The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away. Matthew 22:15-22

My friend was her parish priest. She was an elderly woman with no family members. A little bit eccentric and not quite in tune with reality, nevertheless she needed help. He was the only one kind enough to be there for her. She lost her driver’s license which made her feel even more old and lonely than necessary. She needed to retake her driver’s test and a car. He decided to be her instructor. The test was in the town where I lived. They got there early and decided to have one last practice in a vacant parking lot of a well-known store. He told her to slowly turn the ignition and press on the brakes. She was a little nervous. Unfortunately her foot was on the wrong pedal. It just took seconds for the car to crash through the entrance of the store. My friend reached out and turned off the engine. Everything came to a halting stop in the middle of the store. Thankfully no one was hurt. Only things were destroyed. The police were called and my friend’s car was completely wrecked. We picked them up and drove them to their respective homes. Needless to say, it was quite a tense ride back to his home. When I got back, the local news was on it; hardly anything happens in this small town. People commented on the incident. They made disparaging remarks about my friend. People who never met him felt that they had the right to pass judgement. They felt justified making hateful comments about him even though they have no knowledge of him nor the circumstances. This is how the politics of this world functions. It is a politics of hate and disdain. The Pharisees wanted to entrap Jesus into participating in this vicious cycle. They needed Him to hate so that He would become like one of them.

“We are children of our age,
it’s a political age.
All day long, all through the night,
all affairs–yours, ours, theirs–
are political affairs.”- Wislawa Szymborska

This is not just true for our modern times. It has always been like this for humanity. Perhaps, the word, “politics” is a more modern way of expressing an old practice. It used to be called just plain gossip. Historian Yuval Harari, in his book, Sapiens, stated that humanity developed gossip as a way of unifying themselves. It gave communities an opportunity to have something common to talk about, something against the others. The foundation of gossip is hatred and slander. For some reason, humanity likes to base their common relationship on this sinister foundation. Today’s political language is not very different. When the Pharisees approached Jesus in the above gospel reading, they were hoping that Jesus would engage in gossip too. They wanted Jesus to say something against the Roman Empire. However, Jesus showed a better way. He was, by no means, apolitical in his response. In fact, being apolitical is also a political action. Jesus was completely engaged in this world. You can’t do this without being political. However, Jesus refused to let society to define His political inclinations. He wasn’t going to choose the game of hatred and slander. He belongs to a different Kingdom.

His politics did not create an enemy, or rather, He did not slander nor hate those who disagreed with him. To the contrary, He loved them. He didn’t repay evil with evil. Neither did He defend Himself against them. He did not ally Himself with the powers of His time, be it the religious or political establishment. Yet, at the same time, He was in the temple. He honored the religious festivals. He never disrespected the priesthood. He never said anything disparaging about the Roman Empire. In this passage above, He insinuated that we should pay taxes and in another part of the gospel, He did pay them. Jesus knows that in order to live in this world, we have to engage in the politics of the world. However, Jesus only engaged with it minimally even though He was extremely political but from a different perspective.

Politicians of this world, kings and queens pontificate about the problems of our world from a comfortable perspectives. They do it from a distance detached from the reality of most people. They call this being objective. It seems to me that this is a euphemism for judgmental and inhumane. The people who made judgement on my friend were trying to objectively hate him. They detached themselves from the human element of our existence. There was an elderly woman who had no one in the world to help her. The priest tried to do his part. The so-called objectiveness of modern humanity is nothing but being empty and cold. Besides, no one can be objective but God. On the other hand, Jesus was not objective. He took sides.

As Christians, we believe that Jesus is God Incarnate. Then we must realize that Jesus chose to be born at a time when the lineage of David held no authority nor influence over the nation. He deliberately chose this particular time and space. Then His entire ministry was spent looking at things from the perspective of the sick, poor and the marginalized. He never chose to see things from the perspective of the politicians, the rich, the religious leaders or the powerful. He chose to pay attention to gift of widow and ignored the extravagant giving of the rich. The opposite is true in the politics of this world. I know some left leaning people might think that Jesus is closer to their politics. The truth is that their politics also belong to the world, a detached politics simplifying the complexity of the human experience. We cannot marry the politics of this world with that of the Kingdom. Jesus’ politics is not left leaning. It is people leaning. He worked among the people and He knew their names. In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, He gave the beggar a name while the rich man remained anonymous; the very opposite of the attitude of this world. The politics of this world makes judgment on people and things without having any understanding. Jesus presents a political activism that connects us with real people.

Felipe shared some news with us last week. He preceded the news with a concern. He wasn’t sure how we feel about it. The news, well, his wife is pregnant again. She has been with a child for four months now. They even know the sex of the child. Felipe thought that perhaps we might disapprove. He thought that perhaps we might think like the people who are engaged in the politics of this world. In another time and space, this might be true. Strangely, when we heard the news, we were happy for Felipe. It is because we know him. We are involved in his life.

His first son changed his life completely. We know that he always wanted a daughter. Now, this was going to be a reality. The politics of this world will inform us that Felipe and his wife are irresponsible. I can imagine the nature of the comments if this news were to be published on an internet news outlet. However, people who make such judgment from a distance will never understand what a child means to these homeless youth. Isabel was homeless in the streets for many years. Her life seemed directionless. Then one day she discovered that she was pregnant. She was filled with joy at the news. She decided to change everything. She sought out a relative that would eventually help her to find a place and she turned her life around. Cassia was a ruthless drug dealer. She was feared by many. She had several children and gave them all up for adoption. Then she got pregnant again for the last time and suddenly she did not want to miss out on being a mother. She gave herself up to the authorities and was sentenced to jail for two years. While she served her sentence, her husband took care of their child. When she came out, she searched out for her other children. They were still living in orphanages. She asked for their forgiveness and worked hard to regain their trust and her maternal vocation.

The politics of the world will look at these young people from a distance and judge them as unworthy to be parents. They will refuse to see them as anything else but homeless criminals and a burden to society. However, we don’t belong to this world. We live in it. Therefore, we have to discern how to live the politics of God’s Kingdom in this world without contaminating ourselves with the politics of this world. As Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.” (Matthew 5:13)