Today we are called to reflect about what we give to God and what we should give to God since everything belongs to Him. Today is opportunity to check if we give to God ourselves 100%. In today’s gospel, we see how the Pharisees were looking for the way to condemn Jesus. That is why they started to plot against him, they needed a case to arrest Him. They asked him a tricky question : is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? If Christ just said yes, pay taxes to Caesar: The Pharisees would say, “See, he supports the occupation of the Romans and the people would despise Christ and stop listening to him. If he says “don’t pay your taxes”, he would be in trouble with authority and they would kill Him. Either way, He would be in trouble. It was a dilemma, because regardless his response, they will find a way to condemn Him. So Jesus saw the Hypocrisy of the Pharisees and said to them: Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. Jesus escapes from their trap. By stating, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God, Jesus is telling the Pharisees that if they are concerned and careful about paying taxes to the state, they should be much more concerned and careful about their service to God and their obligations to Him as their Creator and Lord. Basically, Jesus was telling the Pharisees to pay taxes; but to keep in mind that their heart and their soul belong to God. Today Jesus is addressing the same message to us: Jesus is asking us to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. The question is: What do we give to Caesar and what do we give to God? And how? So, as Christians, we give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar when we obey the government. When we fulfill our duties to our country. When we pay taxes and when we respect the just laws of the State. Another way of “giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s” is to vote and participate actively in the running of the government, and electing the candidates. Similarly, we give to God what He deserves, everything. We give to God all we are and all we have. Everything belongs to Him, even Caesar. Everything is a gift. We are just managers or stewards of God’s gifts. In “giving to God what is God’s,” we are “doing justice to God.” Since everything belongs to God, we must give ourselves to Him 100%, not just 10% on Sundays. We must give to God 100% of our time… time to pray , time to read the Scriptures. We give to God what belong to God when we give to the church what we have. Know that your giving helps the Church to do God’s work to evangelize and to change lives.
