Fork in the road? Take it

A homily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Oct. 18, 2020

Is 45:1, 4-6, 1 Thes 1:1-5B, Mt 22:15-21

Today’s Gospel is well-known, most likely among the Top 5 for people of faith to cite when they list WWJD.

And because of its familiarity, this passage is usually interpreted as an either-or.

Choose the things of the world or choose the Ways of God.

But that arguably barely scrapes the surface.

(How ’bout that double adverb!)

Because this passage is a both-and, and even more than brand-name passages like John 3:16 or Matthew 25:40, it has impact on our lives today.

Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.

Nowadays, of course, “Caesar” is a reference to government and business, our civil and civic relationships and transactions. Forty hours plus OT M-F, or something like that.

Unless we wear sackcloth and ashes and beg in the streets while praying and prophesying, we hang our with ol’ Julius and Augustus and their ilk a lot. A whole lot.

And that’s OK, because Jesus did say we should render to Caesar — give, pay, pay back to everyday life — what belongs to everyday life. It’s our moral obligation to care for our families, our friends, the Christ we see in others by paying our bills and keeping a roof over our heads and buying groceries and providing a good education to everyone we know.

There’s no way we can turn our backs on this world.

And we shouldn’t.

What we always need to do is maintain balance and perspective.

In Psalm 95, we pray:

For the Lord is the great God, the great king over all gods

… which used to puzzle me a lot, because there aren’t too many golden calves on high stone altars drawing huge crowds anymore.

But if we shoot back over to Caesar’s world and update to 2020, we have

• The latest iPhone
• TikTok and social media platforms
• Fast cars and luxury cars
• 85-inch Ultra HD

And none of these are bad in themselves. How we include them in our lives, how we may even let them dictate our lives, is where the moral questions must be asked. Have material goods and riches become the focus of what we do and how we do it? Are we carrying golden calves in our pockets?

Or do we recognize these modern conveniences as what they are: gifts from our loving God. Gifts that are ours to enjoy, yes, but mostly gifts to share.

Let’s look at the climactic line from today’s Gospel again:

Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.

This translation clarifies the verb so many of us know as “render.”

Repay.

Repay.

Repay means, first, to give thanks. We’ve received something, whether as a loan (human) or as a gift (divine). We have all of God’s beautiful, magnificent Creation — all that is visible and invisible — and we must, must, must thank God every day for every person and every thing.

We must thank God for our very lives, and in doing so, care for the gifts we’ve received. We must preserve them and improve them, because we are the hands of God on Earth, stewards of Creation.

Repay to God means, secondarily then, to pay forward. To bring forth the next generation of God’s children and ensure they have a world worth living in. Where God’s will is done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

In faith and hope.

In charity.

In fairness and justice.

In justice that brings God’s peace.

Repaying to Caesar and repaying to God is a both-and. A highly doable both-and. With the wisdom the Holy Spirit showers on us, we can find our balance and elevate our own lives and the lives of all whom we touch.

In this world and the next.