CITIZENSHIP, GIVING TO CAESAR WHAT IS CAESAR'S - Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2014

When I was looking at the scripture passages for this Sunday, and saw I was to preach on this particular gospel, I thought, "Oh man!" This is not a necessarily easy gospel on which to preach.

Every three years when this gospel come up in the liturgical calendar, I think of the British comedy troupe, Monty Python and a scene in one of their old movies. In the scene, the people who belong to the People’s Front of Judea gather in a room to plot a terrorist action against Pontius Pilate and Rome. It begins with Reggie, the leader of the group asking the question, “What has Rome done for us?” One person from the group answers positively, “Aqueducts.” Reluctantly, Reggie replies, “Yeah They did give us that, that’s true.” Then another one pipes in, “Sanitation.” Reggie says, I’ll grant you the aqueduct and the sanitation are 2 things that the Romans have done.” Another person shouts, “The Roads.” Reggie says, “Well obviously the roads, the roads go without saying, don’t they? But apart from the sanitation, the aqueduct, and the roads …” Quickly, people from the group add, “There’s Irrigation, medicine, education and wine, the wine would be something we would really miss, Reggie, if the Romans left.” Another chimes in, “There’s the public baths, and it’s safe to walk the streets at night now. They do know how to keep order. They’re the only ones who could in a place like this.” Reggie finally concedes, “All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans done for us?”

In a way, this Monty Python scene illustrates the political climate in which Jesus lived. Jesus is a threat both religiously and politically to his religious leaders and they plot to dishonor and discredit him by setting him up with the question, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” The Romans were hated in Judea. The Roman army occupied all of Palestine, and though the Romans allowed local government, the Kings they established were all puppets of the Roman authorities. On top of it, the tax had to be paid with a Roman coin that had the image of Caesar on it, and the Romans considered Caesar a god. For the religious fundamentalists among the Jewish people, paying the Roman tax was tantamount to an act of idolatry, a form of worshipping a false God. If Jesus told them to pay the tax, he could be called a traitor to the Jewish political cause and unfaithful to the Jewish religion. If he told them to not pay the tax, then he would be acting illegally and could be reported to the Roman authorities.  Jesus dismantles the trap they laid for him, by telling them to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to give to God what is God’s.

These words were instructive and wise for the people of Jesus’ time, and they are equally as instructive and wise for those of us who are disciples of Jesus. In order for us to build the Kingdom of God in our world, Jesus tells us that we are to be responsible citizens. Even though our political climate is bitterly divided and polarized, we cannot isolate ourselves from it but must become involved. In a climate in which government is held suspect and hated, we are to involve ourselves in our government.

Anyone who has studied civics in school should remember that a just society is based on a continuing dialogue between government, schools and citizens. Citizens need to talk and work with schools, and they need to talk and work with government. Schools need to educate citizens and government. Government needs to listen and dialogue with citizens and schools. This is not a one way conversation, but this must be a three way conversation. Where does the Church fit into this conversation?

Our country was founded by many people fleeing persecution from state religions. Catholics fleeing from Protestants, Protestants fleeing from Catholics and so on. Our Founding Fathers wanted democracy over a monarchy. Our Founding Fathers wanted everyone to have the freedom to worship in whatever religion they chose, however, they did not want one religion to dominate over that of the many religions in the country. Though our Founding Fathers deliberately separated religion from government, they did not isolate religion from government. Religion enters into the 3 way conversation of government, schools, and citizenry through the faith of the citizens.

Our religious faith shapes the way we live our lives, the values we hold and the decisions that we make. Sunday after Sunday we hear in the scriptures what God had envisioned for humanity when the world was created. The scriptures give us a template or a step by step plan by which we are to continue the work Jesus began when he ushered the Kingdom of God into the world at his birth. When we enter into the 3 way conversation with our government and our schools, we bring to that conversation our religious faith. The one of the many ways our religious faith directly impacts the conversation is when we exercise our right to vote. Whether it be in our local school board elections, or the elections of our local, state, and national governments, when we vote we bring our faith with us into the voting booth.

The old adage tells us that "ignorance is bliss." This adage is wrong. Ignorance is .ot bliss, rather ignorance creates misunderstanding. We cannot enter into that voting booth as uninformed citizens. Rather, when we vote, we must enter the voting booth informed by our faith and informed about the people for whom we are to vote. We cannot rely on others to tell us for whom to vote. I cannot or will not tell you how to vote, and as much as I respect Fr Kevin, Fr Dave, the Archbishop and the Pope, neither can they. However the teaching of our Catholic faith is important and you must know what the Church is teaching on issues of social justice and other issues of life. This requires us to study our faith and read what is happening in our Church through Catholic newspapers, and magazines. The bishops have been meeting in Rome for the past 2 weeks in a Synod on the Family. How many of us have followed the very open conversation and debate that has been a part of this very important Synod? If we have we will have found out that this is only the first half of a larger discussion as to how the Church is to reach out to families in the myriad form that families take today in contrast to what the family has been in the past. The second part of this important conversation will happen next year in October.

We have we have the various self-interest lobbying groups, and political parties, along with CNN, MSNBC and Fox Cable News, none of whom I consider responsible or reliable sources of information,  telling us for whom to vote or trying to influence our vote. We need to be self-informed. We need to personally listen to or read the speeches, the debates, and investigate the voting track records of those who are on the ballot in order to responsibly inform our voting decisions.

To continue to build the Kingdom of God in our world, we need to be responsible citizens. We need to participate in our government process. If we do not exercise our right as citizens to vote, being responsible to our faith and our society, we will get what we deserve. We can sit around and bellyache about the government like those of the People’s Front of Judea in the skit, doing nothing but bellyaching. Or, we can participate in the 3 way conversation between government, schools and citizens. November 4^th is the time for us to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to give to God what is God’s.