Dear Saints,

It’s fun to revel in how thoroughly Jesus outwits his interlocutors in today’s Gospel, but we ought not pass over the plan for life embedded within his clever comeback.

What belongs to God? In a word, everything. He is the author of all creation, and there is not a single realm of reality that is not his. Nothing can be bifurcated or detached from him, or it will ultimately cease to exist – including Caesar. Everything comes from God, and everything must return to him.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that we disregard the IRS. Government plays an important role in promoting the common good, and the legitimate rule of law dictates that we fulfill our shared responsibilities to one another. But we pay taxes the way we do everything else: for God’s sake. It is his image we bear, and him to whom we belong. When we get that first reality right and willingly turn our entire lives over to him, everything else will work itself out on his time and in his way.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ