T.M. Shannon

Hi everyone,

Well, it’s been another shaky week. I’ll save the bipolar talk for December’s Mental Illness/Addiction post, but let’s just say I’m hanging in there but definitely not okay.

One week, one day to see my psych, all I need to do is get through.

And being on slips and falls addiction-wise, it made reading the Sunday reflection a bit difficult, though not so much as being there needing a dose of Jesus when I’m falling on a very regular basis.

I definitely miss the early days, having time to spend in Church, doing rosary after mass, chilling with the Church nannas doing the lectio divina – formation and faith I feel I lost getting back into gainful employment.

That said, prayer isn’t my strong point. Throw in the motivation problems and it’s a recipe for disaster. Then, admittedly, I feel embarrassed about it at times, not just being 6 years in the faithfold but being queer as well.

And part of me doesn’t want to delve into this post, but it’s in fact one of the most impactful statements that leapt out at me during the atheignostic days, and also made its way into a main character (but more of that in that book of mine when I get it published).

Oh well, here goes.

Trying to Get Him Coming or Going

So, Jesus has a lot of interactions in the Gospels, healings, teachings, bringing the party to a wedding and diverse other miracles. But he also cops grief from the religious hardheads of his time, the Pharisees.

These are the guys disdaining Jesus for dining with prostitutes, tax collectors and other publicans (people working for the Romans). Also having a go at him for numerous healings on the Sabbath (their big no-no, so very against the Law) – though I put Jesus being a little cheeky.

Lots of testing, lots of pestering, lots of trying to trap him in one blasphemy or another.

One day, they get the idea to gang up with the Herodians to royally trap him in a conundrum over a very contested matter – paying Roman taxes, a very sore point that had already led to riots in Judea (courtesy of Wikipedia).

Following the parable of inviting everyone else to a wedding feast after the invited chose their own ends instead, Matthew 22:16 picks up this entrapment, and certainly not the end because the Pharisees gang up with the Sadducees afterwards (courtesy of Catholic Online):

And they sent their disciples to him, together with some Herodians, to say, ‘Master, we know that you are an honest man and teach the way of God in all honesty, and that you are not afraid of anyone, because human rank means nothing to you.

‘Give us your opinion, then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’

Here’s the conundrum, the Pharisees are trying to make tax payment a matter of Mosaic Law at the same time as state, or Caesarian, law. If Jesus says yes, the Pharisees accuse him of blasphemy; if he says no, they can both accuse him of sedition.

Jesus, of course, sees right through their nonsense:

But Jesus was aware of their malice and replied, ‘You hypocrites! Why are you putting me to the test? Show me the money you pay the tax with.’ They handed him a denarius, and he said, ‘Whose portrait is this? Whose title?’

They replied, ‘Caesar’s.’

Then he said to them, ‘Very well, pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar — and God what belongs to God.’

When they heard this, they were amazed; they left him alone and went away.

Realignment of the Conundrum

Jesus’ mission frequently sees him not just realign people to the Law, but also realign the Law for the people.

A noted example is a Law-breaking leper – not crying out “Unclean, unclean,” as the Law demanded of lepers – just fronting up to Jesus and saying, “If you want to, you can heal me.” Jesus does, then tells him to present himself to the temple and make his offering.

The Law’s dehumanisation is quashed, but the Law’s humanisation – making the appropriate sacrifice in the temple, itself a parable on the rite of Reconciliation – is upheld.

As usual, this episode with the Pharisees and Herodians comes with a layered outcome deeper than the “pay your taxes” message at the forefront.

A Stately Article You Don’t Own

First, the money involved (whether it’s a denarius or an Antiochan tetradrachm) is an article of the state, the Roman Empire no different to your federal government, be it the Commonwealth of Australia, the UK, or the USA.

The message now is, “it belongs to Caesar,” as in, the empirical bureaucracy that mints coins is the owner of that money, and you paying tax is really you giving back a share of what the state, the government provides.

Mind bending? You bet. “Your” money in your bank account is the government’s – If I don’t make a plan for the money in my account to go somewhere and drop off the perch with my account untouched, the Commonwealth of Australia takes that money back after 7 years.

A bit S.H.I.T.? Only if you’re the type of taxpayer crying poor and hunting deductions as a way to live outside of your means, but that’s an argument for another time.

As for how it makes me feel about the Church paying no tax – income, land, or otherwise? Another Faith/Religion post in another time.

Separation of Church and State

You haven’t forgotten the, “And God what belongs to God,” have you?

Excellent.

This next differentiation between the Tiberius Tax and L’âme Mortelle leapt out to me when I stumbled across this – the “pay your tax” bit came much later. I don’t believe you can read anything more than the separation of state and religious matters (of course, there is more).

Besides today’s Gospel for Christ the King Day today, Jesus telling Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world,” in the part where the people want to make him a physical king, Jesus uses his mad people-dodging skills and ends up on a mountain alone.

Church and state should not mix and not be conflated. And homily on this particular Gospel has been meet your material world obligations as well as your faithful/soulful obligations.

Reason why I’ll put religious lobbying and the sins they’ve pushed on the world in the name of their guy who died for sins in that another-time Faith/Religion post.

A Comment on the Question Posers

Jesus says a lot about the Pharisees in many parables, people who had added to the Law their own precepts, demanded adherences out of line with it – like washing your hands and arms up to your elbows in a ritual show, not being allowed to even move your bed on the Sabbath.

I feel he’s saying it here, too, not that the Herodians are getting a free pass out of this – they’re more than happy to play along, and their dear ruler wasn’t the most savoury person (and quite a hoot in The Passion of the Christ).

Here, Jesus sets them on the back foot for making tax law fodder for the Temple Law and vice versa, a reminder we are in the temporal world – and while we have liberties here, we have obligations no matter our religiosity or lack thereof.

That, and he knows they’re just playing games, and is happy to let them play those games as it highlights where their intentions are, because they’re meant to be on the flock not lording it over the flock.

Nothing Further to Add

Well, look at that, a nice, quick, 8-minute delve into some simple words in relation to a coin that meant so much more.

As mentioned, Liturgical Year B ends this week and Advent begins Sunday 1st December – and we enter that meander to a Holy birth, getting to sing “O Come All Ye Faithful,” and enjoying Hans Gruber falling to his death.

And there’s also tomorrow to rewrite, line edit, and try to get really stuck into BG3 – where I’ve released and stunted an intellect devourer, saved someone from a magical vortex, already have questions about the Cleric’s religious artefact, and while dubious the Gith chick is hot.

So, I hope you have a good one, and if you’re one of the many who’ve jumped free of the Musketeers, you can catch me now on Bluesky! Fret not, I’m still happy with FB, it just gives me more audience to reach once I get selling books.

Happy Sunday all,
T. M.