Fr Jack SJ MD: Politics and Selling Out are Synonyms: Homily for 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 45:1, 4-6

Mt 22:15-21

There is much truth behind the old saying, "politics make strange bedfellows." Politics brings together people who have little in common and who frequently detest each other. We see the strangeness reenacted every four years during the dreadful time leading up to presidential elections. It is amazing how people will compromise themselves in the pursuit of power. This next campaign is going to be a real screamer, each party being as angry, nasty, and hypocritical as the other.

Today's gospel shows that the same dynamic existed in the Ancient Near East. In this case the Pharisees and the Herodians were certainly not drinking buddies. The Pharisees wanted nothing to do with the Herodians who were supporters of Herod Antipas, a non-Jew. And the Herodians held no truck with the Pharisees. The Herodians were mostly servants of the Roman Empire in contrast to the Pharisees who awaited the Messiah to free them from that same empire. Strange bedfellows indeed. However, in this case the two put aside their differences to team up against Jesus in order to entrap him with a difficult question.

In this particular scenario, the reason for the question was more important than the answer. It was the reason for the question that formed the kind of unholy alliance such as the kind we routinely see in the American political scene. It is a classic question that illustrates the concepts of: A rock and a hard place, No win, Lose-lose,

The question was skillfully formed. Like most politicians going in for an attempted kill, Jesus' interlocutors opened with a fawning tribute to Him: "Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Tell us what is your opinion." They then asked the famous question "Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" Because of the opposite positions of the Pharisees and the Herodians Jesus was in what appeared to be a double-bind.

Had Jesus agreed that it was lawful to pay the census tax he could have been discredited by the Pharisees for placing secular law above the Law of God. Had he said it was unlawful to pay the tax he could have been accused of treason by the Herodians.

Jesus recognized their malice. Rather than blurting out a yes or no answer

or beginning a long rambling rationalization that argued both sides of the question, He asked for a coin. After asking whose image was on the coin Jesus famously said, "Render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar and unto God that which belongs to God."

Jesus' response has been analyzed under different lenses over the centuries. Some admire the rhetorical skill of his answer. Some use it to make philosophical statements about the separation of church and state. But Jesus was not intending a witty response to a hostile question, nor was he commenting on the various church-state issues that continue to rankle the U.S. today.

Jesus’s reply was not meant to show off his rhetorical skills. nor was he making a philosophical statement about the separation of church and state. He was not suggesting that the church should be confined within certain parameters and not get involved with politics. Jesus broadened the question and raised a challenge to his questioners. If the coin belongs to Caesar because it bears Caesar’s image then what belongs to God is that which bears God’s image. And because God creates every human in His image and likeness every human being--including Caesar--bears God's image and ultimately belongs to Him.

We heard an echo of the Shema Yisrael, the central prayer in Judaism, in the first reading from Isaiah. "I am the LORD and there is no other, there is no God besides me. . . .

"I am the LORD, there is no other." Unlike the coins of the world that bear the images of rulers, living and dead, all humanity bears the image of God. This includes the child in the womb and the old man dying of Alzheimer's. We bear that image from conception until natural death. It is a sin to destroy it.

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Eight deacons were ordained in Oakland, CA this morning (CA time). Among them was Kao Chia-yang, SJ a friend of twenty years. We met when he moved to D.C. from Taiwan to study at Georgetown. My buddy Ignatius Hung, SJ sent an email ordering me to invite him to dinner. I did. And then every month, at least, for the next several years. We talked about him entering periodically. As he wanted to enter here in the U.S. he had to get a green card. He mailed his application moments after he was notified that he had the card. He will be ordained a priest in New York (Fordham) in June. Itry to avoid NYC under all circumstances. I will be there. The photos did not p0ost in the order in which I wanted them to. Don't have the energy to redo.