TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A
Matthew 22:15-22
Commentary of Fr. Fernando Armellini
A good Sunday to all.
There is a phrase of Jesus that everyone knows and that we, too, have heard repeated over and over again, usually out of context: “Give Caesar what is Caesar’s”. We have heard it repeated by those who defend the laicism of the state and say that the Church should not interfere in political affairs. Jesus recommended render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. They are right to defend the secularity of the State, but they should not quote this phrase, which has another meaning. It is also quoted by the religious authorities to say to those who govern that they must respect the rights of the believers, and they quote the second part of Jesus’ saying, “Give to God what is God’s.” They have the right to defend the rights of the believers, but they should not quote this phrase of Jesus that has another meaning which we will try to grasp. Then it is also trivially quoted by those who demand something saying, ‘render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.’
Let us situate the episode in which Jesus pronounced it. He has been in Jerusalem for a few days, and he immediately had very heated disputes with the religious leaders, the chief priests, the scribes, the elders; he also expelled the merchants from the temple so that he infuriated the priestly caste that was managing this trade in and around the temple. But, above all, it questioned the very reason for the temple’s existence of this priestly caste. Why? Because the simple people had recourse to the temple priests, who were the mediators before God of the offerings that they made to God, the sacrifices, incense, burnt offerings, prayers, songs, and then the Lord granted his benefits passing through the priests.
Now comes Jesus, who says that the Lord grants his benefits to all freely, even to those who offer him nothing because his love is free and unconditional. The priestly caste felt challenged in the prestige they enjoyed among the simple people who bowed down to them with hand-kissing and genuflections, honors and even the source of their income was questioned. What did they do? They said, ‘Let us try to find out how to get this Jesus of Nazareth out of the way; otherwise, there is no longer any reason for our profession as priests and Levites.’
They considered setting a very well-orchestrated trap to remove this Jesus of Nazareth from their midst. And to understand what they have orchestrated, we must also keep in mind the political situation of Palestine, which at the time of Jesus was part of a Roman province, was subjugated, therefore, to the second of the emperors, Tiberius. He is seen with his mother, Livia, the third wife of the first of the Emperors, Caesar Augustus. Her son did not love Livia much; it was she who had him adopted and thus became emperor after Octavian.
What was the political situation at that time? There had been uprisings that were immediately put down with blood and crucifixions of the rebels. One of them is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, that of Judas the Galilean which had taken place at the time of the census of Quirinus, that is, when Jesus was about twelve years old. It was quelled with blood. But during the public life of Jesus, the political situation was calm, although sometimes it was heard there were zealots constantly harassing the people, but that’s not the case; the zealots came a few decades later. At the time of Jesus, the situation was calm, but they lived under Rome’s rule in great suffering because there were hefty taxes on the land, on the buildings, on every transaction a percentage was paid, then there were the taxes on the different professions; it wasn’t like you could be a shoemaker on your own but you had to pay; or to go fishing in the sea of Galilee, you had to pay; on the roads, you had to pay taxes for everything that was transported.
It was estimated that 50% of the profits ended up in taxes, but there was one tax that was the most hated of all, and it is the one mentioned in today’s Gospel passage, which was called in Latin ‘tributum capitis,’ that is, the head; each person had to pay one denarius a year; women began to pay it at the age of 12 and men at the age of 14 until 65; it was equivalent to a day’s wage, and it is to this tax that today’s gospel passage refers. Of course, disputing the payment of taxes was the most dangerous thing because one was immediately accused of sedition and, in fact, among the other accusations that are presented to Pilate against Jesus will also be this one inciting not to pay tribute to Caesar. In this context, the priestly caste, all of these enemies who want to remove Jesus from their midst gather together to set a trap for him:
“The Pharisees= went off and plotted how they might entrap him in speech. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?’”
Two groups of Jesus’ opponents enter the scene: the Pharisees and the Herodians. The Herodians hardly appear in the Gospels; on the other hand, the Pharisees are well known to us. because they appear continuously. The two groups that are now allied were on opposite sides, both from the religious point of view and from the political point of view. The Pharisees were pious people, strict in morality, observant of the traditions of religious people, and, from the political point of view, believed even the Romans’ mere presence in Palestine constituted a desecration of the Holy Land because they were idolatrous pagans leading an immoral life, thus supporting the Roman occupiers; and especially collecting taxes for them was even
considered a heresy, a grave sin because the godly Israelite is a servant of one King, one Lord, one God.And the Herodians were exactly on the opposite shore, they were the sympathizers of Herod Antipas, one of the sons of Herod the Great who had inherited part of his kingdom and to him had been given Galilee and Perea. This Herod Antipas, therefore, ruled the same land where Jesus lived. Jesus was also invited to go to him and said, ‘Go and tell that fox…’. Fox is not synonymous with ‘cunning’ as it is for us, no. In the language of Semitic culture, it means a person with no personality, a puppet of the emperor Tiberius. All the family of these Herodians were people who looked forward to the opportunity to bow to the emperor of Rome.
When Herod Antipas left Sepphoris and wanted to build a new capital on the Lake of Galilee, the Lake of Kinnereth; he built his new capital and he called it ‘Tiberias,’ a bow to Tiberius and also the lake, which was the lake of Kinnereth, the lake of Genesaret, lake of Galilee was called ‘Lake of Tiberias, Sea of Tiberias.’ His same brother made the same obeisance. When Philip built his capital at the springs of the Jordan, he called it ‘Caesarea’. There was already another Caesarea built by his father along the Mediterranean, so he called that one at the source of the Jordan ‘Philip’s Caesarea.’ This was the political situation of the Herodians, sympathizers, and collaborators of the Romans.
If these two groups that are on opposite sides were allied against Jesus, it means that they were upset to the point of not standing him anymore, they wanted him out of the way, and what did they do? They sent his disciples. In the answer that Jesus will give to these disciples, we shall understand the reason why these two groups have allied themselves; and when they arrive, these disciples of the Herodians and Pharisees do not immediately ask Jesus the crucial question, but they begin with a long preamble; they begin to praise him, ‘Master, we know that you are truthful, you teach the way of God according to the truth, you are afraid of no one, you do not look at the condition of people; you say only what you think ’
How is it that they do this praise, which is the most beautiful that we find in the Gospels? Nobody had ever praised Jesus like this. They did it to put Jesus in a tough situation. It’s like saying, ‘Since you’re a person who’s not afraid to speak the truth, we want to hear from you, only with an answer, yes or no, to the question we now ask you. They want to compel you, therefore, to expose yourself because if you start giving arguments, then you start slipping away; they want a yes or no answer; ‘you who are a loyal person, who fear no one, ‘say yes or no’ to the question we ask you, which is this, is it lawful or not to pay tribute to Caesar?’
The trap is very well thought out because whatever answer Jesus gives, whether he says Yes or No, he will get in trouble because if he says you have to pay taxes, then you are a friend of the Romans, you are a collaborator, and you lose the sympathy of the people. If you say No, it is even worse because you are a subversive, anti-Roman, and they will accuse you immediately, and it’s all over for you. Let’s listen to Jesus’ answer:
“Knowing their malice, Jesus said, ‘Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?’”
Taking as an example today’s gospel passage, I believe that many preachers during the homily will remind about the duty to pay taxes, and they do well because this reminder should be made occasionally. Also, Christians should be exemplary citizens on this point. We live in society; we do not live in isolation on our own, we have to relate with others, and somebody has to organize this society and according to their possibilities it is a moral duty to cooperate. Therefore, there is no reason to justify tax evasion and theft of state property.
However, the duty to pay taxes is not the concern of today’s gospel passage. If anything, other texts of the New Testament speak of it, for example, chapter 13 of the Epistle to the Romans precisely recommends that to pay taxes is a duty, and when Paul writes this letter to the Romans, the emperor Nero rules in Rome; he was at the beginning of his reign, he was 20 years old, and when he began to rule, he was temperate and moderate, but Paul puts a principle that is beyond doubt; he says that it is necessary to submit to the constituted authority not only for fear of punishment but as a duty of conscience, that’s why we must pay taxes, give to each one what is due to him, taxes to the one who must collect them, to whom it is due, and obedience to whom it is due, and respect to whom respect is due.
This reminder is in the New Testament but does not concern today’s gospel passage. Let’s enter now into the answer that Jesus gives; before answering the question, he makes a brief preamble and he says to his interlocutors, ‘Look, I am not a fool; I realize that you are trying to deceive me but I have no intention of answering in a mysterious and deliberately cryptic way, as politicians tend to do when they do not want to expose themselves and give very vague answers that each one interprets as they want and then they deny and say that they have misinterpreted it.’ On the contrary, Jesus wants to be very clear.
The problem, he comes to say, it is not about paying taxes but about whether using that money—which is impure—is legal or not. Why is it impure? Because it has the figure of a lord who is not the God of Israel; paying the tribute means recognizing him as a king to that effigy on it, and the effigy as we shall see is that of Tiberius, and also the inscription is that of Tiberius but for a pious Israelite the only king he recognizes is the God of Israel. Let us listen then to what Jesus asks now to his interlocutors:
“‘Show me the coin that pays the census tax.’ Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, ‘Whose image is this and whose inscription?’ They replied, ‘Caesar’s.’”
If Jesus asks for the coin from his interlocutors, it means that he does not have it; if, on the other hand, they take it out, it means they use it frequently; they receive it for their services, and when they go to the market to buy the products, they use this currency. They have scruples only when paying tribute to Caesar this currency is necessary. To these interlocutors Jesus asks them two questions: ‘Whose image is on this coin?’ And ‘Whose is the inscription on it? And they answer, ‘of Caesar.’ Let us examine the tribute coin that I have placed in the background. For a pious Jew, this coin is disgusting, just to look at it.
Why? Because in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy, and the 20th chapter of the book of Exodus, where the ten commandments are presented, the ten words, the first of these ten words is this, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above.” All the peoples of the Ancient Middle East made for themselves images of the sun god, the moon god, the morning star god, Ishtar; “You, Israel, shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above, or on the earth beneath or in the waters below” (Ex 20:4). The god Dagan who was worshipped in Mesopotamia. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above….”
It is severely forbidden to the Israelites to make images. The reason is the danger of them becoming idols before whom they bow down to worship as the pagan do. The God of Israel is jealous; he does not want idols to steal the hearts of the Israelites who must be bound to him; the God of Israel must be worshipped with all their heart.
Let us look at this money coined by Tiberius; it is a celebration of idolatry. On one side, it has the image of the emperor of Rome, and then there is the inscription that says, ‘TiberiusCaesar Augustus, son of the Divine Augustus,’ Octavian, naturally. Then, on the reverse, it says ‘Pontifex Maximus’ – Supreme Pontiff, with the image of a seated woman, which symbolizes peace, perhaps Livia, the mother of Tiberius. He is portrayed as Jupiter, and she is Juno.
When the pious Jew sees this coin, is confronted with manifest idolatry. Let us observe where Tiberius placed his effigy and where God put his image (we shall see later). Tiberius placed his effigy on the money; if you want to know what face Tiberius has, you have to look at the money, concentrate on the money. Tiberius is the representative on earth and is the high pontiff of the money cult, is the one who organizes this religion of money. He is the idol that everybody worships in the Roman Empire. And we know that Jesus has established as irreconcilable the worship of the true God with the worship of money; and on that coin is the effigy of the supreme pontiff of this money-worshipping religion. Nobody is an atheist in the world.
In the Bible there is no fear of atheism; the danger is idolatry because nobody is an atheist, all have their own God; that is, they have someone or something that is the point of reference for all thoughts, for all decisions, for all choices. If this God is the God of Jesus of Nazareth, this God will continually suggest to you to whom you can do good; if, on the other hand, your gods are success, career, money, they will tell you what you should do, what friendships you should cultivate, whom you should flatter, who to help so that they can help you later. Of course, every god also makes his promises to the worshippers, we know that the money god promises a lot and also delivers, and that’s why it has so many worshippers. But be careful because money also gives orders that go against the person. Money can also tell you to abuse, even children; money can tell you to kill; money can tell you to wage wars; money can tell you to commit injustice, and you have to worship it, and then money fulfills its promises. Here, Tiberius has put his effigy, his image, on money; he is the high pontiff of those who worship this god.
It is on this dehumanizing cult that Jesus wants to focus attention, not on the payment of taxes, which is out of the question. In that money, with that effigy, with that inscription is the whole philosophy that directs life and the choices of all the inhabitants of the empire that is subject to Tiberius, the high priest of this religion. So, what to do with that money and that philosophy that is stamped on that money? Now Jesus tells us. Let’s listen:
“At that he said to them, ‘Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.’”
The envoys of the Pharisees and Herodians had asked Jesus the question: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar? And Jesus answered, ‘Give repay to Caesar what is Caesar’s,’ he did not say. ‘Give Caesar what is Caesar’s,’ but restore to Caesar. The Greek verb is Ἀπόδοτε – Apódote, from the verb ‘apodídomi’; this verb used by Jesus is important, ‘To repay Caesar what is Caesar’s.’ We ask ourselves, what have the Israelites taken possession of what was not theirs but Caesar’s? They have to give it back.
Let’s go back to the root of the problem. Jesus says, ‘You are hypocrites; you have scruples to use a piece of metal because it has an inscription and an effigy but only when you have to pay taxes, you have no scruples in using this coin when you go to the market.’ What is the real problem? It is not the material currency that is diabolical but the philosophy behind that figure and that inscription, a pagan philosophy of the use of money ‘and you, without realizing it, have assimilated this pagan conception of the use of money.’ This is what you have to reflect upon.
In the Roman Empire, money was worshipped, and all worshiped this god; this god put man at its service. The economy of the whole empire was based on slavery; 20% of the empire’s population were slaves. What is the root of slavery? The cult of money. In a society ruled by an emperor who stamps his face in money, who is the one who counts? He who has money and produces money; those who have no money are nobody. The Latin proverb that was circulating in the empire was ‘homo sine pecunia imago est mortis’ – ‘he who has no money is the image of death,’ i.e., one moves away from it just as one moves away from death. Where does one worship money? How much is the poor man worth? The prophet Amos says he is worth as much as a pair of sandals, and Jesus says he is worth less than a sheep… ‘hypocrites, realize that you have become pagans.’ This is the real problem: they have contaminated their hearts by the anti-god worship. What does Jesus say? ‘Give this philosophy back to Caesar, he introduced this idol into Israel, it does not belong to the spiritual identity of the children of Abraham; maintain your purity as a consecrated people to the only God and return to the pagan Caesar his idolatrous religion, go to the heart of the matter, do not be hypocrites; a piece of metal is worth a piece of metal; what should disgust you is the inhuman philosophy behind that effigy.’ It is this philosophy that must be rejected and returned to Tiberius and to those who practice his religion, of which he proclaims himself high priest.
And Jesus goes further. He introduces another restitution that must be made. Let us listen to whom:
“And restore to God what belongs to God.”
Therefore, for Jesus, something that belongs to God has been taken from him and must be returned to him. The discourse is always about the image and the inscription. Where did Tiberius put his image and the inscription? On the money, and it is from there that the cult of this idol was born. Where has God placed his image and inscription? Everyone knows the answer; they see the response from the book of Genesis, where it is said that it is in people where God placed his image.
It is told of Rabbi Hillel, a famous rabbi who lived a generation before Jesus, that one day at the end of the lesson, the disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, where are you going now?’ And he answered: ‘I am going to fulfill a Mishnah (ָנה ְׁש ִמ ), a precept. They asked him, ‘What precept?’ And he answered them, ‘I am going to bathe.’ They answered him in wonderment, ‘We have never heard that among the Mitzvot has also a precept of bathing’. And Rabbi Hillel continued, ‘Look, when you go to theaters or circuses, you see that there are images, the statues of the kings; and they are well cared for, they are washed, they are protected, they are honored, and they pay those who perform this service because these images must be respected as if they were noble personages of the kingdom; how much more we, who have been created in the image and likeness of God, must take care of ourselves and wash ourselves to honor the Creator whose image we are.’
This story was well-known at the time of Jesus and was probably told to all children precisely to make them aware of what the book of Genesis says: That man was created in the image and likeness of God; God does not want any other representation because the image has already been made in him, and by looking at man, we can understand who his Lord is. And upon whom has God put the inscription – upon whom has he put his name? The Old Testament tells us, ‘upon you Israelites, I have put my name’. It is always upon man that God has put his inscription; and also in the New Testament, in the 14th chapter of Revelation, it is said that the elect had written on their foreheads the name of the Lamb and the name of his Father.
Who is to be returned to God? The man whom the tyrants, the Pharaohs, and the supermen have seized must be restored to God. Jesus has before him as interlocutors the Herodians, who have taken man away from God because they are collaborators of the despotic power of Tiberius, who used man and took possession of man. In the reign of Tiberius, man is exploited, he is enslaved, he is humiliated. Man must be returned to God. Where there are supermen who, to build their power and their kingdoms, set themselves up as gods and enslave man they should return man to the only Lord who is God.
The rabbis of Jesus’ time said that when they were building the tower of Babel, if one man fell, nothing happened, one man fell, but when one brick broke, everyone burst into tears. A brick was worth more than the man. Where there is power and dominion, those who want to be supermen enslave man who is worth less than a brick. The pharaohs could not serve man; they could use horses, chariots, and oxen but not to serve man. This is what Jesus asks, ‘give back to God the man you have enslaved.’
And also, the Pharisees must return man to the true God because they have given man to an idol, that idol which bestows its favors on those who offer sacrifices, offerings, prayers, burnt offerings, holocausts; this is not the true God; they must return man to the true God, not to the idol they have invented.
The text concludes by saying that when his interlocutors heard it, they were astonished, marveled, turned away, and left him. This account does not discuss the duty to pay or not to pay taxes. It is saying that man must not serve money and power; man belongs only to God and must be returned to his only Lord.
I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.
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