I have often wondered if I should apply for a Filipino passport, becoming a dual citizen in the process. Currrently, I hold only a British passport and though I’m a proud subject of King Charles, I highly value my Filipino heritage too. I would not be who I am without it.
This Sunday’s Gospel reminds us that, in truth, we are all dual citizens. The Pharisees who asked Jesus if it was permissable to pay Ceasar taxes were interested in one thing: getting Jesus in trouble with the authorities. Jesus saw through their ploy, but instead of ignoring or humiliating them, he taught them a lesson. And that lesson is as valid today as it was twenty centuries ago: Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.
Every Christian holds dual citizenship, each one having its own benefits and duties. Our birth made us citizens of an earthly nation; our baptism made us citizens of a heavenly Kingdom. Sometimes they overlap, but in the end, our earthly citizenship will finish, while our heavenly citizenship will last forever. It’s obvious which one is more important.
Through the centuries, the many Christian saints and martyrs have taught us that if we are ever forced to choose between the two, if ever Caesar tries to take what belongs to God, we must be faithful to our true, everlasting homeland, even if it means suffering painful consequences here on earth. There is no greater example of this than St Thomas More. He had been extremely loyal to his friend and king, Henry VIII, but when he had to choose between his laws and God’s laws, he chose the latter and paid with his life.
Today’s Gospel tells us to give to God what belongs to God. But what exactly belongs to God? All of us know the answer immediately; it is written in the very first pages of the Bible. All that we are, all that we possess, and all that we can hope for has come to us from God. Just as the Roman coin bore the image of the Emperor who made it, so the human soul bears the “image and likeness” of God (Genesis 1:26), our Creator and our Father. He called each one of us into existence; he wants each of us to exist, so that we can enter into and develop a personal relationship with him.
This is the whole purpose of our lives: to live in communion with God, starting now and leading into everlasting life. As the Catechism puts it (#44): “Coming from God, going toward God, man lives a fully human life only if he freely lives by his bond with God.” Freely living by our bond with God means living as he created us to live. And he has shown us how to do that by sending us his Son, the model of every Christian life, the Friend of every human soul. And so, giving to God what belongs to God means obeying his commandments, following the example of Christ, our Saviour and older Brother, and heeding the teachings of his Church. Ignoring God and his commandments, as if he were far away, uninterested, or foolish — that would be a kind of spiritual thievery, like stealing the Emperor’s coins.
The duties of our earthly citizenship are just as real, although they will only last for our lifetime here on earth – not forever. Jesus sums them up by saying, “Give to Caesar was belongs to Caesar.”
