An impossible problem?

Fr. Peter Cameron reflects upon the Gospel of Matthew 22:15-21

Transcript

00:00 In the Gospel for Sunday this weekend, these deceitful people, Jesus calls them

00:07 hypocrites, are going to come to the Lord with a fake problem. They're going to say,

00:11 "We're religious people. How can we possibly pay the census tax? That seems

00:17 to be a violation of our fidelity towards God." And Jesus, rightly, calls them out and

00:25 says, "Show me the coin that you're going to pay the tax with." And then he looks at

00:28 it and it bears the image of Caesar. And that's when the Lord famously says,

00:34 "Pay unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Pay unto God what belongs to God." But the

00:40 point is this. These people think that it's not possible to live in reality as

00:45 both a faithful person of God and a good citizen. And what Jesus Christ is saying

00:52 is that this is a non-problem. It's make-believe. When you look at the image

00:57 that you are yourself, because we are made in the image and likeness of God,

01:04 and because of that we have the ability to look at problems with the very

01:10 knowledge and the wisdom and the insight and the understanding of God that comes

01:15 to us through the Holy Spirit. Because faith is a way of knowing. And not only

01:20 that, we can love and love in a way that penetrates all the problems of the world

01:25 with the boundless love of Jesus Christ that enables us to overcome every

01:31 obstacle that otherwise would trip us up and derail us. And also, because we're

01:36 made in the image and likeness of God, we have the freedom that sets us free and

01:41 that makes us God-like in our decisions. So whatever the problems or obstacles or

01:46 impediments before us, we can look at what the possible choices are and decide

01:52 because freedom is a freedom for excellence. It's a freedom for

01:55 flourishing. It's a freedom that always chooses the highest good. And when we

02:01 live the image that we are, then everything changes for the better. And

02:06 you don't have to be a practicing Catholic to understand this. You know who

02:09 understood it very well? It's our founding father, George Washington, who

02:13 in his farewell address said these incredible words, "Of all the dispositions

02:19 and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are

02:26 indispensable supports." Let's live the image of God that we are and go out and

02:33 change the world for the better.

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