“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

The Romans thought Caesar a God and since Julius Caesar, this new religion began, but his legendary assassination in 42 BC proved definitively that he was not a god.

Again, at the Temple in Jerusalem during Holy Week, in a high-stakes game and the ante is getting higher. Jesus’ parables of Judgment and Grace have fallen on deaf ears. Rather than repent, His enemies hardened their hearts against Him.

They are all around Him, plotting His downfall: it has become a matter of life and death. The Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with cunning arguments and joining with their enemies, the secular, political and evil Herodians, to form a unholy alliance. Kipling famously wrote: the truths Jesus speaks will be ‘twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.’ They think that they have set the perfect trap: no matter if Jesus says ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ there would be trouble. Jesus turned the tables on them.

You can’t trap Truth; the Truth is always right.

From our first reading, God chooses Cyrus the Great, the pagan ruler of the Persian empire, to be God's instrument to deliver Israel from 50 years of captivity in Babylon in 538 BC.

We see the good that secular leaders can do. Scott Hahn says: “We do owe the government a concern for the common good and obedience to laws - unless they conflict with God’s commandments as interpreted by the Church” (St. Paul Institute: Homily Helps).

What belonged to Caesar? Taxes and money. The despised Temple Tax and its coin had the Roman emperor’s face stamped on it. However, the temple tax was also a sign that the people ‘belonged’ to Caesar: they were his people, counted one per coin, and they were to worship him.

What belongs to God? As we sing in the Gloria: praise, glory, blessing and thanks. We give God tribute by our prayer and worship and by participating at Mass.

Pro-Life Fr. Frank Pavone poignantly wrote: “What then belongs to God? That which bears His image, namely, human life itself, including the life of Caesar!”

So Jesus is saying that Caesar is not God.

Don’t worship false gods of people or money. We learned at the start of the pandemic how quickly our false gods disappeared: money, entertainment, sports all shut down.

“Our stewardship of our time is about paying attention to three very important things in life.

First, and most important, it’s about making sure that we are connecting with the Lord through faithful prayer and regular, weekly participation in the sacraments of the Church.

Second, it’s about making sure that we are spending time with our families - and not just the so-called “quality time” but it is also the “quantity time” that really makes a difference.

Third, it’s about making sure that our lives are anchored firmly in our community of faith by allowing our lives to revolve around the worship of the Lord and parish activities. These three things go together and I pray that these three come together for every family here: that healthy marriages and strong families might be built up” (Fr. Daniel Mahan).

Pray for The Holy Land.

Fr. Kilian and all of our great Parish Staff

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