Balancing our duties to God and country

We certainly can relate to paying taxes! Can we relate to the balance of fulfilling the responsibilities of our citizenship and our duty to God and our neighbor?

Cyrus, the King of Persia, is the hero of the reading from the Prophet Isaiah! Impossible! A pagan king called God’s anointed and grasped by the mighty right hand of the Lord of Hosts?! God is issuing a royal decree — Cyrus is the instrument of the Lord’s work. Why? “For the sake of Jacob, my servant, Israel, my chosen one …” God will use Cyrus and the Persian Empire to free the Jewish people from their captivity in Babylon and allow them to return to Jerusalem. Even though the Lord is not Cyrus’ God, even though Cyrus does not realize the consequences of this historical event, God knows. God is in charge.

This reality of God being ultimately in charge, even of political events, is taken up by Jesus in the Gospel. The stage is set for another incident where the Pharisees and Herodians want to trap Jesus and get him into trouble, either with the Roman authorities or with the people.

This is a strange contingent of antagonists — the Pharisees were very concerned with the Torah and following the Law; the Herodians were Roman loyalists, who capitulated to Roman rule to maintain their status and the Temple. They begin by using flattery to put Jesus off, but Jesus is unfazed. Then they spring the trap: “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” This is supposed to be the “gotcha” moment! This tax, which was the poll tax required of every man, woman and slave between the ages of 12 and 65, was a denarius, the daily wage of a laborer. If Jesus says pay the tax, then the people would turn against him because they hated the burden of taxes. If he says don’t pay the tax, then the Roman authorities would be angered.

But Jesus flips the trap — he asks for the coin that pays the tax and it is readily produced. Yet the Pharisees loathed the coin because it held the image of Caesar who made himself out to be a god. The Herodians would have little problem with the coin, but this still would have been an embarrassment to the Pharisees. Jesus knows this when he asks for the coin. Then Jesus delivers the punch line — “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” Jesus’ response suggests that he accepts legitimate responsibilities to the government, always in balance with what is owed to God.

But what is the takeaway for us today? We certainly can relate to paying taxes! Can we relate to the balance of fulfilling the responsibilities of our citizenship and our duty to God and our neighbor? The seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching and “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” (https://www.usccb.org/) offer excellent resources for a deep reflection on our living out the words “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

Pope Francis has distilled some of this wisdom in the following quote: “We need to participate for the common good. Sometimes we hear: a good Catholic is not interested in politics. This is not true: good Catholics immerse themselves in politics by offering the best of themselves so that the leader can govern.” — Pope Francis, morning meditation.