Giving to God what Belongs to God

29^th Sunday in Ordinary Time                                                               

Giving to God what Belongs to God    

Justice is defined as “giving to someone what is due to them”. This is why for the believer, justice begins with God.  As the One who designed and created us, we owe God our lives, our respect, our trust, our service, our allegiance, our devotion, our love and our praise.  But this is no guarantee that God is going to get any of this from us, because we have a choice. But we must be honest and clear that to refuse to give God what is God’s due is by definition unjust.  To demonstrate the rightful owner of a Roman coin, Jesus asks, "Whose image is on it?"  The reply he receives is, “Caesar's”.  “Then” Jesus says, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God”!  This raises an even more important question:  To whom do you belong?  How can you know?  It’s simple:   Determine in whose image you were created.  The Book of Genesis chapter 1 verse 27 makes it plain: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”.  If we get this basic truth wrong then it is very likely that God will never get paid what is owed by us.

It is also likely that we will not look like the Church Jesus founded 2000 years ago; the one St Paul described as Christ’s Body (1 Cor. 12:27).  The mandate Christ left with the Apostles was twofold: The Great Commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you” and The Great Commission: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptize them…, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you...” 

If this is the purpose and mission of the Church, it must also be the purpose and mission of the individuals and ministries that make up the church!  Choirs, Clergy, Liturgical Ministers, Social Justice ministries, Parish Councils, parishioners, etc. must ALL see that their purpose for existing is to love as Christ loved us and to make disciples of all nations. Sin, the little word with the big “I” in the middle, is what happens when we see ourselves as the definer of our own being, purpose and existence.  If we don't respect God’s right to define us as human beings and as Church, then we will define ourselves and the result will look nothing like the image and likeness of God!  Instead, it will be the self-glorified image of ourselves, - an image that has no power to save anyone... including ourselves and those most dear to us.