In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees sent their disciples to trap Jesus by questioning, “Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (Mt 22:18) Jesus saw through their duplicity and said to them, “Show me the coin that pays the census tax. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?” (Mt 22:18) They replied, “Caesar’s.” Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” (Mt 22:21) 

St. Matthew said that the Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus. Many of the Jews would refuse absolutely to pay those taxes because they would not cooperate with the Roman authorities. So, if Jesus said, "Pay the taxes," then the religious people who refused to accept the domination of Rome would reject Jesus, and if Jesus said, "Don't pay the taxes," then He would be in big trouble with the authorities. So, Jesus said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's but give to God what is God's." In this case, all He meant was: look at that coin. Whose picture is on it? It was Caesar's picture. In the Jewish situation, all the coins belonged to Caesar. The people who had them were only using what belonged to Caesar until Caesar said to give them back in taxes.

What Jesus is teaching us today is that we cannot separate between the spiritual kingdom of the Church and the secular kingdom of the state. Both are under the rule and authority of God because, according the Scriptures, God created the universe, the cosmos. He is the creator of all creation, God of all gods, and King of all kings. Humans are living in a materialistic and sophisticated age and governed by human leaders. These governors lead human beings and give them the rules, and they should obey the rules so it is easy for them. Just as Jesus said to his followers, "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees have the authority (power) to tell you what the law of Moses says. So you should obey the things they say. You should do all the things they tell you to do. But their lives are not good examples for you to follow. They tell you to do things, but they don't do those things themselves." (Mt 23: 1-3)

Jesus Christ was reminding the Pharisees, and also is reminding us, that coin in the pocket of one of us belongs to God, and even the persons ourselves belong to God too. Our biggest Governor is God, who is the Governor of the all the governors. Therefore, we should obey God rather than humans, “Repay… to God what belong to God.” (Mt 22:21) We work, pay taxes and become responsible citizens, and these things are necessary for the good of the society that we live in. However, we should never forget who we belong to. We belong to God, who gives the eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, and there is no other.

We are God’s people. We must not forget everything belongs to God. We in turn must give to God all of our life, just as Jesus says, "Give back to God what is God's," it means every part of our life. Our part is to listen to the Holy Spirit and cooperate with God’s grace to transform ourselves and to the world. Christ came from heaven to give the world peace and justice. In order to give the world peace and justice, He had to suffer, die, and be resurrected to save all humankind.

Let us be united with Jesus Christ, who changes the world by cooperating with God’s grace to bring the teaching of Jesus into the midst of people, so that we may reach out to the outcasts, those who are rejected in our society, by obeying Jesus’ words, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God's".