29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Matthew 22:15-21

A Flip of the Coin

Coins

There was a man who kept a garden in his back yard and every year would grow a variety of vegetables to help feed his family.  But one year, for whatever reason, his garden completely failed, nothing grew at all.  And yet his neighbor, his good friend, had an abundant harvest, loads of tomatoes, zucchini, etc.  So, in frustration and upset, he decided to steal from his neighbor.  So late one night he went out into the darkness to steal from his neighbor’s garden. But he didn’t go alone; he took along his little boy to keep a look-out in case anyone should come along. The man jumped over the fence with a large bag on his arm, and before commencing to take the corn he looked all around to make sure no one was watching, first to the left and then to the right, behind him and in front, and not seeing anyone, he was just about to start filling his bag. And tit was then that his son yelled out: Dad, You forgot to look up.

I have to give that dad a little bit of credit; he did get one thing right!  He knew the difference between right and wrong; otherwise, he wouldn’t have done the deed in the middle of the night.  He knew the law and that, if he was caught, he could be arrested and charged with a crime. He knew he had responsibilities – to himself, to his family, to his community, to civil law – but he chose to take a negative track on it – thinking only of himself and his physical and financial needs.

In a way, he was acting like the Pharisees in today’s Gospel – thinking only of themselves.  Probably a model citizen during the day in his words but in the darkness, his actions tell a completely different story.  Those Pharisees weren’t interested in learning from Jesus; they were looking for a way to trap Him. And they thought they finally got Him!  Should we pay taxes to Caesar?  They thought their question demanded an either/or answer. And no matter what answer Jesus gives, it would divide and anger the crowd.  Their basic question completely missed the point.  They were focused only on their human responsibilities, civil law, thinking only of themselves!  They were only concerned with the “human image of Caesar”, just like the father in the story.

The Pharisees were so focused on the IMAGE of Caesar, they forgot about another IMAGE; they forgot that they were made in the IMAGE of God!  They forgot their responsibilities as a child of God.

2nd Isaiah reminds us that God has chosen each of us, called us by name, protected us from the rising to the setting of the sun.  And Paul echoes that same belief - we are loved by God, chosen by Him, filled with the Gospel and the Holy Spirit.

In the opening story and in today’s Gospel , it’s the SON (Jesus) who gets it!  It isn’t an either/or question!  We are both human and children of God!  We just forget it sometimes.  But even the simplest of coins today, a penny, should remind us – United States of American on one side, In God We Trust on the other!  Life isn’t about a simple flip of the coin, heads or tails.  It’s a reminder to us that we have responsibilities not only to the left and the right, behind us and in front, but also responsibilities above, to our Father in Heaven.

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