9th Week in Ord. Time, Tuesday – 01st June 2021 — Gospel: Mark 12,13-17
Upholding God’s Claim
Jesus’ brilliant answer to his adversaries (Pharisees and Herodians) showed their great failure with respect to God’s own image. While they had paid their Roman taxes, sometimes reluctantly, yet they had disregarded the claims of God on their lives. Jesus’ reply then lays the foundation for the Church’s relationship with temporal powers. The Christian is to obey and support the government under which he lives (Rom 13,1-3), and should pray for those in power (1 Tim 2,2). However, obedience to God must always take precedence over civil law when the two are in conflict. That is why, when the disciples were commanded by the Sanhedrin to stop preaching in the name of Jesus, Peter replied, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5,29). If a Christian would violate his higher loyalty to Christ, he is to refuse and to bear the punishment. In upholding the claims of God, the Christian should always maintain a good testimony before the world. Pope Benedict XVI in the encyclical “God is love,” teaches that Catholic social doctrine does not seek power over the state; rather, it seeks to contribute to society’s ethical formation (no.28). The Church does not seek to overthrow Caesar, rather wishes to convert the government from within.
