Sunday Reflection with Canon Robin Gibbons: October 22nd 2023

Emperor Tiberius Denarius Tribute

October 22nd 2023
Twenty ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

I wish I knew more about the great King, Cyrus II (590-529 BC) who appears in our first reading from Isaiah. It's a brief mention here, but history tells us he was revered by his own people of Persia, and remembered for his political philosophy of tolerance and respect toward non-Persians and his demonstration of mercy towards his defeated foes.

For the People of Israel he is important as the one who facilitated their return to the Promised Land, and became a notable figure in the Scriptures as a saviour figure, who helped Israel build the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The interesting point about this prophecy of Isaiah is that it took place over 200 years before Cyrus was born, but an important fact is that Cyrus was not a Jew nor followed the religion of the Jews, but accepted their worship of the One God and in Isaiah's prophecy is seen as the one God chooses to fulfil the Divine plan for Israel. Amongst other things on a cuneiform tablet still preserved (The Cyrus Cylinder) he wrote this: 'The people of Babylon blessed my kingship, and I settled all the lands in peaceful abodes'. Quite a record for a ruler!

I suppose given the absolute mess we can see in international politics at the moment, and the fragmented communities in the Middle East and Holy Land (amongst others!) the story of Cyrus could seem like a nice myth, yet evidence shows us otherwise and therefore is a strong reminder that things do not only go wrong, they can with the help of enlightened and good people, go right! In another sense Isaiah's words are a wake up call to those of us who feel helpless in the face of such issues as climate change, environmental destruction, acts of evil, war, cruelty, poverty and inequality amongst people-because they call us out of our shelter to face the wider context of the Living God, still present, still active, and yes, still loving all creation. It is good to hear the voice of the Prophet pointing out the consistency of God's love and the openness of God's mercy to all. There is 'no other' God as Isaiah says, and for that belief we should be grateful and take heart from a following verse that we shall hear again in Advent:

"Let justice descend, you heavens, like dew from above,

like gentle rain let the clouds drop it down.

Let the earth open and salvation bud forth;

let righteousness spring up with them!*

I, the LORD, have created this." (Is 45: 1, 7)

That is the hope we have in Christ, who after all is the first coming of God, accepting human life and dwelling amongst us.

Yet life and its problems can overwhelm at times, the impossible situation of the Palestinian people is something we as Christians need to be very mindful of, as well as the need for Israel to exist as a State. The problem is our human and political intrigue and expediency. We all have a capacity to hit out when hurt, we feel the need to right grave injustice in society, but, and there is a but, this cannot be at the expense of our fellow humans or living creatures. This is where the gospel of this Sunday provides us with a reflection on our own place in society and not only the privilege many of us have of a democratic system, but also the obligations we owe to others as well. Jesus uses a coin with Caesars head stamped on it to make a point about responsibility. No doubt there were some who expected him to be reactionary, and suggest that taxes should not be paid to an occupying power. This is not what happens in this story, all because Jesus recognises those who ask the question have motives that are malicious, its a trap from those who rather than a genuine concern about taxation (in this case the Census tax of a denarius), intend to use his answer against him. It is a lose, lose, situation, if he says non-payment because taxes belong to God, then he is labelled a revolutionary, if yes it is the Emperors, then he is seen as a collaborator, neither of these situations is good! Yet Jesus does something far more subversive, he makes those who ask the question answer it, if it's a coin with the Emperors head on it, then it belongs to the Caesar, but in a real twist, he rounds off the whole answer with this tremendous comment: 'he said to them, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."'(Mt 22:21) In other words, yes pay that tax with money that belongs to the State, but, and it is a huge but, pay to God what belongs to God, challenging them to define the elements of God's absolute rule over all the earth.

So what might we take away from our two illustrations, Cyrus and Caesars coin?

Rather than a whole host of things might I suggest two? Cyrus ought to open our tendency to become too narrow in our understanding of faith and Divine providence, for he reminds us all that nobody is cut off from the love and mercy of the Holy One, and in an age of increasing intolerance, this is a crucial point to make-we need to have the greatness and courage to be open. Secondly, those of us in the Church are marked, stamped by the seal of the Holy Spirit, rather like Caesars head on the coin, and so fundamentally, and in the end we belong 'to' God, in the sense of being friends, relatives, loved ones of the Most High, and we are 'with' God in the sense of community and family God, our beginning and our end. How we work that out is very much a journey of adventure and discovery every day of our life!

Lectio

Isaiah 45: 21- 25

Come close and declare;

let them take counsel together:

Who announced this from the beginning,

declared it from of old?

Was it not I, the LORD,

besides whom there is no other God?

There is no just and saving God but me.

22Turn to me and be safe,

all you ends of the earth,

for I am God; there is no other!

23By myself I swear,

uttering my just decree,

a word that will not return:

To me every knee shall bend;

by me every tongue shall swear,

24Saying, "Only in the LORD

are just deeds and power.

Before him in shame shall come

all who vent their anger against him.

25In the LORD all the descendants of Israel

shall have vindication and glory."

Pope Francis

Laudate Deum

October 2023

Journeying in communion and commitment

66. God has united us to all his creatures. Nonetheless, the technocratic paradigm can isolate us from the world that surrounds us and deceive us by making us forget that the entire world is a "contact zone". [41]

67. The Judaeo-Christian vision of the cosmos defends the unique and central value of the human being amid the marvellous concert of all God's creatures, but today we see ourselves forced to realize that it is only possible to sustain a "situated anthropocentrism". To recognize, in other words, that human life is incomprehensible and unsustainable without other creatures. For "as part of the universe… all of us are linked by unseen bonds and together form a kind of universal family, a sublime communion which fills us with a sacred, affectionate and humble respect".

68. This is not a product of our own will; its origin lies elsewhere, in the depths of our being, since "God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement". Let us stop thinking, then, of human beings as autonomous, omnipotent and limitless, and begin to think of ourselves differently, in a humbler but more fruitful way.

69. I ask everyone to accompany this pilgrimage of reconciliation with the world that is our home and to help make it more beautiful, because that commitment has to do with our personal dignity and highest values. At the same time, I cannot deny that it is necessary to be honest and recognize that the most effective solutions will not come from individual efforts alone, but above all from major political decisions on the national and international level.

70. Nonetheless, every little bit helps, and avoiding an increase of a tenth of a degree in the global temperature would already suffice to alleviate some suffering for many people. Yet what is important is something less quantitative: the need to realize that there are no lasting changes without cultural changes, without a maturing of lifestyles and convictions within societies, and there are no cultural changes without personal changes.