This is my homily for Sunday 16 October 2011. I am a Catholic chaplain in Teaneck at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) campus and for the FDU Newman Catholic Association. We celebrate Catholic Mass - during Fall and Spring semester - every Sunday Mass (7:30 p.m.) at the Interfaith Chapel, 842 River Road, Teaneck, NJ.
[__01] Can I borrow some money? Of course I will pay you back. I will repay the loan, the money which I have borrowed.
That promise to repay, however, needs a little more detail, doesn’t it?
How much will I repay at a time? And, when will I repay? By what date, what day, month, year, …uh, century?
[__02] We have just read from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 22, about repayment, -- paying back, -- giving back, or in another translation of this verse –
“Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God, the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21)
Rendering to God and rendering to Caesar. Paying back.
[__03] Paying back a loan to Bank of America, a credit card to VISA, or a tax bill to the government, we may try pay at the latest possible date and in the smallest possible amount.
For taxes, we may wait until April 15.
This style, this schedule of repayment will work for some things. It may work well for things which strictly belong to Caesar.
What do we mean by Caesar in this Gospel? Caesar is the name of Augustus Caesar, the Roman Emperor. The taxes are being collected in his name, for his government.
[__04] Caesar represents more than the American federal government or the New Jersey state government. Caesar represents all of our material possessions, all of our financial obligations, all of our physical and earthly responsibilities
The things are material and physical. They are not, strictly speaking, spiritual.
However, they are also not strictly speaking superficial, or trivial or unimportant.
Jesus is saying that we are to keep these obligations to Caesar, to keep commitments hear in River Edge, in our jobs in NJ, New York, at school and at home.
Isn’t it true that our commitments, our responsibilities, cannot easily be divided or subdivided into things for Caesar and things for God.
[__05_WORK__] Work. Career. Making money. Isn’t it true that working and earning money is a way that we repay Caesar and we support our families physically and spiritually?
But, this work is also a spiritual sacrifice We would be thinking too materially if we simply say that work is about higher profits and technology.
Consider, for example, the achievements of Steve Jobs, who recently died. Steve Jobs was one of the founders of Apple Computers and he retired shortly before his death from his position as CEO, Chief Executive Officer. Steve Jobs personified Apple Computers, the iPhone, the iPad, the iPod … not to mention iTunes where I downloaded this homily for $0.99 (that might be a joke, check iTunes yourself).
What was the value of Steve Jobs’ life? Was it money? Technology? Did his life have more value than say a worker paid per hour to install the furniture in his office or to maintain the air conditioning in the building?
Work has a spiritual effect on us. Work is not about producing objects but about letting the work produce an effect on us. In this regard, when we work, we simultaneously give back to both Caesar and God, we do not produce objects .
[__06_-PRAYER_] Couldn’t we also say that PRAYER has both physical and spiritual effects. For example, we not only pray for our future salvation, in heaven. We are called to pray, to repent of our sins. However, we also pray – in the current moment – for help with immediate decisions, over material choices.
We also pray FOR CAESAR. We pray for elected officials, for our president, governor, senators.
While we pray for our government, and beg God’s help for them, our prayer helps us remember that we serve God first. If we also Caesar simultaneously, that’s great.
But, seek ye first the kingdom of God.
We cannot serve both God and mammon, can we?
[__07_-SCHOOL__] How about at school, those of us who are students, whether we are in second grade or sophomore year or senior year…
We are also paying back.
We are not simply paying back our tuition.
But, we are constantly handing in homework, handing in term papers, handing in what we owe the teacher, based on the syllabus.
Why do students hand these things in, why do they repay? Why do they render unto Caesar?
Well…I daresay that most students are truly motivated by the grades, by the possibility of getting a good grade. And, that is an honorable motivation, a good reason.
When we get good grades, moreover, we may be recognized by “Caesar”. The emperor will notice those who do things well. Who is the emperor, who is Caeasar who notices these things? Well, we might say that the emperor is the school as institution – River Dell High School, Bergen Catholic, Paramus Catholic, Immaculate Conception, IHA, Holy Angels, Cherry Hill Elementary.
Students here are motivated to do well and get good grades so that they will be honored, so they will excel.
However, there is a further reason. We do this work, we hand in our papers, we do our best on our professional jobs for another reason.
That is, to give back the intelligence, the reasoning, the talents which God has given us. We come here, in a similar way, to share the faith which God has given us.
The Lord comes to help us make our payments, to render unto God. [__fin__]
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