29th Sunday Year A - Homily 5

Homily 5  - 2020

The head on the denarius coin would have been that of the current Roman emperor. The inscription would have named him as “Tiberius, Son of the divine Augustus”. Caesar Augustus had died twenty years earlier, and the Roman Senate had promptly, and blasphemously, declared him to be divine. Jesus obviously did not carry such a coin himself, not would most of the Pharisees, especially within the temple precincts. The Herodians would have obliged. They were the public servants of King Herod, the local puppet king appointed by Tiberius to rule Galilee and to collect the taxes imposed by the Roman Empire to finance, among other things, their all-conquering and brutally oppressive legions.

To that highly unlikely coalition of Pharisees and Herodians Jesus declared, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar” — give him back his taxes and all they stand for: oppression, exploitation, slavery and phoney peace secured at the point of the sword. “Keep clear, as much as you can, of all that and the destructive value-system it represents.”

Instead, “Give to God what is God’s”. Jesus insisted on the absolute priority of God’s Kingdom, not earthly empires. God’s Kingdom is based on nothing less than love, total love embracing all our minds, hearts and wills. Jesus also insisted that such total love of God necessarily takes practical shape in a similar love for other humans, whom he calls our neighbours. All of us, with our myriad different capacities, opportunities, locations and histories, have an equal, God-given, human dignity. Every single person is important and is to be treated respectfully. “Give to God what is God’s”. We human persons are, each in our own way, God’s gift to one another.

Jesus did not spell out the practical shapes that that love for others would take politically. But politics is perhaps the most significant realm where practical love for our brothers and sisters finds expression.

Pope Francis has recently released a highly significant Encyclical Letter urgently reminding us that, given the ways that technology has developed and will develop further, unless we quickly learn to treat each other as brothers and sisters, nationally and internationally, we shall soon destroy both our environment and ourselves.

Today’s Gospel has become urgently important.