October 18, 2026, at Saint Peter and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL
Isaiah 45: 1, 4-6 + Psalm 96 + Thessalonians 1: 1-5 + Matthew 22: 15-21
Jesus must have enjoyed the rich irony of the group that came together approaching him that day. They were Herodians and Pharisees who had significant ideological differences. That’s a preacher’s way of saying they despised one another. Yet, they came together because they both chose to see Jesus as a rival. Bringing them together made for great public theater, and Jesus made the best of it. We ought to notice that Jesus does not have the coin he asks for on his person. Those questioning him do have one. He is not part of the system in question, while they clearly are.
If anyone thinks that this text acknowledges or affirms the separation of church and state, as a framework by which we might identify which part of our lives is subject to which power, they could not be further from the truth. Jesus made if perfectly clear that no one could serve two masters. When Jesus uses the word, “image,” he brings Genesis to the mind of his foes and for us as well. That word in Genesis teaches that male and female are created in the divine image. That question, “Whose image” created an echo in the minds of these men steeped in Scriptures. It reminded them that every person is the image of God. With that, the answer to their question is obvious, everything is part of God’s creation destined for God’s purpose. It’s not half and half.
The image of God is not depicted on gold. It is imaged in humanity. No nation can co-opt Christ for politics. Jesus did not endorse the separation of church and state. That idea did not yet exist. This idea is a comfortable and sometime convenient way of avoiding the truth that we are children of the same Father and as such we are obliged to love and care for one another.
Human rights do not come from governments. In 1791 10 of James Madison’s 19 human rights were ratified in this country as though a nation was the source of human rights. After the Second World War, the United Nation issued a Universal Declaration of Human rights. Yet in our era of powerful nation-states, those rights only mean what those states allow them to signify. People still must leave their homes, searching for a basic standard of living for themselves and their children. Migrants become stateless standing like beggars on the borders of powerful nations that pay lip service to “the pursuit of happiness.”
Saint Augustin insisted that human rights are rooted in our common, divine origin. All human beings were created to know, love and serve God. All of us are called into divine life through the life, death and resurrection of the Christ. Therefore, each of us must recognize in the other a fellow creature, someone also called into existence by God, equally loved by God.
This is what Jesus Christ stands before us to say through this old story in Matthew’s Gospel. This ridiculous scene of Herodians and Pharisees coming together to trap Jesus is ironic comedy. If he said “Don’t pay” he rebelled against the Romans. If he advised paying, he affirmed the Roman’s right to collect taxes. He did neither. God does not see lines we draw on globes or maps, and when it comes to human rights, we should remember where they come from and who we are all together.