Reflecting on the Gospel passage this 29thSunday in Ordinary time which says that we must render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God the things that are God’s, we are led to ask: “How do we figure out what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God?”
What belongs to God? Everything and every task that is good, that leads to the praise and glory and worship of God belongs to God. Every activity that affirms the reality of God and His sovereignty over all creation is ultimately a spiritual activity, a spiritual obligation exercised by the human person. Interestingly, this spiritual activity is embodied in human activity itself. It is right where human persons perform their task of actualizing their capabilities, their making use of their judgments, of executing their choices and decisions, that things and tasks proper to the praise and glory and worship of God are also lived out and actualized.
What does this mean to us therefore? When Jesus said, render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God, He did not make a sharp division or dichotomy between human activity and spiritual activity, or between human obligation and spiritual obligation. Any dichotomizing can only be artificial, particularly noting that everything good comes from the same, one Source: God who is all Good.
The applicability of Jesus words comes down to this: to what degree, in what ways are we giving to God what is His? More particularly, to what degree, and in what ways is the image of Christ evident in us?
May God our Father, guide, direct, and empower us to be for Him all that He has created us to be. And, may Jesus, whose image we bear, find at the Judgment that we have rendered to Him what is worthy for Him to receive from us: our thanksgiving, our praise, and our service.
Peace and blessings,
Fr. Erick