I suspect that through the centuries there has been more anxiety over the events in today’s gospel than over many aspects of Jesus’ teaching. The point was a matter of great dispute at the time, and it has continued to be so. We need to remember the original context: the chief priests and the Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus, by setting up a problem where whichever answer he gave he would give offense to some people. If he said it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar he would upset many of his own people who believed that the Roman authorities were illegal occupiers of the land. If he said that taxes should not be paid he would find himself in conflict with the Roman authorities, and so open to charges of sedition. As always, Jesus’ response is masterful. He doesn’t answer the question directly, but asks the religious leaders to show him a coin. It would seem that he didn’t have one of these coins on him – perhaps he didn’t carry them. But the religious leaders were able to produce one! Why were they carrying the coins that they so much despised? Jesus has caught them out in their scheme to trap him.
But he goes on to give an answer when he sees the coin. Whose head is on it? Ceasar’s. Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. This is the statement that has rung down through Christian history as a way of working out the relationship between faith and civics. This saying distinguishes Christianity from some other religions who believe that there should be no difference between the law of God and law of the state. This is not the understanding of Christianity. One of the very important consequences of the Christian understanding is that it promotes religious freedom. I am sure that we are all aware that there are places in the world where people who do not belong to the state religion are denied the right to worship. Sometimes they are denied the opportunity to work and they live in fear of persecution.
However, we should not imagine that this has been an easy thing to work out in practice. At times the church has struggled to get the balance right between church and state. It is only in relatively recent times that we have appreciated the importance of religious freedom – not just the religious freedom we demand for Christians living in non-Christian countries, but also the religious freedom given to people of other religions in countries that have traditionally been majority Christian.
This is just one area where the practical consequences of Jesus’ saying are worked out. Another area is how the church and individual believers engage with the state and their fellow citizens. There was a long period of history where the church had sufficient power to allow it to rule the state by its influence. In fact the bishop would crown the king. But these days are long gone. The modern state in countries like ours is thoroughly secular; this is the way we were set up from the beginning. Our constitution, like that of say the United States, ensures both that people are free to worship God according to their own religious traditions, and that the state is free from religious interference. This is the modern practical working out of Jesus’ saying in today’s gospel.
The challenge for each of us is to work out what Jesus’ saying means for us in our own situation. How do we make it real in our lives? How might it shape our imagination as to how we can live simultaneously as good believers and good members of our society? Let me offer a few thoughts. The first and most important is that precisely as believers we should be engaged in civic life. Fidelity to the gospel is not a call to withdraw from the world. In fact the opposite is the case. However, fidelity to the gospel shapes the way we engage in civic life. The command to render to God what belongs to God reminds us that God’s plan for humanity is primary. This is what shapes our decisions, our actions, and our engagement with society. In its broadest outlines it should also be what shapes society. To use the language the church has developed to speak about this, we can say that this involves the search for justice and for the authentic and integral development of humanity. This surely is the aim of any society. Of course, within the society there will be different views as to what constitutes the good of humanity and how this can be achieved.
This leads me to another point. Given the diversity within our society it is important that we foster genuine dialogue between people of differing views. I believe that dialogue is presupposed in Jesus’ saying about rendering to God and to Caesar. It will mean being ready to meet the other and to listen to them, as well as being ready to be witnesses to our own faith.
Like many sayings of Jesus, this one gives us guidance for life. But it is up to each of us to translate this saying into concrete action in our own life and our own context. But remember: God is with us to help us do this.
Fr. Gerard Kelly
