God and Caesar; Our Faith and Government.

God and Caesar; Our Faith and Government.

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.

Izunwaonu.