Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - 22nd October 2017

Oct 21st, 2017

Empress Zoe mozaic from Hagia Sophia

I suppose that Jesus' comment about giving to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's makes sense? At least I hope so, but for me it does take quite a bit of untangling. I can understand the division between what we agree to do as citizens or inhabitants of a country, for instance paying taxes and observing laws, and that of a person belonging to a religious faith who takes on values and observances that are essentially voluntary and do not apply to those who are not part of our faith community.

Maybe I am being too simplistic, but the tension between our role and place as citizens can and does clash with our commitment as Christians on certain occasions. Enshrined in law, is our right to freedom of religion but also our duty to make sure that this does not harm the freedom or rights of others. That's why the Church has from earliest times tried to make sense of its role and place in our world, pastorally we live in real-time not in a vacuum, and that world has problems to solve and issues to deal with many of which change from time to time.

I can understand Jesus' saying as one that challenges me to look at how I am living out my calling as one of his followers today, and each day. Though we are citizens on earth, we have also a destiny as children of the living God who even now are part of that great Kingdom of Heaven. To hold both these parts of my life together I need to be very clear what role my faith plays in my own life. As somebody who holds a UK passport, I exercise my right to vote in free elections, as a worker I also pay taxes and have to observe the laws and other requirements of civilized life in the United Kingdom. When my faith and belief clashes with something that our democratic process produces, such as the pressure to remove faith images from the public sphere (fortunately not really an issue in this country) I have to work out my response carefully and use the proper channels to voice my objection.

Jesus is all for dialogue and understanding, he does not counsel violence and revolution (though he warns us this may happen) and in his short phrase I am reminded that discernment is a gift we need to ask from the Holy Spirit. Maybe we need to engage more, firstly with the Lord of the Gospels and then seek his presence right in the midst of our world. Our vocation is to live as good citizens, but like St Thomas More, making sure that we are God's servants before anything else. We are there to remind our world that in the end what is Caesar's belongs to God, for even Caesar is a child of God!

Prayer from the Anglo-Saxon Poem: The Dream of the Rood ( Cross)

May God be friend to me,
He who once suffered on the gallows tree
On earth here for man's sins. Us he redeemed
And granted us life, a heavenly home.
Hope was renewed with glory and with bliss
For those who suffered burning fires in hell.
The son was mighty on that expedition,
Successful and victorious, when he,
The one almighty ruler, brought with him A multitude of spirits to God's kingdom,
To bliss among the angels and the souls
Of all who dwelt already in the heavens.
In glory: when almighty God, the ruler,
Came into his own homeland.