God's image on Caesar's Coin?

The debate over the taxes to Caesar begins with an attempt to trap Jesus. The Herodians and the pharisees come with a compliment to Jesus that Jesus was truthful and did not mind man’s ranks. To the question of paying taxes to Rome, he points to a coin. A coin is for transactions, whether it be in the public space or in a religious space. In both it can be a sign of political power. The coin had the impression of Tiberius Caesar, claiming divine authority, ‘Son of the Divine Augustus.’ Economic taxes had to be paid in these coins. The temple had its own coins for religious purposes. A man’s rank also like a coin, can be brought to a value of exchange, and it was evident with Pilate and Herod.

God, or what belongs to God, or our own belonging to God cannot be transactional; it is not a give and take relation. Yet, these very things with religious interpretations can be bearing power symbols. The relationship between God and humanity is defined by a covenantal love; “I belong to you, and you belong to me.” It is something that we need to bring to our heart that this relationship is unconditional, and we are marked by the impression of this covenant. This love continues even when we fail; and despite our falls, God desires the same love be there towards God instead of being filled with fear or guilt. Regarding what really belongs to God, pointed to mercy and sincere devotion: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:13), “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30).

 When we understand our faith and devotion similar to give and take style in economic dealing, it distorts grace into a transaction. When we take faith as a transaction, we stamp Caesar’s impression onto the things of God. “Return to Caesar what belongs to Ceaser and return to God what belongs to God” is a warning not to mix these two.  Jesus objected to such legalistic and transactional understanding.

In many devotional practices, there is often a temptation to use Caesar’s coin instead of what belongs to God. If our praying, sacrifices, devotions are with the purpose that God may give blessings as a return, we are attempting to buy divine favour or merit. Holiness becomes an exchange rate. When a person’s spiritual worth, or moral purity is evaluated based on social standing, donations, or political alignment, religion becomes commodified. Is it not a spiritual commercialism? Holiness is not about accumulating spiritual capital or rank, but about being in God’s love like a child and responding with trust. In many of our personal religious teachings on holiness, faithfulness, and devotion, what lies behind is our selfishness, greed and crave for power with beautiful impression of God.

The tax to Caesar was not a contribution to the society it was a sign of piety to the emperor and the Roman rule. Though there may not be a God-image, sacrality/purity is often attached to economic and political interests and create chaos. When political ideologies, national identity, or social ranks wrap themselves in the mantle of religion and divine sanctity, they create an idol. The divine authority, Holy scripture, or religious symbols become instruments legitimize, enforce, and expand political control. There may be megaevents of dances, worship, processions in the name of God. These events intended to polarise power only secularise and materialise religion. Finally we are left with the coin of Caesar though we thought that we want to worship God. A leader, empire, or certain views may be taught as a mandate from God, and consequently any dissent may be seen as a rebellion against the empire and against God. It attributes divinity to a temporal power, and distorts what is truly Godly, just, and holy.

When the high socio-economic status or political power is sacralized as though the divine favour rests on them, it alienates the vulnerable, the poor and marginalized. The coin turns to be of less worth, there is a curse on them. The lower strata must exhaust themselves to be find favour in a divinised society. The impression of blessedness was offered to them when the gospel was announced by Jesus. But, if they claim the freedom of the children of God, they may be viewed as treason or apostasy.

With an honest heart, bring before God the coin we have. See clearly what impressions they have got and their true intentions. Do they affirm your dignity as the children of God? Do you feel the freedom or the weight of power when you hold the coin? 

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Prayer – The Search for God's Goodness

Prayer means talking to God. This conversation gradually transforms us into communion with God. This union is a transformative encounter that pours out our heart before God. We know that a deep relationship becomes intimate and strong only through true and deep love, open communication, and constant presence; prayer is the time and path to speak to God with an open heart without any fear or hiding, and to remain in His presence.

At the core of true and authentic prayer lies faith and trust in God. Without trust, prayer can become an anxious transaction, or merely an attempt to escape from problems. Trust helps us deeply experience the truth that God listens to us, understands us, and always desires our well-being.

Jesus promised us: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Is this like a guarantee of a quick solution—an easy-fix technique—such as those we find in the market, in management, or in religious 'powerful' prayers and mantras? Christian spirituality does not teach magical prayers. Asking, seeking, and knocking call us toward continuity, perseverance, and patience. It is God's goodness that is found, received, and for which the door opens. When we ask, we are humble; we acknowledge our dependence on God and open our hearts to receive whatever God gives. Seeking is not merely looking for solutions; it is walking along the path of God  - discovering  God’s presence and wisdom in every day realities of life. Knocking teaches us to live in a vibrant hope and to endure with patience even when the answer is delayed. The fruit of prayer is not that everything becomes easy or that life's trials disappear. Rather, prayer bestows upon us the grace, strength, and light to walk faithfully amidst life’s challenges.

Seeking, asking, and knocking mean placing our entire existence and the realities of our life before God the Father. It could be our daily struggles and weariness: the heaviness of work, family responsibilities, and physical or mental exhaustion. It could be our weaknesses and shortcomings: our sins, temptations, doubts, fears, anxieties, and repeated failures. It could be our deepest desires and hopes: healing, reunion, reconciliation, the search for life's purpose, and waiting for peace. We surrender this true and real form of our life into the transforming ocean of God’s goodness.

Therefore, praying from the heart is possible only through the freedom that the Gospel gives us. This freedom of the Gospel transforms us from being fearful servants into beloved children of God. Since we know that we are unconditionally loved and saved, we are free to throw off our masks, speak with childlike love, and pour out our hearts before Him without any hesitation. Then, we truly find the God whom we were seeking.

The missing peace

We desire for peace. So many of talks about need for peace themselves show that there is an absence of peace. These talks go on in the context of family, mental health, companies, and on international levels. While the search for peace is everywhere, genuine peace remains one of the ambiguous realities of our contemporary world. Perhaps, it is because we define peace as a smooth track to achieve our own interests. In reality, humanity is starving for authentic peace.

Peace is not just an absence of conflicts; peace necessarily ensures life. Pope Francis often emphasised that peace is an attitude of the heart, an openness to life, a disposition to welcome the other. Peace cannot remain an inner comfort, it also involves the lives of the other. When peace is desired, whether as an individual, family or a society, it naturally creates a culture that welcomes, protects, and nurtures life in all its dimensions including the life of nature. Where peace exists, life grows; where peace is absent, life is devalued and destroyed. It is also on the other way; where there is openness to life, an attitude of welcoming instead of suspecting, where there is genuine love, peace begins to sprout. When we are free to pursue truth, goodness, and justice, peace arises naturally.

When freedom is equated with a right to do whatever one pleases, gratify any desire, or assert power over others it disrupts peace. Peace established under domination, or forced submission is not peace at all. True peace is built on mutual responsibility, justice, reconciliation, and shared dignity. We were created out of the love of God the Father, and we live as brothers and sisters. That is the foundation of building peace.

St. Thérèse of child Jesus whose feast we celebrate today, shows a spiritual path for achieving interior and exterior peace through absolute trust in God's providence. There​, peace can be related to the confidence of the little child who sleeps without fear in its father’s arms. If we honestly observe, much of the anxiety and conflict in our lives comes from our desperate attempt to control every outcome. The success of a project, victory of war, winning court case, my argument in a society-discussion we want them all ​on our side. Conflicts often remain unresolved not because of the issue itself, but we don’t want to give up, we want to win, and defend our pride. defensive debates become part of our daily attitudes. Where does peace begin then? In all that we have reflected so far, Peace Begins from little moments of trust, humility, and acts of love. Though these may sound too soft, and may be neglected easily, these principles offer a true path for resolving interpersonal conflicts, and cultivating peace in family homes and modern workplaces. Every family, community or workplace may have challenging situations or members who irritate us. Of course it is a struggle. It may be a great effort assisted with grace to treat the so-called difficult people with the greatest warmth and kindness.

Often, peace is not our first option. We wrongly think that overpowering or defeating is what sustains us. In fact, a conflict environment itself is destructive. What we need is a peace culture which may shape our attitudes, behaviours and relationships. We often think peacebuilding requires grand gestures or major interventions. The reality of peace is an outcome of small-level choices. May be let us focus on small acts of restraining ourselves, quiet service, and interior calm. May be let us avoid a sharp reply, an irritating sarcasm, or unnecessary criticism.

peace is not something we win by conquering others, but a gift we receive when we learn to surrender our pride and rest in the Father’s love. Angels sang of peace for people of good will. By making room for one another in kindness and trust, we become the very prophets of peace our world so desperately needs. It is truly prophetic today dear brothers and sisters, because peace does not bring any profit in this competing economic world, but conflicts create huge profit.

Repentance-Good-Life

Repentance is often not possible because its foundation is faulty. We may root repentance into sin, and sin as the cause of all the miserable things we are at. We may be assuming our problems as punishments, curses and other unknown things behind and are thought to be somehow connected to sin. So, repentance is to get rid of all these miseries. Instead, true repentance is our openness to the life of God.

To be in the life of God, the direction given to us is to renounce doing evil and to learn to do good. Why do we do evil? There may be some people intentionally doing evil. They know fully that what they choose to do are evil, but they sacralise those evils as good for the support from others. Many evils we have in our life may have happened by mistake, and we are carrying the burden of it. We regret on them. Many other evils are out of our helplessness. It happens. Often, they may be justified, because there may be hidden pains or injuries that lead to those evils. Often, we may be attached to these evils or the injuries behind them though they are painful. God also may justify them, because God knows what has happened in reality. But God does not want us to remain in them because he knows that they damage us however justifiable they are. God calls us to his life, in which we may be consoled and comforted and experience life. Repentance is this readiness to take this option before us.

Learn to do good is not just doing some good deeds, it includes our views, thinking, our conversations, attitudes to events and people, and of course our actions. The good we are called to possess have a name that is Christ. So, the goal of repentance is to be like him. It is a path of grace. Just like Christ proclaimed the gospel offering us life, where we find an episode of our life within the gospel story. Christ’s life was sacrificial and redemptive, our ‘good-life’ is also to be sacrificial and redemptive. Our memories give us a language to reread our pain and injuries which may hold us in evil. Let us have the language of the gospel to reread and reinterpret our lives. We have the altar to which come with our burdens and sorrows, there is another living altar of Christ at home where repentance becomes fruitful, offering sacrifice and being redemptive for others. It is not about how broken we are or how damaged are our relationships, but it is all about the possibility of our entry into the grace available for us.