Is 45:1, 4-6; 1Thess 1:1-5b; Matt 22:15-21
Today is World Mission Sunday. On World Mission Sunday, Catholics gather to celebrate the
Eucharist and to contribute to a collection for the work of evangelization
around the world. This annual celebration gives us a chance to reflect on the
importance of mission work for the life of the Church and on our
part in the missionary role of the Church. It
reminds us that we are one with the Church around the world and that we are all
committed to carrying on the mission of Christ, however different our
situations may be.
We can all do a great deal of missionary work by the way we live
our faith. We are surrounded by good people who do not know Christ, or who know
Him only superficially. When we let the
peace, joy and hope that our faith
brings transform our lives, and when we strive to live Christian love
generously, people take notice. Many converts have come to the Church because
their lives have been
touched by the goodness of Catholic men and women who live Christ’s teachings
in their ordinary daily lives.
In the Gospel reading today, the Pharisees, together with the
sympathizers of King Herod, approached Jesus and asked him a provocative
question: “Is it right for us to pay the Roman tax, or not?” (Mark 12:14;
Matthew 22:17; Luke 20:22). The flattery that they used to introduce this question
was not sincere. Any answer might be seen as double-edged.
If you know the characters
involved you will understand what I mean. The Herodians, as their name
indicates, were the staunch supporters of Rome's right to tax the Jewish
population. Pharisees, on the other hand, opposed the tax even if they paid it
to avoid political confrontation with Rome. No matter how Jesus answered the
question, he would end up falling into the trouble of one or the other. On the
one hand, if Jesus says "yes" the people will be offended by him. On
the other hand, if Jesus says, "no", the Pharisees will report him to
the Roman government as a radical and an a rebel. The Romans would certainly
have arrested and imprisoned Jesus.
The answer of Jesus
certainly surprised the enquirers. Instead of laying down hard and fast rules
and regulations, he lays down principles as was usually the case. Here he lays
down a very great and important one. Every Christian has dual citizenship. He is
a citizen of the country in which he happens to live. To it he owes many
things, security, public services etc. while the state owes the citizen,
education, medical services, employment and retirement benefits. This places
him under a debt of obligation. So a Christian has a duty to be a responsible
citizen. Failure to be a good citizen is failure in Christian duty. But a
Christian is also a citizen of heaven and he is expected to live according to
the commandments, the Law of God.
In his reply, Jesus does not answer the original question but he
announces what seems to be engagingly vague: “Give back to Caesar what belongs
to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” (Mark 12:17) What does
that mean? What must we give back? What part of this tax has been stolen from
us? What part doesn’t belong to us? If one keeps Caesar’s coin in his pocket,
it means that one uses it and thus recognizes Roman power. One can’t invent
religious scruples only when it’s time to pay the taxes.
For Christians, the first teaching seems quite clear: it’s a moral
as well as a civil duty to contribute to the common good through the payment of
taxes. No reason can justify the wanton destruction or theft of the state’s
goods. Whatever the type of society and whatever the political or economic
policies of the government, the Christian has to represent an exemplary
citizen. Christians possess the right and duty to tender their suggestions, to
criticize and even to contest the various options taken, but they cannot act in
such a way as to damage the civil community.
However, Jesus doesn’t stop at stating our duty to contribute to
the common good through the payment of our taxes. He adds something that stands
as revolutionary: “Give [back] to God what belongs to God”. Give back what? Is
there anything that doesn’t belong to Him? Then we must give Him everything,
but how? Just as the coin has to be returned to its owner, the emperor, because
it bears his image, so we must return to God the creature bearing his image.
What is this creature? The first chapter of the Bible states: “So God created
humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them” (Genesis 1: 27).
Here then is the creature that cannot fall under the ownership of anybody else
but God. Nobody has a right to dominate us, to enslave us, to oppress us: we
are sacred and we belong to God. To God alone we render worship, but in other
things, we happily acknowledge and serve the secular powers, praying that they
will rule wisely and justly. If there is a clash or an opposition between the
two, doing what we believe to be God’s will must prevail.
You have probably heard the
story of Sir Thomas Moore, the English martyr. King Henry VIII of England was
validly married but appealed to Rome to annual the marriage. But there was no
honest basis for annulment so, Rome refused. Henry took matters into his own
hands, declared himself Head of the Church in England and remarried. He then
ordered his friends and officials to sign a document declaring that they agree
he acted rightly in the matter. Many of More’s friends signed, but More
refused. Henry demanded that he signed or faced arrest, trial for treason, and
execution by the state. More refused. He had two obligations, one to God and
one to his country. When they conflicted, More had no choice but to remain
faithful to his obligation to God. On his way to public execution in 1534, More
encouraged the people to remain steadfast in the Faith. His last recorded words
were: “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” Today’s Gospel reminds
us of our dual citizenship. We are citizens of the world and citizens of
Heaven. We have an allegiance and an obligation to each. We hope the
obligations will never clash. But if they ever do, we must resolve them as
Thomas More did, without compromise to our God or to our conscience. (Mark Link
in Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
Although many people have
based their theory of politics on this saying, Jesus certainly did not intend
to divide the world into two areas belonging to Caesar and God, each with his
respective and exclusive jurisdiction. His main concern was rather to show the
transcendent and the absolute character of God's rights. By his answer Jesus
avoided the dilemma and insists on giving to God what belongs to God i.e
everything in accordance with the key commandment of loving God with all one's heart,
soul and might (`possessions'). In referring to the "likeness of the
inscription of Caesar on the denarius, from which fact Jesus concludes that in
consequence the denarius belongs to Caesar, he also draws our attention to the
greater fact that the whole man belongs to God. In Gn 1.26, we already read
that man "is created in the image and likeness of God". In effect
what Jesus is saying is that money may belong to Caesar but man himself
including Caesar belong to God. By this answer also Jesus points out that you
and I are citizens of two worlds: the world we see and the unseen world of the
spirit.
World Mission Sunday gives us the opportunity to carry out the
Lord’s exhortation in both ways: We could return to the poorest churches what
they should have to pursue the mission of evangelization. In addition, we could
show our gratitude to God for the mission that he has entrusted us at the heart
of our Christian faith. This mission isn’t something added to the Christian
faith. On the contrary, it lies at the heart of the faith. All Christians are
missionaries of the Gospel and they participate actively to the mission of
Christ. Pope Francis calls us to a renewal of missionary outreach and to strive
to reach the peripheries that need the light of the Gospel. “We are all invited
to walk the streets of the world with our brothers and sisters, proclaiming and
witnessing to our faith in Christ and making ourselves heralds of his Gospel.”
(World Mission Day, 2013).
On
World Mission Sunday let us reflect on how we should evangelize: By exemplary
and transparent Christian life, by prayer and by financial support. The
most powerful means of preaching Christ is by living a truly
Christian life - a life filled with love, mercy, kindness, compassion and a
spirit of forgiveness and service. Prayer is the second means of missionary
work. Jesus said: “Without me you can do nothing.” Therefore,
prayer is necessary for anyone who wishes to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
All missionary efforts also require financial support because the love of God
can often be explained to the poor only by providing them with food, medicine
and means of livelihood. Hence, on this Mission Sunday, let us learn to
appreciate our missionary obligation and support the Church’s missionary
activities by leading transparent Christian lives, by fervent prayers, and by
generous donations.
A
striking story tells about one remote area in western Sudan. Expatriate
missionaries, especially priests, Brothers and Sisters, had labored there for
many years with few visible results. Then expatriate lay missionaries --
married and single -- came to that area and soon many Sudanese people become
Catholics. A Sudanese elder explained: "When we saw the priests and
Sisters living separately and alone we didn't want to be like them. But when we
saw Catholic families -- men, women and children -- living happily together, we
wanted to be like them." In our family-oriented African society, married
missionary couples with children have a powerful and unique witness and
credibility.
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