Seasons -- once or twice or a dozen times. But just in case, here’s a quick refresher. Henry VIII was married to Catherine of Aragon, his older brother’s widow, with the Pope’s blessing. But she was unable to conceive a male heir, so King Henry asked the pope to annul the marriage so he could marry Anne Boleyn. Rome refused. So King Henry took matters into his own hands, declared himself the head of the Church of England, and “married” Anne in defiance of the Church.

King Henry then ordered his close associates and officials to sign a document declaring that he had acted rightly in the matter. Most of More’s friends signed the document, but More refused. Even when the King threatened him with arrest, trial for treason, and execution as a traitor, Sir Thomas refused to sign. Faced with two obligations — one to his country and one to God — he knew he had no choice but to remain true his obligation to God. Even on the way to his public execution in 1534, St. Thomas More encouraged the people to remain steadfast in their faith. His last recorded words were, “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”

The pre-eminence of God’s kingdom and our call to serve him are central to our readings today. In the first reading, Isaiah reminds us that God’s power is far beyond that of earthly kings and leaders. In his power and wisdom, God uses even pagan leaders, non-believers to do his will, however unaware and unintended they might be. Through Cyrus the Great, the king of the Persian empire, God restores the kingdom of Israel, freeing them from the Babylonian exile and allowing them to return home, even though Cyrus is NOT a believer, a reminder that God is above all earthly dominions. Isaiah also challenges the Jews’ parochial view of themselves as the chosen people, reminding them that God’s plan and his influence extends far beyond the Kingdom of Israel and its people.

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians likewise highlights the all-encompassing power and influence of God in our lives. He praises his Christian converts for their fidelity to God and to Jesus Christ in their daily lives. But Paul also recognizes and acknowledges that the Holy Spirit is obviously at work in them, because their acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity transcend anything he believes his preaching could have brought about.

Finally, in our Gospel, Jesus calls out the pseudo-religious as hypocrites, deftly avoiding the trap they try to catch him in. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians — three groups historically at odds with each other — all are aghast that Jesus is associating with sinners, the unreligious, and the general outcasts of their society. So once more they try to trap him in public, looking to destroy his credibility with the Jewish people.

The seemingly simple question they pose is actually pretty complex. Most of the Jewish people hated the Roman census tax. But it was the law of the land. If Jesus says the tax is not lawful, the Herodians (who are in tight with the Romans) will report him and have him arrested as a revolutionary. If Jesus says the tax is lawful, the insurgents and others who oppose the tax will turn against him. Either way, they think, his answer will trap him.

Jesus, of course, simply turns their trap against them — “Render under Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s”. By his answer, Jesus reminds them – and us – that we owe an allegiance to BOTH the state and to God. And while we must be careful and attentive to our obligations to our country, we should be even more concerned with serving God and our obligations to him.

So what do we owe to “Caesar”, to our nation and our government? The Fourth Commandment, “Honor thy Father and Mother,” actually requires obedience to ALL lawful authority. As Christians we have an obligation to respect and follow the JUST laws of our nation, by paying our lawful taxes, and by contributing our share when called on to do so. Even if our government is pagan or non-Christian, a Christian is called to be a loyal citizen — and to work to align our government to our Christian values. We also have an obligation to actively participate in the political process, to vote our conscience and to encourage others to vote as well.

And what do we owe to God? Looking back to the Gospel, Jesus points to Caesar’s image on the coin as proof that it belonged to Caesar and the state. St. Catherine of Siena wrote, “Look at yourselves, and in yourselves him. What I mean is that you will find yourselves in him in that he is creating you in his own image and likeness.” Through God’s mercy we have been imbued with his image and likeness. We owe God EVERYTHING , the totality of our being and our lives, because we are indelibly marked by our baptism. Our heavenly citizenship should govern and overshadow all that we do and are, and there can be no compromise.

Most of us remember or learned in school the famous quote from John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address, “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” But most of us probably don’t know the closing line from President Kennedy’s — our nation’s first Catholic president — speech: “…let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking God’s blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.” There can be NO separation, no distance in our lives between our service to country and our service to God. Obedience to God, our Father, Creator, and Lord, must always triumph in our hearts and govern in our lives.

Which brings us back to St. Thomas More’s final words “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” We have dual citizenship — citizens of the world AND citizens of Heaven. We are called to allegiance and obligation to both. Hopefully the two allegiances never clash. But if they do, we must always resolve them as Thomas More did, without compromise to our God or our conscience. For we are, first and foremost, people of God.