Sunday Gospel Comment

 

Alberic Jacovone OSB

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YEAR A

Is 45,1.4-6; 1 Thess 1,1-5; Mt 22,15-21

You are that "Coin" ! 

Whose head & whose inscription? As we read today story, we can’t help admiring how astutely Jesus side-steps his opponents’ trap, confuses the issue and avoids being caught into a net where he could not avoid blame, whatever was his reply. Picture Jesus in the story: He is in Jerusalem, in the Temple area. He has caused an uproar, by expelling from the Temple: buyers, sellers & money-changers, all trafficking with Imperial coins bearing Caesar’s head & inscription. Everywhere around the temple, the symbols of the powerful Roman Empire are prominent. People resent and hate the exorbitant taxes imposed on them. Huge medallions, statues and images of Caesar dominate in strategic places, to remind worshippers what would happen if anyone dared defiance or revolt. Jesus is questioned for the sole purpose of exposing him as political agitator, which in the end was the accusation placed on him, before Pontius Pilate’s court. No matter how Jesus answered the question, he would stand condemned either way: showing support for the Roman Empire or promoting defiance... However, while this line of thought is well placed, the Gospel story has its own meaning and logic. Jesus’ answer is not meant to be a simple and clever way of avoiding a trap. It has its own perennial meaning, which we are asked to comprehend and pursue. Indeed, Jesus’ question poses a huge challenge not just to his opponents at his time, but to every generation of Christians. We are all asked: Whose image and whose inscription is on that coin: remember, you are that coin. Indeed, you are God’s ‘tribute-money’; on you there is the imprint of God. Yes, each of us is a ‘little coin’ bearing the image and likeness of the divine emperor.

How are we God’s image? Today’s story, for all its subtle side-stepping & hidden traps, contains a profound wisdom, a teaching and an example: it spells the truth about who we really are, and what are we worth in God’s sight. The first page of the Bible says that we are created in the likeness and image of God; we bear the imprint of God’s glorious face. Of course, Jesus -as God’s Son- is the perfect image, imprint & copy of God (Col 1,15). The way St Paul puts it is that we are con-formed to the image of God’s Son (Rm 8,29) and trans-formed into the likeness and experience of his glory (2Cor 3,18). This point deserve an explanation. We are formed in the Image of God. Then -as we go through the consolations and tribulations of life- we often become de-formed by evil and sin. At the same time, we are constantly re-formed by grace, reconciliation, prayer and sacraments; constantly too, we are in-formed by Sacred Scripture and the Church’s teaching. Slowly, we become con-formed to Christ, as we live through suffering, death and resurrection. Finally, we become trans-formed in glory. Behind this teaching, (holding as it were, all its themes together), lies the ‘right brain’ image that God the ‘Potter’, who works at the wheel and moulds our life out of clay: ‘as clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hands’ (Jer 18,2+). We learn to live with integrity and justice, leaving things in God’s hands and accepting the full impact of our responsibilities. Lesson: With Jesus, who today speaks with authority, consider what image you bear in your life and ask yourself: whose image, whose head and inscription? If your answer is: God’s, then say to yourself: why not give to God what belongs to God? The perennial question for Matthew and us, is that ‘Money’ -indeed any kind of gain-, can quickly become a God. It must never take the place of God. Let’s pray & hope that God is always first in our life.

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