Oct 18 Sun
Am I obliged to pay legitimate taxes?
The Pharisees asked Jesus, "Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar?”
They wanted to get Our Lord into trouble with either the Jews or the Roman authorities.
They asked him whether it was in accordance with God’s law to pay the census tax, which, in effect, recognized the legitimate authority of the Roman Empire.
Here, our Lord introduced the distinction between serving God and serving the political community.
What do we owe to God? Many things, but chief among them for Christians are faith, hope, and, above all, love.
Civil government has legitimate authority when it serves the common good.
Thus, when the Pharisees posed a tricky question, Jesus reaffirmed the duty to obey civil authority and fulfill obligations.
The Lord answered with divine depth: Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar –what is due to him (taxes, obedience to just laws)– but no more than that, because the state does not have absolute power and dominion.
As ordinary citizens, Christians have the duty to contribute to public life the material and personal support required for the common good. For their part, the authorities are seriously obliged to serve the common good without seeking personal gain, to legislate and govern with the fullest respect for natural law and the rights of the person from the moment of conception.
On this occasion, the Lord acknowledged civil authority and its rights, but clearly warned that God’s superior rights must be respected, for there is a profound religious dimension within human beings that informs all their tasks and constitutes their highest dignity.
He adds to his response: “Give… to God what belongs to God.”
When Christians act in public life, they must not reserve their faith for a better occasion. On the contrary, they must be light and salt wherever they are, and they must strive to make the world a more humane and welcoming place, where people may more easily find the path that leads them to God.
They will achieve this through harmony between their life and their faith, through fraternal charity, by sharing in the living conditions, labors, sufferings, and aspirations of their brothers and sisters –all people– and with full awareness of their role in building society.
When Christians engage in public life, they carry with them a powerful light –the light of faith. They know full well that God’s teachings are not an obstacle to the good of individuals and society, or to scientific progress. On the contrary, they are a guide to their fulfillment.
To God what belongs to God. Human life belongs to God from the moment of conception; and the family –which He sanctified in Nazareth– is based on an indissoluble marriage, as He Himself declared in the face of the outrage of those who heard Him.
Let us ask the Virgin Mary for the holy joy of feeling, on every occasion, that we are children of God, and of acting as such.