{"id":4526,"date":"2023-10-21T12:44:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T11:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/?p=4526"},"modified":"2023-10-17T20:03:37","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T19:03:37","slug":"commentary-on-29th-sunday-of-the-year-a-22-10-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/commentary-on-29th-sunday-of-the-year-a-22-10-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Commentary on 29th Sunday of the year (A), 22.10.2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

Commentary by Donagh O\u2019Shea OP, www.goodnews.ie<\/a><\/h3>\n

Mt 22:15-21<\/b><\/p>\n

The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said.\u00a0 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.\u00a0 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”\u00a0 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?\u00a0 Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.\u00a0 Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?”\u00a0 They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Praise some powerful person for qualities he or she doesn’t have, and you insult them in a subtle way. Flattery has been called the politeness of contempt.\u00a0 But it works!\u00a0 Only a very rock-like person could remain unmoved when a warm gush of flattery is playing over them.\u00a0 Most people suspend all critical self-examination at such a moment.<\/p>\n

The flattery of the Pharisees was more subtle still.\u00a0 They probably knew that Jesus could not be flattered by lies, so they tried to flatter him with the truth.\u00a0 \u201cWe know you are afraid of no one, and that a man\u2019s rank means nothing to you!\u201d\u00a0 But there was treachery in every word.\u00a0 They would entice him to bravado in speech, and then get him into serious trouble with the authorities for what he said!\u00a0 Taxation of Jews by the Romans (who were the occupying powers) was a burning issue; and the Romans had dealt summarily with Judas the Gaulonite who tried to raise resistance to it.\u00a0 Here then were these Pharisees trying to walk Jesus into the same fate.\u00a0 They brought some Herodians with them, to make it a perfect trap.\u00a0 If Jesus answered yes to their question he would be branded a collaborator; if he answered no he would be in deep trouble with the Herodians, who were collaborators with the Romans.\u00a0 But he was ready.<\/p>\n

What strikes you more and more in the gospels is the sheer intelligence of Jesus.\u00a0 His answer was full of wit and insight.\u00a0 It was full of significance for the future too.\u00a0 The notion of separation between religion and politics (or, as it came to be known, the separation of Church and State) was unknown before him.\u00a0 We see today the trouble that the lack of such a distinction makes in countries with Muslim majorities, and even in countries with Muslim minorities.<\/p>\n

This saying of his, \u201cGive back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,\u201d was useful from the start: it was of great importance to the early Christians, because they were often accused of disloyalty to the state; see, for example, Acts 17:7: \u201cThese people…have broken every one of Caesar\u2019s edicts.\u201d\u00a0 St Paul wrote an exhortation to loyalty to the state (Romans 13:1-7, where he even says that the tax-man is doing God’s work!).\u00a0 Clearly there is a tradition of civil loyalty that goes back to Jesus himself.<\/p>\n

But passing beyond the particular question of taxes, it is of the greatest interest to see how Jesus faced people in authority.\u00a0 His way is ultimately the model for how we ourselves are to face authority, as we do every day, in one way or another.\u00a0 It is not a pleasant thing when a policeman approaches you and says, \u201cDocuments!\u201d\u00a0 It is like being asked what right you have to exist.\u00a0 Jesus was asked precisely this kind of question one day in the Temple.\u00a0 He was approached by \u201cthe chief priests, the teachers of the Law and the Jewish authorities.\u201d He was on their ground.\u00a0 \u201cBy what authority do you do these things…?\u201d they demanded.\u00a0 (He had been teaching, which was their job.)\u00a0 But he was not one to bow down before authority.\u00a0 He put a perfect fix on them.<\/p>\n

Jesus defied human authorities when he had to, but he was not against authority in principle.\u00a0 \u201cGive to Caesar the things that are Caesar\u2019s.\u201d People who are against authority in principle are often simply looking for authority themselves.\u00a0 But the ultimate words on authority are surely his: \u201cThe Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Commentary by Donagh O\u2019Shea OP, www.goodnews.ie Mt 22:15-21 The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said.\u00a0 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4527,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4526"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7973,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4526\/revisions\/7973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}