The Gospel for TUESDAY, June 14, 2005 (Basil the Great)
Luke 20:19-26
And the scribes and the chief priests would have liked to lay hands on him that very moment, because they realised that this parable was aimed at them, but they were afraid of the people. So they awaited their opportunity and sent agents to pose as upright men, and to catch him out in something he might say and so enable them to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. They put to him this question, ‘Master, we know that you say and teach what is right; you favour no one, but teach the way of God in all honesty. Is it permissible for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ But he was aware of their cunning and said, ‘Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and title are on it?’ They said, ‘Caesar’s.’ He said to them, ‘Well then, pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar—and God what belongs to God.’ They were unable to catch him out in anything he had to say in public; they were amazed at his answer and were silenced. -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
The Two-Headed Coin
What is not brought out here is that coinage contained images of the king. And images were not allowed in Jewish life, especially if one was a teacher of the Law, or a high priest. So when they asked Jesus about paying taxes, Jesus asked for somebody to show him a coin -- on which he knew there would be an image of Caesar. And one of them had such a coin!
A Reflection
That one of those religious elites had in his possession an image was self-condemning, except that they had accommodated images on money for their use. Such money was forbidden to be used inside the temple complex; for that there existed the infamous money-changers of cleansing-the-temple fame.
Similar accommodations existed for the peculiarities of the Sabbath laws. The religious elite were all over their oppressed peasantry about "keeping the Sabbath." But they had constructed marvelous exceptions that kept them clear of violating the Law while not accepting any inconvenience that might be caused by keeping it.
None of the accommodations bothered Jesus except when the poor and marginalized -- the "harrassed" of yesterday's Sunday Gospel -- were to be victimized. The coin and all the dirty little deals it stood for fell into that category.
The larger message in Jesus' reply is that there is another kingly domain in which a Caesar has no sway. Issues of moral rectitude, theology, and human-with-human interaction at the ethical level, for example, fit into YHWH's domain, not Caesar's.
And Caesar had tried to trespass far into YHWH's domain. Caesar lived in a tradition in which he and his predecessors declared themselves to be gods, often with parentage traceable to the Olympian gods of mythology.
So acknowledging that Caesar had authority over the non-divine domain was proper; but claiming God's territory for God was Jesus' thrust here.
How much of God's domain have we assumed unto ourselves?
The Collect
Almighty God, who has revealed to your Church your eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like your bishop Basil of Caesarea, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who live and reign for ever and ever.
4:28:54 PM 
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