29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees and Herodians approach Jesus with a carefully designed trap” “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” If Jesus rejects the tax, He risks appearing rebellious toward Rome; if He supports it, He risks alienating those who resent Roman occupation.

Jesus sees through their intentions. Asking for the coin used to pay the tax, He asks whose image and inscription it bears. When they answer, “Caesar’s” Jesus gives His famous response: “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

Jesus acknowledges that we have legitimate responsibilities within civil society. Christians are not called to withdraw from the world. We are citizens, neighbors, workers, voters, taxpayers, and members of communities. We should contribute to the common good, respect just authority, seek justice, care for those in need, and work for peace.

But Jesus’s answer contains a much deeper message. The coin bears Caesar’s image, and therefore it can be returned to Caesar. But whose image do we bear?

From the very beginning of Scripture, we are told that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. If the coin bearing Caesar’s image belongs to Caesar, then the person bearing God’s image belongs to God.

Jesus’ words about Caesar and God are especially important in a world in which politics can so easily consume our attention and divide families, friendships, communities, and even parishes. Catholics have a responsibility to participate conscientiously in public life, but no political party, candidate, ideology, or nation can ever take the place that belongs to God.

Before we belong to any earthly group, we belong to Christ. May our lives, our choices, our words, and our treatment of one another reveal whose image we carry and to whom we ultimately belong.