Should we the Christians participate in government?
What does it mean to say, "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to
God what is God's"
When Jesus was asked whether they should pay tax to
the Roman Emperor, he was actually put into trap. This is because His
"Yes" or "No" answer would make him an enemy of Romans or
Jews.
If Jesus had asked them to pay the Roman tax, he
would be accused of betraying his people and collaborating with their enemy. On
the other hand, if he replied that they should not pay the tax, he would be
denounced to the Romans as a rebel.
Today's
gospel tells us that Jesus was well aware of what his opponents were up
to, and knew how to handle them. Even though the passage seems to
create a distinction between two spheres: one sphere relating to Caesar or
worldly matters, and the other sphere relating to God or religion matters. We
can grasp , that we should recognize and respect what belongs to each sphere.
But before then, we should know that everything is God’s. So the point seems to
be: When you realize that all of life, including all of Caesar’s rights and
power and possessions, belong to God, then you will be in a proper frame of
mind to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s.
What the
Gospel is teaching us is that we should be loyal to our authorities because
they exist for our welfare. We are to respect the worldly sphere of society in its
own right (render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar).
Paying taxes
which is one of the respects is never pleasant, and we may not always
agree with the way the government spends our money. But we should remember that
no one has ever hated to pay taxes any more than the Jews hated to pay them to
Rome. Yet Jesus and Paul both said that the state should be respected in the
proper matters because of its God given authority (cf. Matthew 22:21 and Romans
13:1 respectively).
We need to
pray and also work for the good of our government, remembering that it is a
gift from God for our good. Pray for them also that they will make wise
decisions and turn to God.
Have God's
Choicest Blessings.
Happy
Sunday.
Your Brother
in Christ.