Twenty-ninth
Sunday of Ordinary Time (A) [Mt 22:15-21]
18.10.2026
The Question about Paying Taxes to Emperor Caesar
1. Theme in brief
Obedience to God versus obedience
to the State
2. Focus Statement
We must
give to the State (‘Caesar’) the things that belong to it, and to God the
things that belong to him; and only when the State goes against God’s laws, we
are bound to disobey it.
3. Explanation of
the text
According to today’s
gospel text, the Pharisees sent their disciples along with the Herodians to entrap Jesus
about the question of paying taxes to the Roman government headed by Emperor Caesar (22:15,17).
[Herodians were a group of people within
Jewish society who were sympathetic to the Roman government]. Their question
was whether it was lawful to pay taxes to a foreign government (22:17).
If Jesus were to say: “You must pay taxes,” the Pharisees would accuse him of
being a traitor
who colluded with the foreign occupiers. In that case he would be branded as an
enemy of the Jewish nation. If he were to say: “Do not pay at all,” the
Herodians would bring a charge of subversion or sedition against him and report the
matter to Caesar. For this crime he could be executed. For Jesus, the question
was like a dead end!
Jesus answered their
question in such a way that he could escape from their trap. He found it unsafe
to clearly say either yes or no. He innocently asked them to show him a coin
with which they paid their taxes (22:19). They quickly took out a denarius from
their pockets which, as devout Jews, they were not supposed to carry, because
it had the Emperor’s image on it. He asked them, "Whose head is
this and whose title” (22:20)? In other words, whose image was printed on that
coin? And they had to admit that it was Caesar’s (22:21). He answered
them by saying that they should give back to Caesar what is Caesar's due,
and to God what is God's due (22:21). Greek philosophers in ancient
days said that real justice implied "giving back to everyone what is their
due." If so, what Jesus probably meant was, as per the principle of
justice, all people, including Caesar, should get what was due to them. In
other words, they must give to the State (‘Caesar’) the things that belonged to
it, and not things that belonged to God (22:21). Even the State (‘Caesar’) must
render to God what belongs to him and must be subjected to his laws. Thus, Jesus
accepted the legitimate
claims of the State over its citizens, but refused to give it divine rights.
He insisted that God’s claim over us was far superior to the State’s.
By giving such an
answer Jesus acknowledged that there were things that were properly under the jurisdiction of
the government, and things that were not. To render to Caesar what is
Caesar's, is to return his own coin to him by paying taxes and fulfilling one’s
duties towards
the State; to render to God what is God's is to worship and serve him alone
(cf. 4:10). Jesus probably meant that the Pharisees were confusing others about
what belonged to God and what belonged to the State; they were rendering to
neither what belonged to them. They were not giving government its due,
and were refusing God his due since they rejected Jesus’ message of God’s Kingdom.
Since they were
carrying and using the offensive coin, Jesus called them hypocrites who
were putting him to the test (22:18). Both the groups were paying the
taxes by using the Roman coin. Thus they indirectly acknowledged the Roman authority
over them. Jesus’ shrewd reply did not give any chance to either party to catch
him. Though they failed in their plot at this point and faced a great deal of
embarrassment, they never gave up this charge till the last moments of his life.
At the time of his trial later on, one of the charges they would bring against him
before Pilate would be that he forbade paying taxes to Caesar (Lk 23:2).
4.
Application to life
Today’s gospel text
deals with some interesting questions: How to deal with the issues of conflict that
may sometimes arise between God and Caesar (that is, worldly rulers and
governments), the Church and the State, citizenship of this world and of the
A Christian must decide
what Caesar’s domain is rightfully and what can be claimed by God alone. Who
has sovereignty
– government or God – over which matters? What is truly God’s, what
is State’s? Let us see what we should render to God. As per our faith,
"The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it" (Psalm 24:1). Since
all that we are and have are God’s gifts to us, we are bound in justice to give back
to God our gratitude, faithfulness, trust and submission. Our constant acts of
praise and thanksgiving to God, especially in the Eucharistic celebration, are
nothing but our way of paying back what we owe to God. We are called
to serve and worship him with single-minded devotion and holy lives. In
faith we hold that our bodies, souls, intellects, will and values are God's
gift to us. We owe God all these things so that we may use them for his purposes
or according to his will and for the service of our neighbour.
Similarly, all natural laws,
natural justice, human and fundamental rights, freedom of speech and freedom of
faith and conscience belong to God’s domain. Suppose a government denies
these rights or tramples upon them, then it oversteps its limits and takes the
role of God. In such matters we need not obey the State. Similarly, the mother
earth and her natural
resources are a gift from the Creator for our sustenance. If her
resources are overused and abused by over-exploitation either by the governments
or the corporate/business world, they overrule God’s own design and care for
humanity. They cannot say they have a right to do what they want with God’s
creation and cause ecological imbalance that threatens human
existence. This is exactly what Peter and other apostles proclaimed even in the
midst of persecutions in the early Church: “We must obey God rather than any
human authority” (Acts 5:29), because the Jewish religious authorities were
denying them the right to speak what in conscience they held to be true.
Now the question comes:
Is committed Christian discipleship opposed to being a good citizen of the
State? Not at all. Practising our faith in a committed manner does not excuse
us from our social and civic responsibilities, especially when they
do not conflict with our total allegiance to God. Which are the things that are
Caesar's? Generally speaking, the things that are Caesar's (or the
State’s) are what Caesar says they are, under his legitimate authority such as
taxes and public order. Whichever be the government, it is our duty to pay
legitimate taxes, since they are meant for common good. We have to respect and obey
lawfully constituted authority of the State (Government). On the contrary, sometimes
the laws of the State may clash with God’s laws, or with Christian faith and
morals. Take for instance, legalization of euthanasia, abortion, homosexual
marriages, etc., by some States. In these matters, we are bound to follow our
conscience rather than the State.
When a government provides
needed goods and services, then we must give back to the government our loyalty and
support. We should also protect public property out of concern for public
good. Certain misuse/ abuse of services provided by the Government
noticed in some regions are not so much against the Government or its property
(as people commonly think), but against human society. For instance: directly
hooking electricity from the overhead wires and using it freely to the extent
of burning all the lights at daytime also; travelling freely without tickets;
destroying public property, especially during riots and protests; using dubious
means to evade taxes; bypassing all established rules by bribing the officials;
etc. But where a government is a dictatorship that imposes itself on the
people's will, the principle of justice does not demand that people give their
loyalty and support. Mahatma Gandhi had launched a movement of civil
disobedience against the British government that ruled
Some use this gospel
text to justify unconditional
loyalty and support to corrupt and totalitarian governments. When
the Church criticizes such rulers or governments, they accuse her of
interfering in politics. They say that all civil, economic and social affairs
should be exclusive realm of the Sate and the Church as well as her ministers
should stick only to spiritual affairs. When a government commands people to do
what God forbids, or commands them not to do what God commands to do, should
the Church or her ministers not stand for God and perform their prophetic role
of raising voices in protest? Should Christians co-operate and collaborate with
the government’s unjust, discriminatory and immoral decisions, policies and
actions? In such instances, Christians must obey God rather than human
authority, exactly as Peter had declared before his religious authorities in
his days. (See above).
There is a possibility
that our disobedience
to Caesar in order to be faithful to God will cost a lot: We may be accused as
anti-national or unpatriotic, or may have to face heavy sanctions by the
government, harassment from the officials, brutality of the police, arrest, imprisonment,
or even death – as it happens in some parts of the world. Christians employed
in government services may not be able to go against a government’s unjust
policies for the sake of safeguarding their jobs. But does it mean they should
prevent their own people from protesting against violations of human rights
by their government by threatening them with dire consequences? They have to
answer this question before God.
It is clear that God
alone has absolute
claims over our lives. But, besides worldly rulers/ governments/
regimes as mentioned above, there are other powers that vie to make their
claims over us or try to rule over our hearts. In modern world, consumerism
and materialism
can compete with our absolute loyalty to God. If not guarded, money and
possessions can become our lords that dilute our absolute allegiance to God
alone. We can divide our property, but we can never divide our loyalty to God.
Many of our currency coins or notes are bearing the image of past political
rulers or national leaders who are dead. But we should not forget that we bear
the image
and likeness of the living God to whom alone our life and
everything else belongs.
5. Response to God's Word
When the laws of the
State go against the laws of God or against our faith and moral principles, whom
do we obey: God or the State? Do we render to God what belongs to him by
showing our gratitude, single-minded devotion, faithfulness, trust and
submission to him? Do we render to the State what are its legitimate rights?
Are we faithful to our social and civic responsibilities? Do we pay legitimate taxes
to the government or try to evade them by dubious means? Do we misuse and
abuse public property and public utility services?
6. A prayer
Father, the supreme
Governor of the universe, we render you all praise, honour, glory, thanksgiving
and worship. All that we are and all that we have comes from you and belongs to
you. To you we return everything with total gratitude and trust. Grant that we
may work for common good by faithfully fulfilling our civic and social
responsibilities. Bless all governments and political leaders that may govern
their States with justice and truth. Give us the courage to stand firm on your
laws even at the cost of disobedience to the State when it negates them. Amen.
