Our first reading from Isaiah is a good example that knowing a little bit about the historical background of a scriptural passage can help illumine the meaning of the text. At first glance, it seems that the Israelites, taken into Babylonian captivity, are finally about to receive their freedom. It sounds like God has again chosen one of them to lead the people out of slavery. The language and imagery reinforce the impression that this leader, called Cyrus, is the chosen one, specially selected to accomplish God’s plan of liberation. He is called “anointed” which, translated from Hebrew, yields our word “messiah.” The Greek of “messiah” is “christos”–a title we translate as “Christ.”
This Cyrus is to be God’s anointed, the way David, the king was. God grasps Cyrus by the right-hand, a traditional gesture which would signify that God has given Cyrus royal authority over the Israelites. Just as God called Jacob-Israel by name, so now God calls Cyrus. (“I called you by your name.”) Who is this great Israelite leader Cyrus anyway? There is our mistake… if we presume God will only use one of the Israelites to bring about their freedom.
Cyrus isn’t an Israelite, he is a Persian king and God is going to use him as an instrument to free the Israelite people. Cyrus had defeated the Babylonians, who had taken the Israelites into exile. After his victory he allowed the Israelites to return home. What the Israelites had longed for, God accomplished through a pagan ruler! If God only worked through the Israelites, other nations would have seen God as only the God of the Israelites. But if their God could work through others, then the God of Israel is also the God of all peoples.
Well, Israel must have done some wonderful things to have gotten God to respond to them, even going so far as to use a pagan ruler on their behalf. Wrong! They were helpless and could do nothing to earn God’s intervention. So, God had taken the initiative and chosen to come to their rescue–again.
I wonder how many times God has helped me through the most unlikely people? How many times has a person (or an institution) of another religion, or even an unbeliever, said or done something that brought me to my senses; guided me when I was confused; supported me as I worked through a problem; helped me in a time of transition; made me aware of a social need, etc.? The prophet Isaiah is reminding us once again that we can’t box God into our little world view or fixed expectations about who God is and how God acts. There is one God who chooses to bring about good for us through many human and sometimes surprising, instruments.
For the next two weeks we will be hearing a continual reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. Today we hear the letter’s opening greeting. Paul begins in the traditional Hellenistic way: he identifies himself (along with Silvanus and Timothy) and those to whom he is writing. Then he has a greeting and a statement of thanksgiving. The letter’s message follows.
Paul and his companions founded the Thessalonian church. He reminds them that they are now, as baptized Christians, living in God’s life. Judging from Paul’s greeting the Thessalonians converts must have been living an exemplary life. But there is a suggestion that the Thessalonians are undergoing some suffering for their faith and Paul acknowledges their “endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
If I were a member of a church undergoing one or another form of testing a congratulatory letter from someone like Paul would go a long way towards bolstering my morale and endurance in hard times. Paul reminds the Thessalonians that the gospel came with “power in the Holy Spirit” and suggests that the Thessalonians not only heard the word of the gospel, but saw its effects on people’s lives. If we are going through a testing time it’s good to have someone who knows our history remind us how God helped us in the past. Such a reminder can build hope and enable endurance.
In the light of what Paul did for the Thessalonians we can ask ourselves: Is there someone who needs to hear an encouraging word from us? When I try to give that support will I merely just reassure them, “There, there, you’ll be fine”? Or, if they are believers, do I, as Paul does to the Thessalonians, remind them of the faith they have received and how God was their source of power and endurance in the past? Will I speak strengthening words, not on my own, but supported by the divine power that is the message of the gospel? Even if they are not believers, I’m sure they will be comforted by our sensitivity to their plight, our presence with them in their struggles and even our assurance of prayers.
Death and taxes, we are told, are inevitable. There is a lot of heat in the nation these days about who should be taxed and how much taxes people should pay. But as hot as that topic is, it isn’t anywhere near the white-hot debate about taxes among the Jews in Jesus’ time. When he was asked by the Pharisees’ disciples and the Herodians whether or not they should pay taxes, they were trying to back Jesus into a corner by raising a issue of deep division among the Jewish people.
The Jews were burdened by having to pay two taxes: a “temple tax” to the Jewish authorities and the tax to the occupying Romans. The Romans taxed lands, harbors and imports. Herod the Great taxed agriculture and any merchandise bought or sold. Taxes were also laid on property and duties were collected at the gates of cities. To add insult to injury the coins used for the taxes had an imprint of Caesar on them, with an inscription implying his divinity. This was an insult to the monotheistic Jews who forbade any images to the gods.
The two groups who confronted Jesus represented two current and contrary positions. The Pharisees didn’t approve of the Gentile rule over the Jewish people, while Herodians collaborated with the Romans. The tax in question was probably the poll tax paid to the Romans. To pay that tax was a constant reminder of the Roman oppression. If Jesus agreed that tax should be paid he would have lost any credibility he had with the Jews; if he favored not paying the tax, the Romans would have seized him for promoting insubordination.
Jesus quite simply asks for the coin they were carrying. It had Caesar’s image on it, with the titles of political power and divine status. If Jesus’ opponents had the coin, they must have been using it to pay the Roman tax. Hence he calls them hypocrites–and so they were.
How can we “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God?” Our involvement in the life of a nation, for example, means more than just paying taxes. We cannot exempt ourselves from involvement in the betterment of members of our civic community. We cannot live isolated religious lives–not if we believe that the reign of God is in our midst. As God anointed Cyrus, so are we called to be God’s servants and instruments for the freedom of all people. Each of us has to decide how we can participate in bringing about this freedom. Some of us are called to be God’s active instruments and voices in civic life. Others might have a more personal role and, as Paul suggests to the Thessalonians, share our faith with others with “much conviction.”
I have heard some super-nationalistic people say, “My country right or wrong.” But when the rule of the nation conflicts with the rule of God then our choices are quite plain. We “repay” to God what belongs to God by participating in the building up of God’s kingdom on earth: preserving the rights of all people; promoting respect and the well-being of each person in our community and working for peace in the human family. We can “repay to Caesar” by working for the common good. Isn’t that what human government is supposed to do? When government fails in its duty then our primary loyalty is to God and we do what we must to help the human community reflect the dignity God has bestowed on its members.
Each individual is a “coin of God.” We belong to God and God has stamped the divine image into each of us. Jesus might be saying to his inquisitors: “Give to Caesar the few coins you have, but remember that each of you is a treasure to God and you owe God your primary and total loyalty.” When the divine image in a person or people is violated each of us has the obligation to come to the aid of the ones in need. In doing so, we are “repaying” to God what is God’s.