What Kind of Greatness Do We Want?--Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke for the 6th Week of Ordinary Time

What does it mean to “Make America Great Again?”  Do we know with any certainty what our current president means by that? Does he mean powerful? Respected? Self-reliant? Wealthy? Secure? Feared?  I wonder.  And I wonder if even he knows what he means by that slogan. But, I think a more important question is: Do we know what we mean by that?

 

Each of us probably has a slightly different vision of what it means to be a great country. When you think of America and greatness, what comes to mind?  The Founding Fathers and the Declaration of Independence? The Constitution? Military power? The Lincoln Memorial? The Capital? Mt. Rushmore? Maybe it’s the Mississippi River? The Florida Keys? Or the Grand Canyon? George Washington crossing Delaware? A line of covered wagons crossing an empty prairie? Benjamin Franklin with his kite and key? Thomas Edison and his light bulb? Or Rosa Parks and the courage to just sit down, or Martin Luther King Jr. and his willingness to stand up…  

 

There are many kinds of greatness: political, economic, academic, artistic, athletic… But the “Sermon on the Plain” from the Gospel of Luke reminds us how God measures greatness.  This past Sunday (2/16/25) at Mass we heard a reading of the Beatitudes from the Gospel of Luke (6:20-26):

“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.

Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude and insult you,

and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.

Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.

For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way…”

 

If we ever hope to “Make America Great Again” we might want to read up on what true greatness looks like.  It appears to have nothing to do with monuments or seats of power, human wealth, reputation or comfort. Nothing at all to do with “easy living.”  And yet we might still wonder: Ok... But, what does it actually look like? In practice? Lived out?  Luke has an answer for that, too. 

Next Sunday our Mass reading picks up at the very next verse (6: 27-38) and we get a clear glimpse of the greatness Jesus wants for us:

“To you who hear I say,

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.  Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.  Do to others as you would have them do to you… Stop judging and you will not be judged… Forgive and you will be forgiven.”

 

This sounds like true greatness to me, and only by measuring ourselves against these simple and clear instructions will we know the true measure of our greatness.  Turning away the hungry and disparaging or ridiculing our opponents (or enemies) will never make us great.  Instead, we should listen to the Blessed Virgin Mary and simply “Do whatever He tells you.” (John 2:5)

Render unto Caesar.. what do we owe our president?

“Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,

And to God what belongs to God…”
--Matthew 22:15-21

 What does Jesus really mean by this?  What belongs to Caesar?

In the story from Matthew’s gospel there is a coin.  And Jesus asks someone to tell Him whose image is on the coin.  And in the gospel, there is this coin because someone has asked Jesus for tax advice. (Like He was some kind of early H&R Block.) But, the exemption they are looking for is whether it is right to pay any taxes to Caesar.  Caesar, the oppressive Roman ruler who has conquered the Jews and makes them pay tribute and taxes to support his kingdom. Caesar who has become a kind of new Pharaoh for the Jews.  Should they pay the census tax to Caesar? But the question isn’t really being asked because the Herodians and the Pharisees are looking for free fiscal advice. No, it is being asked because they are hoping to trick Jesus into saying something that might get Him in trouble. Because He is troubling them!

Whose image is on the coin? Whose inscription? Jesus asks. And these would-be tricksters reply: Caesar’s. And Jesus says, Then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.  And when they heard this they went away, amazed (cf. 22:22). 

 What belongs to Caesar? What belongs to God? 

Side note: This is an amazing little story. I read it to my Creative Writing class today as part of our prayer and then talked a moment about how beautifully and concisely it depicts the two characters solely through their dialog (cf. 22:15-20).  One character is the trickster (Herodians/Pharisees) who employs complex and very solicitous language, and the other (Jesus) uses simple and straightforward language in response to their questions.  Very nice example of show-don’t-tell. 

Back to the main question at hand: What belongs to Caesar?  Pope Francis (in a recent Angelus talk) addressed this reading and focused on the question implicitly raised by Jesus’s answer, and that is: who do we belong to?   And I think that is part of what I hear in this reading. But even more I keep hearing the question: what belongs to Caesar?  What do I owe to Caesar?  Or, for instance, what do I owe my government? What do I owe the president of the United States? Which, logically speaking means: what do I owe Donald Trump?  In Paul’s letter to the Romans (13:1) we read:

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.

For there is no authority except from God, and those

which exist are established by God.

(And there are several other places in the New Testament where we read that the early Christians were told to subject themselves or submit to the authorities of the places where they lived (cf. Titus 3:1, 1 Peter 2:13, also John 19:11, and in the OT: Proverbs 8:15, Daniel 2:21).)  All of this scripture diving and divining supports the idea that we have the president God wills for us, but of course that doesn’t mean we have to like it (consider the story of Saul and the warning given in 1 Samuel 8:10-18).  

But, even if we don’t like the new king (or new president) –even if he seems another Pharaoh, what do we owe him? What belongs to Caesar?

We owe him the gift of being an icon of God, of reflecting God’s love to him. Sure, we pay our taxes, and we follow the laws, but what we really owe Caesar is seen in the example of Jesus who spoke the truth and revealed the love of God even when it meant calling someone a white-washed tomb or a viper, and even when it meant accepting the consequences... What belongs to Caesar? As someone made in the image of God – our love, our prayers, our personal witness to the Love of God, and once a year –even our taxes. Why? Because even Caesar belongs to God.