Click here to review the upcoming Sunday readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/101908.shtmlHow appropriate that we have these readings just a few weeks before Election Day. Each of the readings addresses some aspect of political power and authority, making it appropriate to look at their original context and then seeing how we can apply them to our current situation.
The first reading from Isaiah refers to the anointing of Cyrus, king of Persia. This passage is absolutely dramatic in its effect on the original audience. Isaiah is writing to the Israelites who are exiled in Babylon, the great capital city of the Persian Empire. As we saw last week, this exile was a punishment for the idolatry of the Israelites. Now, they find themselves in a foreign land with polytheistic beliefs. Yet, Cyrus treats the Israelites well during their captivity, and God chooses to anoint Cyrus in the same way as a king of Israel would be anointed. Imagine – a foreign king who has no knowledge of the one true God has been chosen as the anointed of the one true God of the Israelites to be king. Why does God do this? God does so for the sake of his people and to make himself known to Cyrus and the Persians. God is greater than our preconceived ideas or even greater than God’s previous plans that we know.
The psalm continues this theme of the first reading, encouraging all lands to sing and praise God, even if they do not know him. God is not just for Israel, but for everyone. The other important message from the psalm is that the Lord is king and he alone. While we do have our temporal rulers set apart to rule over us, they do not detract from God’s kingship over us. In a sense, it really does not matter who is our ruler, for it does not change the fact that God is our king.
Paul makes this point to the Greeks in Thessalonica who have just accepted the word of God. Paul encourages them to rejoice in their calling, for the Gospel did not come to them in word alone, but through power in the Holy Spirit and conviction. God is not just for the Jews, but for everyone. They too are loved by God just as much as the original chosen people of Israel. That fact enables us to live in faith and love, serving without complaint no matter what our situation or condition.
Finally, we have the famous passage where Jesus is challenged with the question of whether it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not. Two different groups ask him this question – each of them having a political motive, as these groups were essentially political parties of the time. On the one hand, the Herodians were loyal to the Romans and supported tax payment, so that if Jesus rejected tax payment that would get him in trouble with the Romans. On the other hand, the Pharisees rejected tax payment, saying it was an offering to a false god. Thus, if Jesus accepted tax payment he would be in trouble with the larger Jewish community.
Thus, the answer Jesus gives transcends political understanding: ‘Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God the things that are God’s.’ In effect, what Jesus is saying is that if Caesar asks for the tax, give it to him, but in giving the tax it in no way diminishes God’s kingship over us. In reflecting on the idea of giving to God what belongs to God, we must ask ourselves what we have that does not come from God. We owe him our entire existence, and it is that which we owe to him.
What does this all mean for our own times? We’ve heard a lot about the upcoming election, and we have been told how to vote by various people. At the end of the day, it does not really matter who wins, for God is still God and we are still his people. If God can accept Cyrus and Caesar as rulers over his people, then he can certainly tolerate whomever wins our presidential race, and so should we.
