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.
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Reflection:
Do we 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 church these we have to
give to God as well.
Then we may ask, what then would we receive in giving God what is due to
God? We will receive peace of mind and we will be in heaven when our journey in
this world comes to end. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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