Being Catholic in our day and age is tough. It seems like our culture is becoming more and more secular every day, and we are constantly being told that we need to check our faith at the door when we enter the public sphere. For example, politicians frequently tell us that our religious beliefs cannot have any influence on our political views, Catholic doctors are pressured to endorse medications and medical procedures that are contrary to our faith, and openly practicing our faith is increasingly looked down upon in just about every corner of our society.
In support of this rapid secularization, people often quote
Jesus’ teaching to “repay to Caesar what belongs to
Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Matthew 22:21), and they contend that these words promote a radical separation of church and
state. On this interpretation, Jesus is saying that some things pertain to God
while other things pertain to secular society, so we
should limit our faith to our private lives and act just like everyone else in
public.
However, that is not what the saying means. While it is understandable that 21st century Americans
would take Jesus’ words that way, that reading makes no sense in its historical
context. In Jesus’ world, there was no separation of church and state; there
was no such thing as a secular society. Every society in the ancient Roman
Empire was religious, and those religions were inextricably tied up with their
politics. To read modern American ideas back into Jesus’ words is simply
anachronistic; instead, the correct meaning of this saying has to be one that
makes sense coming from a 1st century Jew like Jesus.
Reading in Context
To properly understand this teaching, we have to read it in
context. It comes from a story in which the Pharisees try to trick Jesus by
asking him if it is right to pay taxes to the Roman emperor (Matthew 22:15-22).
If he says yes, they can accuse him of supporting the Roman oppression of the
Jewish people, but if he says no, they can accuse him of treason against the
emperor. To sidestep this conundrum, Jesus points out that the Roman coins used
to pay taxes are engraved with an image of the emperor, and he utters the
famous line, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to
Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”
Once we know the context, we can begin to decipher this
enigmatic saying. Let’s begin with the first half, “Then
repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” This
part is fairly simple. Jesus is answering a question about paying taxes, and it
is clear that Roman coins belong to Caesar because they bear his image. Consequently,
with this first half of the saying, Jesus is telling his audience that they should
pay the taxes the government requires of them because the money they use
belongs to the government anyway.
The Image of God
The second half, “and to God what
belongs to God,” is a bit trickier. The
context makes it clear that taxes belong to the government, but Jesus doesn’t
tell us what belongs to God. We have to figure that out for
ourselves. Luckily, we can use the logic of the first half of the saying
to figure out what the second half means. If “what
belongs to Caesar” refers to things that bear
Caesar’s image, it stands to reason that “what belongs
to God” refers to things that bear God’s
image. And what would those things be? We can find the answer to this question
in the Old Testament:
“Then God said: Let us make human
beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish
of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and
all the creatures that crawl on the earth. God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he
created them; male and femalehe created
them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)
We are made in God’s image. Just like ancient Roman
coins bore the image of the emperor, so too does every human being bear the
image of God. As a result, when Jesus tells us to give “to God what belongs to God,” he is
telling us to give our whole selves over to God because we bear his image. He
is telling us to give God everything we are, everything we have, and everything
we do.
No Separation
Once we understand this, we can see that Jesus isn’t promoting
a separation of church and state; he is not saying that some things belong to
secular society and others belong to God. No, he is saying that while we
have legitimate obligations to the government, we have more important obligations
to a higher power. The money used throughout the Roman Empire may have
belonged to Caesar, but we belong to God.
This means that our faith and our commitment to God have to play an integral role in everything we do. There is no such thing as a secular sphere of action where God has no place. His place is everywhere, not just in church for one hour a week, so we cannot check our religious beliefs at the door when we enter the public sphere. For example, we cannot support laws that contradict our faith; Catholic businesspeople cannot engage in unethical business practices, and Catholic doctors cannot perform procedures that are contrary to the faith.
Simply put, we belong entirely to God, and everything we do should reflect that, no matter where it is or who it involves.
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