Greetings, SBT Readers!

"Life happens," but nevertheless, the news of Pope Leo's cancer diagnosis has come as a shock to people of good will across the globe. In his brief tenure as pope, Pope Leo has been a voice of reason, a stabilizing force, a prophetic voice decrying war, injustice, and technologies of destruction. At the same time, his gentle presence, spiritual leadership, and personal faith have created something of a spiritual revival, especially among youth... And so we pray for his comfort and healing, that he might find restoration and be restored to us... soon and very soon... because the world needs him and he has endeared himself to all of us...

But even as we pray, perhaps we need to pause and ask ourselves whether we have put too much of a burden on this humble friar. Perhaps we are so in awe of him as an individual and as a world leader that we simply expect too much. The magnitude of the world's agony is too great for a single individual to carry, even if he is the Pope! Which is why we just might need to change our language. Instead of rejoicing that we have a leader who is exactly what the world needs right now, we could ask ourselves what we can do to support him in his role as Shepherd of 1.279 billion Catholics; and instead of expecting him to be a miracle worker, we might explore the small steps each of us can take to change the world...

Many Blessings,

Elizabeth

www.elizabeth-annestewart.com

LINK TO SCRIPTURE READINGS

The Pharisees went off to plot how to entrap Jesus with their words. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Nor are you concerned with anyone's opinion, for you are not impressed by a person's status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" 

Knowing their malice, Jesus said,

"Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? 

Show me the coin that pays the census tax." 

Then they handed him the Roman coin. 

He asked them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?" 

They answered, "Caesar's."

At that he replied,

"Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar

and to God what belongs to God."

Matthew 22:15-21

The Pharisees and Herodians devised a brilliant strategy to trap Jesus—or so they thought. By demanding a "Yes" or "No" answer about whether paying taxes to Caesar was legal, they believed they had him cornered. After all, "Yes" would have alienated the entire Jewish population, except the Herodians who had profited from their allegiance to Rome; "No," on the other hand, would have led to certain arrest by the Roman authorities. His cryptic answer not only stunned his enemies but has also confused generations of biblical scholars, preachers, and everyday Christians.

"Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

There are two main interpretations that tend to surface in every commentary and in every homily:

1. Separation of church and state: God and Caesar each have their own rightful domain, and each should receive what is their due.
2. Everything belongs to God anyway, so what is due to Caesar is actually "zero"!

Both interpretations are simplistic; neither does justice to Jesus' brilliance. As I wrestled with this text, I recalled another situation in which Jesus was similarly cornered-- his encounter with the woman caught in adultery (Jn 8:1-11). As with the question of paying taxes to Caesar, his opponents posed a situation with no "right answer": he could either have agreed that the woman should be stoned, thereby contradicting his own teachings on love and forgiveness; or he could have insisted that she be set free, thereby undermining Mosaic law. Like the Trickster who so often appears in ancient myths and folktales, Jesus turned an impossible situation into one from which he emerged as the "winner"-- and he did so by resorting to enigmatic behavior (writing in the sand), unnerving his audience with his self-confidence.

Suppose enigma was also Jesus' key strategy in responding to the taxation question? The clue here, of course, is the coin. By asking his opponents to show him the denarius, he allowed them to convict themselves of supporting Roman taxation and, by extension, Roman rule. But that is not all. According to Jay Grande, a Biblical numismatist, the tax coins in circulation could have depicted the likeness of three different Caesars: Julius Caesar (assassinated in 44 BCE), Augustus Caesar (d. 14 CE), and Tiberius Caesar, who was then Emperor. If the coin bore the likeness of Julius Caesar or Augustus, Jesus was basically insulting his opponents by telling them to repay the dead what they had coming to them!

On the other hand, if the coin bore the likeness of Tiberius, it was likely inscribed with the words "TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, Tiberius Caesar son of the divine Augustus"; the back of the coin would have proclaimed him as PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, or head Priest of the Roman religion. To be carrying such a coin would not only undermine the authority of the Jewish High Priest, but would endorse a human divinity in violation of the Second Commandment.

The burning question for all of us is, "What coins do we carry?" If Jesus asked us to produce a coin, would it be blood money financing wars, genocide, and structures of oppression? Would it be a coin that deifies a mere mortal, thereby dishonoring God? Or might it just possibly bear those timeless words, "In God We Trust"?

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