GOD FIRST

In the Gospel of Matthew (22:15-21), the religious leaders like the Pharisees, high priests and elders conspired to destroy Jesus’ influence and to find ground to accuse Him. They sent their disciples to entrap Him in speech. They presented to Him the question of taxes. They asked, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” Poll tax or head tax was imposed when Judea became a Roman province in 6 A.D. Palestine was a colony of Rome and the Jews hated the Romans because of their brutality, corruption and godlessness. Poll tax was to be paid with a denarius coin which bears the image of Caesar and the inscription, “Tiberius Caesar, August son of the divine Augustus, high priest.” Jews consider graven images idolatrous and the inscription blasphemous. The question of taxes allows only a yes-or-no answer to compromise Jesus. If He answers that the taxes are lawful, He will alienate the people. If He answers that the taxes are not lawful, Romans will arrest Him for sedition. Either way, Jesus loses and His enemies win. Jesus said to them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God!” Tax may be paid to Caesar because it is God’s will that Caesar rules. As citizens, we have an obligation to the state and to obey its laws and pay taxes. Obedience to civil law and the payment of taxes don’t diminish a person’s service to God. The exception is a situation where human law conflicts with God’s will. Rendering to God is to gain all. To gain all is to be broken and poured out, like our Eucharistic Lord. We bear God’s image and therefore we give ourselves back to God. All that we have and all that we are because God created us and we are integral part of God’s power, each and every one belongs to God. No state can claim to itself divine powers of absolute authority. All are subject to the higher demands of truth and justice and the inviolable dignity of the person centered in God. Jesus does not divide the world into two equal realities. He clearly defines the boundaries between our obligations to the state and our obligations to God. His answer acknowledges our obligation to the state but affirms our larger obligation to God. Coins bearing Caesar’s image may belong to Caesar but all things (coins, Caesar, Rome, the planet earth, the universe) come from the mind of God and are under God’s dominion. We are called to be responsible and faithful stewards of creation and to participate in God’s good governance of the universe. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and he rest will be given unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) St. Thomas More, an English saint, was heard at his execution to have said: “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first!”