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Recently, my students and I puzzled through a theme running through much of Scripture. Namely, that God is all justice and all merciful. In today’s gospel, we see Jesus advising us to give what is due to both the emperor and to God.
How can we, made in God’s image, live with that same balance, giving what is due to the emperors and to God? The Pharisees recognize that Jesus speaks about a “way of God,” a living and acting with equity, showing a preferential option for the poor and marginalized, bringing justice to an inequitable world. God’s people are challenged to enter into God’s way, the way that even Jesus’ enemies recognize. This is a great challenge, to be sure, but we have an instruction manual in the form of Jesus’ words and life.
Jesus is always there, inviting us into a radical, Beatitudes-style life that upends what the world expects. When we can hold this tension, then we will be truly living in God’s way.