Sunday, October 22th, 2023 – Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A Readings: Isaiah 25:6-10a, Psalm 23 “Give the Lord glory and honor”, Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20, Matthew 22:1-14

                                   BEING HONEST WITH GOD
      The Pharisees come up with a new plan to try to trap Jesus during one of their debates by bringing up the hot topic of paying taxes. They inquire, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” Jesus ably distinguishes between the rights of God and human authority; clearly pointing out that we are bound by our conscience to be honest with God and with others.
                                                
Brothers and sisters:
     1. Jesus is praised the most for his honesty by his enemies: “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status”. Christ isn’t fooled. Moreover, he makes use of the Pharisees’ challenge to teach us a lesson about our religious and political behavior. Instead of causing division he reconciles people by means of sound reasoning. “He said to them ‘whose image is this and whose inscription?’ they replied ‘Caesar’s’ at that he said to them, ‘then pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.’”
     2. The coin that the Pharisees showed Jesus had two sides: on one side was the face of Caesar and on the other was the numerical value of the coin. But although there are two sides, there is only one coin. “Give to God what is God’s” is not an alternative to “giving to Caesar”. A Christian should work for progress and well being, but always in accordance with the Gospel precepts. Moreover, when the Church proclaims the Gospel she is reminding society that God should always come first. In our own Christian lives we also need to value spiritual realities a little more and be a little more detached from material possessions.
      3. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” means recognizing the legitimate rights and duties of civil authorities and setting up the right balance between the religious and human spheres. You shouldn’t “give to the Caesar of economy” by treading on the rights of life, work, education, and the dignity of the human person. You shouldn’t “give to the Caesar of power or success” by sacrificing other people who die of hunger and thirst or who are victims of war and terrorism.
     This is why we ought to work today to improve and transform the world according to the justice and charity that Christ taught us. We have to work to form a social conscience which moves us to create a community of peace, harmony, service and progress—a society which has both rights and duties to respect life, take care of the environment, and protect the family, culture and religion of all people. Brothers and sisters, isn’t this a good occasion for making an honest comparison between Christ’s attitudes and our own? We can with the help of his grace.
Source: ePriest.com / Best Practices and Homily Resources for Catholic Priest