give to Ceasar what is Ceasar's and to God???

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew 22: 15-21 “Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s and give to God what is God.” We, as good Catholics and also as good Americans understand well what Jesus is saying here. The Gospel underlines our belief in the strict separation of Church and State. We pay our taxes, we vote, we do our good civic duty, this is the Ceasar part in our nice little box over here and the other side we have our Church. We support our Church, we keep the 10 commandments, we go to mass, we celebrate the sacraments a nice little division between the two. That’s why we priests shouldn’t talk about political things, we should just talk about spiritual things. Don’t talk about Black Lives Matter, the propositions on the ballot, health care and the like, I’m blurring the lines. And on the other side that is why a judge can leave her faith in the cloak room and not allow her faith to color the way that she will judge. Bertrand Russell was an English Philosopher from the 20th century. He wrote a great deal on the separation of Church and state. Defining the two separate spheres with very little overlap. He also hated Catholicism. He said that all of the major Christians understand well this concept of church and state, they are very comfortable going to church on Sunday and working in an abortion clinic Monday to Friday because they give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s and on Sunday they give to God what is God’s. He said Catholics couldn’t be trusted though, he said that their understanding of the sacraments and the universality of salvation made us suspect. I must admit that I agree with Mr. Russell. I don’t understand this idea of separation of Church and state. The Gospel says that the Pharisees and Herodians came to Jesus with a question. Not because they wanted to know, not because they were seeking understanding, not to clarify a difficult question, but because they wanted to trip him up. They didn’t want to know anything about Jesus’ belief. They were interested in a gotcha. They thought they caught Jesus is a lose lose. Israel was an occupied territory during Jesus’ time. The people weren’t free and taxes were seen as unjust, they were taking from the people especially the poor and they were sent to Rome so Ceasar could build his palaces and throw parties. Jesus very cleverly asks the Herodians for a coin. Why? Because Jesus had no coins, Jesus didn’t participate in the unjust social system of the Romans, he stayed out of it. He looked at the coin and asked, “whose image is this?” “Ceasar’s” They replied. ‘Then give it to Ceasar… but everything else, give it to God.” Now this is why I agree with Russell’s criticism of us Catholics. I think even in this fractured time that we are living in we want good governement. We want government that builds roads, provides good schools, keeps us safe from fire and crime with police and firefighters. We can say that that is the political realm. But what is the religious realm? What is it that belongs to God? And what is it that doesn’t belong to God? If you are like me I think you will say, “there is nothing that doesn’t belong to God. Everything is God’s so all belongs to God.” So does the faith of a Catholic Judge influence her in the courtroom? You bet it does? And you know what? It makes her better judge because of it. In the same way the school teacher allows her faith to influence her in the classroom and she is a better teacher. The same is true of the firefighter, the business man, the lawyer and even a priest. Our faith doesn’t just influence the way we see things, it shapes the way we see things. Jesus asked the Herodians, “whose image is on the coin?” In the same I ask you, “whose image are we made in?” We are made in God’s image, it is his image we bear. We never leave our faith to one side. A catholic can’t separate church and state because we know that all we have and all we are belongs to God.