Oct 18, 2020 - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Is 45:1,4-6; Thes 1:1-5B; MT 22:15-21)
God's ways are surprising sometimes. During the Babylonian Captivity, Isaiah writes that God called his anointed, Cyrus to be the “shepherd” of Israel. But Cyrus was not some faithful Jew. He was the ruler of Persia, which had just conquered Babylon. Yet he accomplishes God's purpose and is given the title of “shepherd” of Israel, which is often used to indicate a king, and “anointed,” which carries the connotation of “messiah” in Hebrew. And sure enough, it comes to pass. Cyrus is inspired to give the Jews permission to return to Jerusalem, and returns them to their land, along with the treasures taken from the temple when they were exiled. He leads the people to freedom again, like Moses. And eventually, Cyrus does come to know God and acknowledge him as Lord.
The Gospel today is “Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.” On a simplistic level, it is sometimes interpreted as being about paying taxes. But the more important message is to render to God what is God's. Jesus recognized that the issue of paying tax to Caesar was very divisive. The Herodians were a political party who were supportive of King Herod and his dynasty, which was in turn cooperating with Rome. So they were all in favor of paying the tax to Rome. The Pharisees wanted complete independence from Rome and were nominally opposed to paying the tax. It was probably a Pharisee who produced the small Roman coin when asked by Jesus, which may be another reason why Jesus called them hypocrites. But rather than weighing in to the worldly issue of paying the tax to Caesar, Jesus refocused their attention on what mattered more – serving God.