STOLEN FROM GOD AND GIVEN TO CAESAR?

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mt 22:15-21

The enigmatic saying of Jesus in the Gospel today, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”, is often quoted to defend the principle of separation between the Church and the State. Doing so, Jesus is gravely misquoted. Jesus did not mean to separate the Church from the State. He did not mean that the Church must confine herself within the spiritual realm only while the State must attend to the temporal affairs of men and women.

When we hear Jesus say, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”, do we not also hear our selves asking the question, “And what really belongs to Caesar that does not belong to God?” Our question will yield only one simple answer: nothing except one. All things that belong to Caesar came from God, except Caesar’s sins. Inversely, all that belongs to Caesar, save his sins, belongs to God, too. But not everything that belongs to God belongs to Caesar.

Therefore Jesus is far from making a declaration that separates the Church from the State. When we invoke His words today to hinder the Church from doing her pastoral duty to safeguard morality in politics, we are misquoting Jesus. Do we not find it funny, to say the least, when at election time, political candidates are seen courting the support of religious leaders but the same politicians, after being elected into office, call the same religious leaders names if the latter raise their voices against an immoral governance or against policies that run counter to the values of God? It seems that, for those politicians, the principle of separation between Church and State depends on what side the Church takes on particular issues.

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. All things belong to God, including Caesar. Anything we hold from God, our sins not counted, is something we steal from God.

Have we stolen from God something we give to our “Caesars”?