A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Mark. Some pharisees and Herodians were sent after Jesus to catch him up in his speech. In other words, to have him condemn himself. The two groups came and said to Jesus, teacher, we know that you are a truthful man, unconcerned about anybody's opinion. It is evident you do not act out of human respect, but teach god's way of life sincerely.
Now is it lawful to pay the tax to the emperor or not? Are we to pay or are we not to pay? Jesus, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, why are you trying to trip me up? Bring me a coin and let me see that coin. When they brought him one, Jesus said to them, whose head is this, and whose inscription is it?
And they answered, Caesar's, the emperor. At that, Jesus said to them, then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, but give to God what is God's. Their amazement at Jesus knew no bounds, and this is the gospel of the lord. Praise to you, lord Jesus Christ. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen.
Those of you who recall your long lost and infamous debating days, you will remember that the greatest instrument of debate is the dilemma. The dilemma is an argument where you give your opponent a number of choices, two or more, and he has to make or she, pardon me, has to make a choice. They have to take one of the those choices you suggest. And the trick of the trade is anyone they pick proves against them. This was used by our Lord's opponents a number of times.
It was in regard to the woman, as we say, taken in adultery. Well today we have this one. Now see they ask, should we pay remember, the Romans were the conquering people. Israel was under the thumb of the Romans. And the Romans in their great empire, which they had built up, they they left local jurisdiction to local officials.
They could care less. Rome was interested in two things, tranquility of order and getting in the taxes. As long as that was as long as that status quo was kept, Rome could have carried less what else you do. This is brought out in the trial of our blessed lord. Now, see here so they they come to Jesus now and they say, look, are we to pay tribute to Caesar, pay taxes?
If he said yes, then he was being disloyal to his people, to Israel. Because it was considered an absolute and essential wrong to pay tribute to Caesar. That's why the tax collectors were so hated. On the other hand, if Jesus said, no, it's it's not right to pay taxes to Caesar, then they would say well, then you're then you're disloyal to Caesar. So he had to answer yes or no.
He had to answer one way or the other, so they thought. And either way he answered, he was condemned. He was condemned either by his own people or he would be condemned by the Romans. So his enemies thought they had him in the vice, Just as they did when they brought the woman taken in adultery to him. And our blessed Lord, once again, shows that he was a very good student of Aristotle, perhaps.
Anyway, he was the son of God. So he knew a thing or two about what we call logic. And he he says, alright, bring me a coin. And he says, there it is. So if it's Caesar's, give it back to him.
So you give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. And God's what image wasn't on the coin. Pretty smart, Very smart. He'd have made a good trial lawyer, our Lord would have. Now, what do we make of this?
The thought that strikes me is this, give to God what is God. What is God's? Have you ever thought about that? What belongs to God? What belongs to Caesar?
Is there a contradiction between these two things? Right now, as soon as I said that, I saw the headline of this morning's paper about this espionage conspiracy. Our great and loyal citizens selling down selling their country down the drain. And apparently, the great the great issue was money. Money.
Filthy blooper. However that may be, is there a contradiction between giving to Caesar what is Caesar's and giving to God what is God's? Now I am not at all simplifying a fantastically complex problem. Because there are times when these issues seem to conflict, and the issues can be very delicate, sensitive, and we don't know the answers. Let's face it.
In many instances, the all we can do is to do the best we can under the circumstance. In other words, we are pragmatists in these matters, and I'm talking about economics. I'm talking about a lot of this guff which is shouted out in the name of social justice. Just ask the people who talk about social justice. What do you mean by social justice?
What's what's your definition? Of course, you know, you if you say this, you're you're gonna be at the bottom of the barrel. Asking me for a definition? Everybody knows what social justice is. You are just a plain ignoramus.
You're just dealing with semantics. You're playing games. See, I've been all through this stuff. It's like saying people talking about love. What do you mean by love?
What do you mean by patriotism? You know, Socrates asked these questions, you know what it got him. He got him a first class drink of hemlock, first class ticket to eternity. And when you ask people these questions, you'll get a first class ticket to ignominy. That's what you'll get.
But how can you talk about these things unless you know what you're talking about? And that calls for a definition. And so when when our blessed Lord says, give to God what is God's, what is god's? And then is there a contradiction between what you give to Caesar, your income tax, and giving to god your prayers and your worship? Are these contradictory?
It was a great Roman of course, if you if you got if you got up today in in a before a gathering of young people and quoted Cicero and said, it is good and noble to die for one's country. It is good and noble to die for your country. You probably would get a a course saying it's better to be red than dead. It's what you're likely to get from a lot of people. Not from all, but from a lot.
Within the last few weeks I've met young people who said, look, if there's any war, you know where I'm heading, straight for Canada. I said, Well, how about your duties to country? They laughed at me. These are good Catholic young men. What do you think of that?
These are the realities. Is there a contradiction between serving Caesar and serving God? Of course, there can be a contradiction. But should there be, ought there be, in the due order of things, is it built into the situation? Do I have to hate Caesar and love God as the Jews did or said they did?
Now they had good reason for hating the Romans. I'm not denying that. But is there this concrete notice our blessed Lord doesn't touch upon this question at all. He doesn't answer this question. He just simply says, give to Caesar what belongs to him and give to God what belongs to God.
Fine. What belongs to God? The answer is everything. In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Amen.