What Do We Truly Owe God?

Reflection for the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reubens, “The Tribute Money”Image from Wikimedia Commons

When our Lord asked the disciples to “give to Caesar what is due to Caesar, and to God what is due to God”, what do we have in mind?

The common conception is that, since the context is about paying taxes, it speaks of the division between our religious and civic duties, or to put it on a wider perspective, two aspects of our modern lives. We distinguish and set aside our faith, as a personal set of beliefs, on one side and on a certain day (or days) in our lives, while we regard our life in public, as citizens, workers, and members of families, on another. We tend to think that, like how we understand this separation between church and state (which is, in fact, merely a declaration that a democratic republic does not and should not take a state religion), there are parts of our lives that are “religious” in nature, while the rest of our preferences and our decisions should be left on our own decision alone, as if God does not have anything to do with it. 

But if we think of Our Lord’s words for a moment, we could ask: What does not really belong to God? From this follows another, closely related one: What, then, is due to God?

Image from Life-Giving Water

Our readings for this Sunday remind us of what it means to be believers, one which we see as a history of God naming and claiming his people to be his own. The Prophet Isaiah announced and described this claiming, as one that actually frees Israel from any form of slavery. In other words, the Lord claimed them in order for them to be truly themselves, that is, to be free from anything that hinders them from finding Him as the true end and purpose of their lives as a people. 

This is also at the heart of the second reading, in which St. Paul reminded us through his address to the Thessalonians. The gospel through which we find who we truly are and what we truly desire, that is, the life of being one with Christ, comes to us primarily because the Lord draws and calls us by the power of the Holy Spirit. But the Lord did not force it upon us; instead, He offered us true freedom from what truly enslaves us: sin and self-centeredness. His passion, death, and resurrection showed us what it means to be truly free, that is, to give our lives so that others may live. 

Photo from C4SO

And now that we have seen what the Lord has done for us, as well as the freedom that He gave us, we can ask again: What do we truly owe God? Everything came from Him, and He desires that everything, including our own selves through our choices, find in Him the true meaning and purpose of our lives. What ought we to give to God, then? 

Doubtlessly, everything that we are and everything that we have, and doing so means seeing and living in this world with this in mind. He calls us to be truly free, not just from sinfulness, but also for embracing our choices, and allowing them to be the paths in finding the true meaning and purpose in our lives. He calls us to see the world that is not meant to be separated from him, but at the same time not to control it according to our own whims and desires (and declaring it to be His will, when it comes at the cost of other people’s lives). He calls us to freely choose hope, peace, love, and companionship even though others would not choose to do so. 

This is what we owe God, and this is what we ought to give to God. Amen.