Gospel:
The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”
Knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Ceasar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."
Gospel Trivia:
The Pharisees and Herodians both play a part in this passage and we should understand their respective roles during the time of Jesus. They are both groups or sects at that time, together with Sadducees, Zealots, Essenes and others.
The Pharisees is a religious group that were regarded as authorities or interpreters of the law. They of course did not endorse the payment of taxes to the Roman emperor since that would mean recognizing the emperor's authority over God. (Everyone also of course resented paying taxes). The Herodians were ardent supports of King Herod, who was a Jewish (puppet) king installed by the colonial Romans. They endorsed the payment of taxes.
The question posed to Jesus -- "Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?"" -- is a constant and personal debate among Jews, and is both a legal and theological question. It is also a trick question. If Jesus said yes, then that means inheriting the ire of most Jews who resented the Romans. If he said no, then he would be branded as a rebel.
Jesus' familiar answer -- "Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God" -- answers the question from both a legal and theological standpoint. Jesus reply is not a matter of distinction between the material and spiritual spheres. It means one should satisfy the material demands of society, so long as God's commands are held supreme.
Note that Jesus asks whose image it is that is shown in the denarius. The money of society belongs to the emperor, but humanity itself is made in the image of God and belongs to God.
Reference:
- Nil Guillemette, SJ, A Kingdom for All (Makati: St. Paul's Publications), pp. 236-238.
Further comments: As the passage relates to the separation of Church and State.
This passage is often quoted also as the basis of the separation of Church and State and it is appropriate to make a few comments about it. Such a principle does not mean a separation in the sense that one should not have anything to do with the other; but that the Church and State should dialogue and engage each other because they both have the same end: the human person and the common good.
The Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes has this to say:
Article 76. The Church, by reason of her role and competence, is not identified in any way with the political community nor bound to any political system. She is at once a sign and safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person.
The Church and the political community in their own fields are autonomous and independent from each other. Yet both, under different titles, are devoted to the personal and social vocation of the same person. The more that both foster sounder cooperation between themselves with due consideration for the circumstances of time and place, the more effective will their service be exercised for the good of all.
For humanity's horizons are not limited only to the temporal order; while living in the context of human history, he preserves intact his eternal vocation. The Church, for her part, founded on the love of the Redeemer, contributes toward the reign of justice and charity within the borders of a nation and between nations.
Gospel:
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.” ’ Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’ The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Gospel Trivia:
This is a rather strange gospel. A king throws a wedding feast for his son and sends his servants to invite guests. The guests refuse the invitation from the king (an unlikely occurrence since this is a royal invitation). Not only do the invited guests refuse, they kill the servants who invited them. The king is enraged and destroys the city of the murderers. Both the killing of the servants and the revenge of the king happen in a few hours.
Finally, the king invites everyone on the streets, but criticizes one who is not properly dressed and is sent out to the darkness. Would it have been better had he not attended the wedding in the first place?
This parable is actually two parables in one -- the first concerns the substitution of the unworthy guests, and the second is about the expulsion of the guest without the proper attire.
The message of the "first" parable follows that of the two previous Sundays: the people of Israel were the chosen people, but did not listen to the prophets sent to them (as symbolized by the servants who invited guests to the wedding feast). Instead, the Jewish people reduced faithfulness to God as simply based on strictly following the letter of the laws of Moses; and, worse, ignored the law above all laws, to love God and to love thy neighbor.
The Kingdom of God, says Matthew, are not for the rule-followers, but for those who love and forgive, care for the poor and widows, and works for justice for the oppressed. (For better appreciation of the meaning of the "Kingdom of God", click here.)
The "second" parable was probably added later on by Matthew and combined with the "first" one. It reflects the open and unconditional welcome of the early Church of believers from all nations. Still, it is not enough that one is baptized and becomes an "official" member of the church; the baptized also must perform the works of the true Christian.
Reference:
- Nil Guillemette, SJ, Parables for Today (Manila: St. Paul's Publications, 1987), pp. 98-101.
Gospel:
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Gospel Trivia:
Similar to last Sunday's gospel, the Pharisees are here to test Jesus. During Jesus' time, Jewish law contained 613 commandments, a formidable number from which to choose which one could be regarded as the greatest. For more trivia on Jewish laws, click here.
We all know Jesus reply -- love God and love your neighbor -- but this can be better appreciated because of the following:
- the "first" commandment does not mean that it is the first among many, but the first in significance. (Note: God is not to be obeyed as a subject obeys a king, but to be loved as a child loves a parent).
- the "second" does not mean second in rank but "another," just as important and equally significant as the first.
- "heart, soul and mind" means the "total person"; in fact, in Jewish anthropology, mentioning "heart" would have been sufficient in referring to the whole person.
Finally, the significance of the these two commandments is NOT that they are new commandments of Jesus; for indeed these two are written in different parts of Jewish law. But for the first time, Jesus coupled them together and synthesized all the laws of Moses into just two. Further, this combination is not only a summary of all the laws, but its grounding and basis.
No need therefore to worry about all 613 laws. Just the two.
Reference:
- Nil Guillemette, SJ, A Kingdom for All (Makati: St. Paul's Publications), pp. 240-242.
Gospel:
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtains his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.”
Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”
Gospel Trivia:
This parable is considered an allegory, a literary style where the characters and events are used as symbols. (Note: not all parables are allegorical). It is also one of only four parables that appear in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke; which indicate that it is one of the main themes that is important to all three evangelists.
In this parable:
- the landowner is God,
- the vineyard is the people of Israel -- who were considered as the "chosen ones" of Yahweh. (Incidentally, the response in the responsorial psalm confirms this: "The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel).
- the servants are the prophets that spoke God's message and were ignored by the people of Israel
- the son is Jesus.
Finally, note to whom this parable is being told by Jesus -- the chief priests and elders. In last Sunday's gospel, these were the same people that were being criticized by Jesus as merely good in following the many laws and rules of the Jewish religion, but failed to practice the primary law of loving God through neighbor.
Once again, Matthew criticizes them as not listening to the early prophets who preached justice for the oppressed, care and preference for the poor, and putting mercy and forgiveness above rules and laws.
God has given up on them and proclaims that the Kingdom of God is among those whose hearts are filled with the spirit of the commandment of love, and not among those who believe that righteousness is based simply on faithfulness to rules and pious practices.
(For more on what Matthew means about the Kingdom of God, click here).
- Nil Guillemette, SJ, Parables for Today (Manila: St. Paul's Publications, 1987), pp. 91-93.
