Reflection

Between a rock and a hard place. That is where Jesus finds himself in this Sunday’s gospel. The Jewish religious leaders posed a question to Jesus: “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” It is a query filled with such malice and hypocrisy. Malice because it was a question meant to trap Jesus. However he responds, Jesus will incur the ire of someone. If he said yes, the Jewish population under Roman rule will be offended. If he said no, the Romans will arrest him for insurrection.

His inquisitors were also hypocrites because when Jesus asked them to show him a coin, they had one with them. As religious leaders, they knew well not to worship engraved images. The coin they carried had the image of Caesar with the inscription he was the divine emperor. As Jesus would often do, he answers a question with a question: “Whose image and inscription is this?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Jesus tells them: “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

The response of Jesus is a guideline on how to relate our faith life and political life. Let me give you several examples where faith and politics interweaved. I remember in February, 1986 when the archbishop of Manila (who was my archbishop) Cardinal Jaime Sin, asked the people to go out to a street called EDSA to protect a group of soldiers who revolted against the authoritarian rule of then president Ferdinand Marcos. People responded to his call that led to the downfall of Marcos. Many people all over the world praised him but there were those who said he should not get involve with politics. In recent U.S. national and local elections, the U.S. bishops offered guidelines on how to pick candidates and the qualities they should have in keeping with our Christian faith. Many applauded the move. But there were those who said the church should keep out of politics. Pope John Paul II himself spoke against Communist authoritarian rule in his own country many times, criticizing the political leaders in Poland.

For some, there should be a clear demarcation line between faith and politics. Indeed, politics has its own realm of responsibility and so does religion and faith. When we speak of politics as partisanship, choosing one party and candidate over another, religion has no business in doing that. But when we speak of politics as the ethical and moral governance of the people, then religion has a responsibility to involved itself in those issues. That is what Jesus meant when he said to render to Caesar what’s his and to God what belongs to God. What belongs to God? Everything! Creation is his. Politics, then, cannot be independent of God. Our social, economic and political life belongs to God. All aspects of our lives must be informed and influenced by strong Christian moral principles.

Response

The separation of church and state refers to the prohibition of establishing any state religion. But it does not prohibit our faith from speaking out when the image of God imprinted in each person is violated by political power.