Twenty-nineth Sunday in Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/101914.cfm

          From early on in our lives, we gradually come to an understanding that something is ours, that we posses that object.  We have probably all seen at one time or another a toddler or young child who seems convinced that anything that they can reach or get their little fingers around is automatically and irrevocably theirs.  We have all heard a child make the solemn proclamation that something is, “Mine!”  As children get older they are taught not to be greedy or overly possessive and they learn about sharing and taking good care of their own things.  So we all learn what it means to possess something and also what it means to give back what is not ours to its rightful owners. 

          Our readings today talk about giving to God what is truly His; namely, we are to give Him our thanks, praise and love.  There are certainly many different ways that a person can give back to God in thanks and praise of what He has done.  We can offer our prayers.  We can devote our lives to serving in the Church in some way, whether it is as a volunteer who teaches or helps others or whether we devote our full time to serving in some way.  We can also give financially to the Church or to an organization within the Church as a way of giving thanks.  You'll see in the bulletin this week some information on the benefits of tithing and giving to the Church.  I hope those tips are helpful for you.  But though we have all these examples I just listed of how we can give thanks and praise to God and give back what is truly His, I want to challenge us not to think of these examples as a few things we can just check off our “to-do lists” so that we can “be good” with God.  We don't want to have an attitude of, “Well I come to Mass, I put a few dollars in the collection plate, say my prayers at bedtime, and I volunteered at a fish fry last spring; I've done my part with God, right?”  All these things are wonderful for us to do, but to truly give to God what belongs to God means so much more than doing a few things in the religion department here and there.  It's about how we live our life.

          Let's take a closer look at the readings.  Our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah is talking about a man named Cyrus.  Cyrus was the king of Persia (in modern day Iran) about 500 years before Christ.  He was responsible for leading a revolt against the Babylonian Empire who had conquered Jerusalem and put all the Jewish people in exile.  Once he conquered Babylon, Cyrus allowed the Jewish to finally return to their homeland after 70 years of exile.  He even gave money to help with the reconstruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.  Not surprisingly, many former Jewish exiles thought of King Cyrus as a savior sent by God.  In this passage that we heard today, the Prophet Isaiah has written down words that God is speaking to the King.  “I have called you by your name,” He says, “though you knew me not”.  God is saying that it was all a part of His plan to have Cyrus become king and lead the people back home even though Cyrus was unaware of those plans.  It was God who made his revolt successful, all for Israel's sake.  The overall point of all this is that God is the one who is in charge.  “I am the LORD and there is no other, there is no God besides me,” Isaiah writes.  Even the great King Cyrus, who’s Persian Empire encompassed most of the Middle East and part of Europe, cannot take credit for everything.  He also has to give praise and thanks to God for making it all possible.

          In our second reading, we hear from the very beginning of St. Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians.  “We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers,” St. Paul starts out.  Again, God is the one being given the proper praise as is appropriate.  “Unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love
and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ”.  We see here a great example of  St. Paul's pastoral leadership at work.  He is talking to a young Church in modern day Greece, not long after visiting them and he tells them that he remembers their “work of faith”, and “labor of love”, and endurance in hope”.  He is encouraging them by reminding them of the virtues he sees at work in them.  But remember the words just before that, “We give thanks to God always for all of you”.  God is the one who get all the praise and thanks, because it was God alone who gave the Thessalonians that faith, hope, and love that is at work in them.  Again, God is the one who deserves all the glory. 

          When we come to the Gospel, we see the Pharisees and Herodians trying to trap Jesus by posing the question about the census tax.  The Jewish people didn't like paying the census tax for a couple of reasons: by paying a tax to Rome it reminded them that they were being occupied by a foreign power, and the tax itself was given to a man who was calling himself a god, a sacrilege to the Jewish people.  The people didn't like it, but they still had to pay it.  These men are trying to trap Jesus by making Him choose sides on a big controversy.  If He says they should pay the tax, He will loose the esteem of the people who hate paying the tax.  If He says not to, then He will be arrested by the Romans as a revolutionary.  Christ sees right through the hypocrisy of course.  By having the men pull out one of the coins in question, He shows that even these so called “holy men” and leaders of the people have this hated coin and are ready to pay the tax.  So, “Pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar”.  But then Jesus brings all of this to another level.  “Pay to God what belongs to God”.  In other words, you are willing to pay this tax and give back what belongs to Caesar, how much more should we be willing to give back to God what belongs to Him? 

          This lesson can be well applied to us in the Twenty-first Century.  We are so quick to lay claim to what is ours and guard it.  We are also willing to give what we must for our work, our favorite pastimes, and even our own taxes.  We claim it is something we have to do.  Shouldn't we be willing to give God what we “need” to give to Him?  Our reading show that this means giving nothing short of all the praise and glory to God who is our one true Lord.  Give to God what is His.