29th Sunday In Ordinary Time | 22 October 2023 | Sunday Reflections | Gospel 22:15-21
Today's first reading (Isa 45:1, 4-6) is comforting and hopeful for the people of Israel who lived in Babylonian slavery (cf. Isa 44:24–45:8). The Babylonian captivity of the Israelites was brought to an end by the Persian king Cyrus. Cyrus, who conquered Babylon in 539 BC, decreed that all prisoners return to their countries (cf. 2 Chr 36:22-33). As far as Isaiah is concerned, God is at work in King Cyrus. But King Cyrus himself did not know this. That is why the Lord says, “I have called you by your name, have given you a title though you do not know me” (Isa 45:4 NJB) and “Though you do not know me, I have armed you” (Isa 45:5 NJB). This tells us two things: First, God is the cause of all historical events. Second, God is able to use us without us even knowing it. The second reading taken from 1 Thess 1:1-5 is part of the greeting and introduction of St. Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonian church. Paul thanks God for the Thessalonians. “I thank God for all of you”, indicates his acceptance that it was God who brought together the Thessalonians as a church. Moreover, he praises the virtues of the Thessalonians as “faith manifested in action”, “work motivated by love”, “steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ”. Thus, acknowledging that the Thessalonian church was not the cause of its own existence, Paul declares that it was God who caused them to exist as the people of God, as one church. Now coming to the Gospel, the Gospel narrative (Mt 22:15-21) takes place when Jesus is in Jerusalem. The Pharisees, along with some of the Herodians, asked him a question to trap him in: “Is it right to pay taxes to the emperor or not?” This was a tricky question as the answer either way would spell trouble for Jesus. Jesus, knowing their evil intentions, asked them to show him the coin used for paying the Roman tax. They gave him one which read “Tiberius son of the Emperor Augustus”. For the Jews, especially those who lived in the promised land, to have in their hands and pockets the Roman coin inscribed with the “Emperor Augustus” on it was equal to idolatry. Jesus asked them “whose inscription was on the coin?” They replied “Caesar’s”. Jesus seeing through their hypocrisy stumped them with his answer “pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and God what belongs to God” (Mt 22:21 NJB). By saying this, Jesus implied that there are things that don't belong to emperor; that emperor is never the Lord, and that all power is subject to God’s authority. An Emperor is only a temporal authority in control of the economic and political environment of Palestine or Jerusalem, but has no authority over creation, human life or its purpose. Thus, human authority is ultimately subject to God's authority. What is the lesson of today’s scripture? It is: authority can only come from God. Jesus also makes this clear to Pilate who says, “I have the authority to set you free. Don’t you know that I have authority to crucify you?” Jesus clarified Pilate’s definition of authority by saying to Pilate, “You have no authority over me unless it is from above” (cf. Jn 19:10-11). Today, our problem is that we exercise power as if we are going to possess it forever. We exercise power in the family, workplace, and society. But we forget about our powerlessness in the face of old age, sickness and death. Through the readings of today we are reminded once again that the source of the power and authority we have is God. No one can exercise authority over another who does not submit himself to God’s authority. As the Psalmist says, “Give to the Lord Majesty and power” (cf. Ps 96), let us surrender ourselves to the authority of God. And let us also pray that we be loyal citizens of our nation. Pauline Sisters are canonically the Daughters of St Paul, a congregation of Pontifical right, founded in 1915. Our mission is to proclaim the Gospel using the means of communication available. We print and publish books, booklets, cards, mini-media in hard format and also in e-format. On Youtube you can subscribe to our channel... here where you are watching and get our videos , also from our other channel https://paulineindia.org/ Pauline Books and Media https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbOj... On Facebook, / pauline.india On Twitter / paulinesindia Pinterest / paulinesindia Instagram / paulinesist. .
