29th Ordinary Sunday (Cycle A)

Isa 45:1,4-6                 1Thess 1:1-5               Mt 22:15-21

Once God called the leaders of America, China and India for an emergency meeting. The leaders rushed to the meeting spot with excitement. God arrived at the appointed time and told them that He will annihilate this world in three days. “Just as Jonah did, you have to proclaim this news to your citizens,” God said. Their excitement turned into sorrow. However, the leaders made a pact that they will carry out the mandate entrusted to them by God. The leaders returned to their countries and called for a press meet in their respective capitals. The Amercian president said, “We have a good news and a bad news. The good news is that God exists. The bad news is that the world will be annihilated in three days.” The Chinese president said looking at the reporters, “We have a bad news and the worst news. The bad news is that world will be annihilated in three days. The worst news is that, contrary to our belief, God exists.” The Indian prime minister adjusted his microphone, denounced the opposition party and proudly announced, “I have a good news and a better news. The good news is that God exists. The better news is that poverty will be annihilated from India in three days.”

We have become the protagonists of half truth and shades of truth. Even the Pharisees of Jesus time were such protagonists of half truth and shades of truth. They projected themselves to be loyal to the Jewish tradition, thereby opposing the reign of Ceasar over them and at the same time, using the icon of Ceasar to trap Jesus. This was their double standard. But Jesus being well aware of their trap, wisely answers their question and also teaches a great lesson of being loyal to both God and the State.

During the time of Jesus, there were two false concepts of citizenship seen in the Pharisees and Herodians. The first false concept is that religion is supreme. This is seen in the view of the Pharisees. They believed strongly in the heavenly world, so much so they believed that all obedience and loyalty were due God and God alone. In fact, all things on earth were due God. The state and all other power and authority were to be subject to religious rule. Therefore, they were strongly against paying taxes to a foreign king. Such was an infringement upon God’s right.

The second false concept is that the state is supreme. This is seen in the view of the Herodians. The Herodians were not a religious party but a political party of Herod, the King of Galilee. They were supportive of Rome, compromising wherever they could in order to preserve their own power and influence. They had compromised to such a point that they gave some degree of consent to pagan temples. They held that government was dominant over religion; consequently, they would agree that taxes must be paid to Caesar rather than to God.

The Herodians and the Pharisees were bitter enemies. To find them together was strange indeed, but their hatred of Jesus brought them together against Jesus whom they considered a common enemy. The Gospel of Mark 3:6 witnesses to this fact thus: The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against Jesus, how to destroy him. Therefore, it is obvious, that the question raised to Jesus about the paying of tax was a plot to trap him. But Jesus used the occasion to teach the truth about citizenship, a truth which was both astounding and earth-shaking to the people of that day – earth-shaking because the Jews believed that the loyalty of a citizen belonged only to God, and the rest of the world believed that loyalty belonged to the ruling monarch of their territory.

A total submission to the state or a total submission to the religion, both these extremes are not advocated by Jesus. Jesus does not centralize either. Jesus himself sets the model, he submitted himself fully to the heavenly Father’s will and at the same time, he too paid the taxes. We are expected of possessing this balanced attitude of Jesus.

Jesus surprised the world of His day by declaring there was an earthly, physical citizenship to which some things are to be given; and there was a spiritual, heavenly citizenship to which some things are to be given. He revealed a very important truth for believers of all ages, that is, they have a double citizenship. They are citizens of heaven, but they are also citizens of this world. They have an obligation to the government under which they live. They receive the benefits of government just as the other citizens do: for example, roads, sewage, water, protection, public transportation, etc. Therefore, believers are to pay their due share. In the Indian context, in the wake of new economic evolution of GST (Goods and Service Tax), this teaching becomes all the more imperative.

Though Jesus’ view about double citizenship is surprising to us, it also appears to us that Jesus seems to contradict. He says in Mt 6:24 – No one can serve two masters for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. But Jesus also tells in today’s gospel to render what is due to God and to render what is due to the state. God and the state are two masters and how can we be loyal to both? This is where we need to have a clarity. St Paul gives a clarification in this regard. He says: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God…. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing. Pay to all what is due them – taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honour to whom honour is due (Rom 13:1,6).

The state does not stand as a structure in contradiction with God as per the biblical tradition. In the history of Israelites, we see, they were a cluster of people who were directly governed by God. But at a stage, when they requested for a human kingship, though God was unwilling he granted them king Saul. His successor was King David, a man of God’s own heart. From then on, God led the people of Israelites through the human kings. Their obedience to the human leaders, meant obedience to God himself, provided that the leaders walk in the way of the Lord. It is not serving two masters but serving the one and only master, God.

A government is a God appointed institution, to take care of the common good of its citizens. If a government provides needed goods and services then we must, in justice, give back to the government our loyalty and support. As Christians, we must discern to what extent a given government and its policies merit their loyalty and support. Finally, let us basically understand that the duty to the nation as a citizen is very much interwoven with our obligation we have received through our vocation to a Christian life.