Gospel:
Mark 12:13-17
Some
Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech. They
came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that
you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s
status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to
pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?”
Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a
denarius to look at. They brought one to him and he said to them, “Whose image
and inscription is this? They replied to him, “Caesar’s. So Jesus said to them
“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. They
were utterly amazed at him.
+ + + + +
+ +
Reflection:
Do you
always do what is right and just? The Pharisees and the Herodians were testing
Jesus about the just payment of tax to Caesar. Jesus knew about their evil scheming
so He simply told them, “Whose image is in the coin”? And they told Jesus that
it was Caesar’s image that is imprinted on the coin.
Thus,
Jesus told them that they should pay to Caesar for the simple reason that he is
the governing authority. And then Jesus told them to give to God what belongs
to God (Mark 12:17).
The
million dollar question now is, what belongs to God or what is for God? What
belongs to God that we must give Him is the time that we have to freely give
Him. Such as our daily time for prayer: upon waking up in the morning and
before retiring at night.
The
weekly time that we have to freely give Him during Sundays at Holy Mass. And
other forms of worship and service to our community by way of serving in our
parish church community, these we have to give to God as well.
Then you
may ask, what then would I receive in giving God what is due to God? You will receive
peace of mind and you will have heaven when your journey in this world comes to
end. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
No comments:
Post a Comment