A co-worker told me this story:
"I was in a parking lot some months ago and I was trying to back out of a tight spot. I was just about out
of it and was making a hard turn to exit the lot when I hit a police car that was sitting nearby. I stopped
and asked if any of the three policemen inside was hurt and they all said it was alright. There was a little
scrape on the side of the police vehicle and no damage to my car. So we exchanged information and I was about
to leave when an ambulance arrived. The cops all were transported to a hospital to be observed. I was told
it was "standard procedure". I reported the incident to my insurance company and that was it. I did not hear
anything about it for five or six weeks so I called my agent to see what had come of the incident. The agent
told me that the cops were each given $20,000 for various injuries and time lost from work. I was very angry
and surprised because I thought there was so little damage and the officers all said they were alright. My agent
told me that it was cheaper to pay-up then to try and win a counter suit against cops." My co-worker protested
and made it clear that this outcome was not just and fair. But to no avail. The agent and his company had
caved in to the real world order.
How would we have done things if we were in the situation? If we were the cops, if we were the insurance agent or company? How does being a believer affect our actions. Or do they affect our actions?
My co-worker was trying to do the right thing and what he experienced was not what he had hoped for. He tried to give to Caesar what was Caesar's, truth and obedience. But Caesar, in the person of the cops took what was not rightfully theirs. There seems to be two ways of living life, two "boxes" we put our stuff of faith into, the stuff in Caesar's box and the stuff in God's box. We, as God's created beings, know instinctively how to live; and we have to be given principles of how to do God's will.
We have come to believe we must live honest lives informed by these Christian values, but generally, unless we are doing something clearly wrong, we continue to live and work without much reference to what we have in our "God box". We do well with the Caesar box but often find it a little less comfortable in the "God box". We seem to have an easier time living "out there" in the world. I am reminded of the way the Jews of the 1st century had to live under the occupation of Rome. They had to negotiate the dual society of an occupied land and still remain true to their status as the "chosen people." It was not an easy path to tread. How could they be a good citizen and a true follower of the one true God?
In Matthew Chapter 22:15-21, the story of "rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's", we find a story that is so relevant to us in today's dualistic society. Jesus is confronted by officials of the temple who want to trap him by asking if it is lawful to pay the tax that the pagan Romans have imposed on the people. By this they hoped they could expose Jesus as being either a collaborator or a fraud. Jesus turns the challenge back on his adversaries. He asks them to show him the coin that pays the tax. They have one with them so they are already decided what they will do. He sees through their duplicitous action. He asks them a question, "whose likeness is on the coin?" and gives them a response as to how they are to live in the world, "then render to Caesar....." This response asks us to focus on the other box. It is God's box and when we reflect on this part of the question, we see that the God area of our lives is not so conveniently defined and set apart from the day-to-day of living. Instead, "what belongs to God" for the devout Jewish listeners in the 1st century and for us disciples of today is all encompassing. There can be no part time observance or separate areas of our lives that "belong to God". Just as one can not be "a little pregnant".
While we may have to do what the law of the state calls for; Jesus does not advocate mere submission to Caesar's realm. We are to be obedient to secular authority as long as it is consistent with what God requires. (Those cops did not do this. The truth, not being injured, was submerged by their greed) Our obedience, our "repaying to Caesar" is right and necessary but we must always see our response to political dictates and the world's influence in the light of "what belongs to God".( My co-worker was responsible and responsive to the truth, the cops were not. They did what the world says to do....take the money and run.)
Jesus taught, by his actions and words, that dedication to God's ways and submission to God's will are primary to living as a disciple. It is also clear from church teaching that we Christians are called to engage the world and bring our beliefs with us into Caesar's domain. It is a hard thing to realize that when allegiance to God conflicts with allegiance to any other power, obedience must be to God. As it turns out then, our lives cannot be partitioned into two boxes. There is no "wiggle room", no part-time observance of what God requires because it all belongs to God. In this Post-Vatican 11 church we are reminded that our faith is to be taken out into the world and we must interpret our times in the light of the gospel. If we have any doubts about this call, all we have to do is read Papal and Episcopal documents that address: poverty, globalization, war, abortion, the death penalty, health care, the environment, the economy, etc. At first glance these things may seem to be in Caesar's box. But these teachings remind us that the church of Jesus' followers doesn't exist apart from the world and that we are called to be agents of change for peace and justice.
As it was in the days of the New Testament, we followers of Christ may have to live and work under various forms of governments, but we can't merely conform when structures and laws run counter to Jesus' vision for us. It is God's will that all people be treated justly, the poor cared for and everyone must be given respect and treated with dignity as a child of God. When the law has acted contrary to these basic beliefs and if we say and do nothing, then we are spending too much time with our minds and hearts in the Caesar's box. We soon may begin to lose our identity as one of those who love God "with all our heart, soul, and mind and our neighbor as our self."
As disciples, God wants us to work for the betterment of all in society and we are called to take with us into the world what we have learned from Jesus about "what belongs to God." To be true disciples we must decide where our ultimate loyalties lie. If they are with God, not even the attractions of worldly gain should detract us from them. To be a true disciple, we can't be people with divided hearts who spend our time separating our lives into two neat boxes. No, instead, we must combine their contents and realize that it is the God content that colors the whole mix. It is the God content that tempers our tendency to fall from the path of right thinking and action. If we are to be true disciples we must see that our "lives", secular and sacred, are really only one and that it all belongs to God.
