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 22:18-22

These verses are often invoked to remind Christians of their civic duties. Many times, in an exaggerated manner, going over and beyond the meaning of the words in the original context. Jesus was merely referring to the payment of taxes. However, today people use it to justify partisan affiliation. There is nothing wrong with this as long as we don’t use the words of Jesus to justify anything which belongs to the world.

The governments and authorities of this world function according to the values of this world. If they are successful, it is because they have learned to function well according to its values. However, we should render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar so that we can be free from hold of worldly authority in our lives. Today there is a little confusion in this regard. People think that Caesar is going to do the work of Kingdom of God. Therefore, it is necessary to have the “right” Caesar in power. Those who hold on to such convictions should heed the words of Jesus when He responded to Pilates boldly stating,

“My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” John 18:36

In our local church, we have Evening Prayer once a month where we opened up the time for our lay members to share a testimony or a reflection. One of our members shared about this passage and she stated that it was the second part of this verses arrested her attention. According to her, rendering to Caesar what belongs to Caesar was the easy part but learning and discerning how to render unto God what is due to God is a completely different story.
She observed that rarely people talk about their obligation towards God. In fact, the word, “obligation” or “duty” is often avoided in our religious context. I have to agree with her. In fact, her words moved all of us present at the prayer meeting. We realized that we hardly talk about our duty towards God.

The word, “render”, in this context, means to submit. In other words, we recognize God’s authority and we submit to Him. “Submission” to God’s will is perhaps is the most central theme in the major religions. The secular authority demands our submission to its laws and rules. For the most part, these are usually beneficial to the welfare of the people. However, they also prioritize the interest and values of this world in their demand for submission. We are only able to submit to this authority as long as it does not contradict the Only Authority who really matters to us. All baptized Christians submit to only One authority. Therefore, it should be our priority to learn how to render to God what belongs to God. Once we know this, we can discern the limits of our commitment to Caesar.

As I mentioned before, most major religions teach about submission to the divine order. Nevertheless, not all religions believe in a God who acts in the lives of people. We believe in a personal God. We encounter this personal God in the life, teaching, and actions of Jesus. He is, for us, the true manifestation of God’s personal involvement in our lives. The way Jesus rendered unto God what belongs to God was to strive to manifest God’s goodness in the lives of people. He brought healing, peace and compassion to their lives. He did not deal with the question of issues or rather, He did not deal with people in an abstract manner. The Pharisees wanted to engage Jesus to debate on issues. They wanted to entrap Him using issues. However, Jesus refused to submit to their level. Even in the context of this gospel passage above, the Pharisees wanted to entrap Jesus on the issue of Roman Occupation and loyalty to the nation of Israel. Jesus refused. He functioned solely on the personal level with the people. He dealt with individuals and not concepts. He dealt with people because, in the Kingdom of God, being the servant of all is the path to the greatness. Servants serve people and do not fight nor debate for issues. Jesus served whomever came to Him, whether they be women, men, outcast or lepers or foreigners or despised persons. It did not matter as long as they came to the Him.

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29

He served people in order to restore their human dignity. In doing so, He rendered unto to God what belongs to God. He helped people recognize the true loving nature of God through His life. Jesus demands us to do the same. Therefore, it is our duty as Christians to do what He commanded us.

For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. John 13:15

On a practical level, this means believing that He is sovereign and acting even when we don’t see the results immediately. The politics of this world act as if God is not present or interested in the world. In the worst case scenario, it acts as if God is impotent to fulfill His will. Therefore, God needs our sinful means to consummate His will in this world. This is a false God who only exists in the vain imaginations of those who believe in him. The true and living God does not need anyone to fulfill His will. We are mere finite beings with finite knowledge. God is infinite and we have no means of understanding His ways, let alone fulfilling them with our human wisdom. Instead, we need to learn to live the words of Jesus when He told us,

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33

Let’s be clear. We don’t make the Kingdom of God happen. The Kingdom of God is present here and God is establishing it through His divine Spirit. We continue to seek the Kingdom in our midst through faith and participate in it. We participate in the way Jesus did, sharing His love and compassion through service and action. However, it does not mean we are going to transform the world. Only God can do this. Therefore, part of the act of being witnesses involves waiting patiently with exuberant expectation that God’s will to be fulfilled. It will be fulfilled in His time. It will be fulfilled according to His wisdom.

At the present moment, I am on vacation. I am visiting the place of my childhood after being away for 16 years. My friends have asked me about the nature of our ministry. It is hard to share all the things which God is doing in a succinct way. It is hard to share everything in one sitting. However, I can say that an essential part of our ministry is having patience. Not with our young homeless people but with God. We have to have patience to believe that God is working and doing His will even when we don’t see it. We have to have patience to believe that God is still sovereign even when things appear to fall apart. We have to be patient to trust our God is a personal God who is actively working in our midst and especially in the lives of young people. Therefore, our ministry is one of patiently waiting for God to reveal Himself in the way only He can. In other words, allowing God to be our God. In reality, this is the only thing we can do. We don’t have the power to change society. We cannot remove sin from the hearts of people. We can do very little in reality to produce long term results. However, we wait on the One who truly is capable to move and transform souls. While waiting, we see and discern His compassionate presence in our midst. Seeing His active presence gives us the strength and courage to testify to our homeless young people that God is sovereign. His sovereign power ensures that nothing can separate us from the Love of God. The gates of Hell cannot prevail against His love. Our primary duty is to testify to this reality. A reality higher and more powerful than anything the Caesars of this world can achieve. A reality which gives us peace beyond all human understanding. It is our duty to share this reality. This is how we have learned to render to God what belongs to God.

Ana Paula is a little person. In the past, I would have said she suffers from dwarfism. It would be a lie. She is perfectly content with who she is. However, she does suffer from a series of unjust circumstances.

She is born into homelessness.

We have known her since she was a child. Back then, she wasn’t quite sure about us. It is only natural. A healthy child should be wary of strangers especially without the presence of her mother. Unfortunately, she was always without her mother which made her, understandably, constantly insecure. Like most children, she craved adult companionship but at the same time she was a little unsure how to receive us.

We don’t know much about her mother except that she was homeless. She seemed a little simplistic on her outlook. We don’t believe that there is anything organically wrong with her. She is most likely someone who was never given any opportunities. She did her best despite being homeless. She made some choices which resulted in having more children. All her men have abandoned her. Being homeless, as we can imagine, is dangerous for anyone but even worse for a solitary woman. Most of our girls who were once homeless now live in rented rooms because the streets are merciless, especially towards women. Those who can’t afford to rent a room find a partner to protect them. Ana Paula has five siblings and Vinicius is her older brother. We cannot talk about Ana Paula without mentioning Vinicius. They are a package deal.

We met them in 2013 when she was about 8 and Vinicius was about 9 or 10. They were tiny little kids partly due to malnourishment. One thing I always remember about them is that they never smiled. Nonetheless, Vinicius would always seek me out to play games with him. He never demonstrated any emotion whenever he interacted with me. He hardly said goodby nor expressed anything like gratitude. It wasn’t that he was unfriendly or ungrateful. He was just a sad young child; too sad to even recognize good things.

I remember one day when we were with the homeless youth, we heard someone crying in a desperate manner. We looked around to find the source and saw Ana Paula sitting next to her brother, bawling like a baby. It was an heart breaking scene. Obviously something had deeply offended her. We thought about approaching her and then changed our mind. Vinicius was sitting next to her. Everyone else, including ourselves, stood at a distance, watching helplessly this tragic scene. We knew something extremely sad and personal had happened but only Vinicius knew his sister well enough to bring any sort of comfort to her.

Over the years, our contact with the siblings fluctuated. Some times we would see them and other times they would disappear for a long period. Whenever Vinicius was around, he would make it a point to come up and shake our hands albeit without much emotion. He always wore a serious and intense face. Ana Paula was a little shy and sometimes she waved at us but she was always a little uncertain.

Vinicius, unfortunately, started stealing things. Ana Paula started hanging out with dubious characters. Their mother was horrified that Vinicius was keeping company with such unsavory characters. However, Vinicius wanted to be a part of something. He was trying to find his own way in the world. Unfortunately, his options were limited. A gang of thieves was the most appealing to a teenage boy. Once he stole something from a wrong person. In the streets, the wrong person is one who was connected with the local gang. Vinicius was viciously attacked and ended up in the hospital. He nearly died from the assault. Unfortunately, this did not hinder him from returning to crime. It seemed like things were going from bad to worse. Vinicius eventually got caught and ended up in the juvenile detention center. Ana Paula also ended in the detention center too for selling drugs. We did not see the siblings for months.

One day, as we were on my way to meet with our young people, we heard a voice call out my name. I turned around and it was Vinicius. His face looked older. He came up to me and shook my hands. He told me that he had just gotten out of the detention center. His face was still emotionless. For some reason, he wanted to say hi to us. He said that we were the first people to see him after he was released. The conversation did not go further than this. It is funny that we hardly talked to him over the years even though we have known him since he was a little child. He was never one for conversations. Ana Paula was the same.

On another occasion, shortly after both siblings got out of the detention center, Vinicius and Ana Paula approached me and asked if they could play a game. I was by myself. Mary was doing art with the other young people. I took our deck of cards and we played together. They both smiled for the first time. They asked lots of questions about us. It was the first time they expressed any curiosity about us.

Over the next few years, they approached us a little bit more. They even started smiling a little bit. Vinicius still looked a little unhappy but Ana Paula was beginning to open up more. Then Vinicius turned 18 and was caught for stealing again. This time he went to prison. He stayed there for some time but was released due to lack of evidence. For some reason, this time he decided that he had enough. He started hanging out more with the group who spends the most time with us.

This group of young people have matured over the years. All of them, perhaps at one point, were tempted to steal or forced to go along with some petty crimes. Today, they have zero tolerance for any one who steals. They have even started voicing out against violence which is usually considered a natural part of life in the streets. They have also become more Christ conscious. We believe that this is natural progression. Before, they had to dehumanize people in order to steal from them. Once they stopped stealing, they were released the bondage of dehumanizing a fellow human being. This is result of their gradual realization of God’s presence in their lives. They began to see God’s face in the people who reach out to them. This group talks about their faith more frequently with us which was previously not a common subject. Maybe, in the past, they thought that such talk was not permitted. However, now they realize the truth of St. Paul’s words,

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

God’s love conquered their hearts. This Love gives them the courage to love too. They are not afraid to share their love with those who join our little group. The most beautiful thing is the way they treat Ana Paula. Besides being a homeless little person which is rare, she is also one of the few girls in the streets. They treat her with much tenderness. Both siblings joined this group because this group gives them the freedom to be who they really are. I think this is the special thing God is doing in this group. His Spirit is moving in the lives of everyone in this group including us. We sense that we have the freedom to become who God wants us to be albeit we are all taking baby steps.

When we returned from our trip to the States this year, all the young people received us back warmly. However, when Vinicius saw us, he ran up to us and gave us the warmest and longest hug and Ana Paula did the same. They asked us questions about our trip. I think they must have thought that we were gone for good. They were truly happy to see us. It took us a long time to get this place; almost 13 years. The wait was worth it. Ever since that day, we have been receiving hugs from both siblings. I think Vinicius and Ana Paula remember that we played with them when they were little kids. In the world of homelessness, everything changes ever so quickly. Nothing is stable. In spite of this, they see us as a stable presence in their lives. We are grateful to God that He has given us this special role. Now, we can receive long warm and loving hugs from these once sad children.

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. Matthew 21:43

Most of us would read this parable without much problem except for its disturbing element where the wickedness of the tenants is exposed. We would most likely be on the side of the Landlord. It is impossible not to be otherwise. However, in some countries, especially, in the one where we reside, there could be a sense of uneasiness in hearing this parable.

Over the years I have been ignorant of the plight of the landless people in this country even though they are really part and parcel of our lives here. There are tons of abandoned building where we live. The number is outrageously high, somewhere around 100. Most of them can be easily transformed into living quarters. They are vacant and in a constant state of degradation because of greed. The owners refuse to lower the rent and to make matters worse, they avoid pay taxes, hoping that the government would buy them out. Consequently, the buildings are in state of impasse and gradually deteriorate while thousands are seeking affordable housing.

Large numbers of landless farmer families moved to the city to seek a home. Many have been forced to abandon their previous lifestyles because of the exuberant rent the rural landowners imposed on them. They are forced to adapt to an urban lifestyle. Unfortunately, their skills are not always transferable. They find low-paying menial jobs. Consequently, they cannot afford the high rental. Their solution is to occupy these abandoned buildings. Maybe for some, this is not acceptable in principle. However, these principles are not moral laws. These people have been treated unjustly their whole lives. Yes, I am a little tendentious here and you will understand why.

These people find the only refuge left for them; these abandoned buildings. Some of our young people live in these places. Some of our young people are descendants of these landless farmers. Therefore, whenever I read this parable now, I realize that we need to interpret it carefully in order to transmit the original intent. Since the Bible can be used to justify anything, as faithful followers of Jesus, it is our bounden duty to maintain the integrity of the gospel in our reading of this parable.

There is an interesting detail in the beginning of this parable, perhaps something that is often overlooked. Maybe it is just not interesting at first glance. However, those who have suffered under the hands of unjust landowners would perceive it immediately.

“There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.”

The landowner prepared everything for the tenants. The land was cultivated. The landowner did not give the tenants a land in an abandoned state. Unjust landowners exploit the desperate state of those in need and make them do all the work of clearing and cultivating the land. When all the hard work is done, the landowners raise the rent and drive the people who did the work out of the land. However, this landowner of the parable is different. He prepared everything. He made sure the land was perfect for the tenants before he entrusted it to them. All they had to do was to ensure that it produced fruits. He gave the tenants the opportunity to have a part of something wonderful and great which He created.

The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to human beings. Psalm 115:16

Our heavenly Landlord has given this world as a gift for us to produce fruits as beings created in His image.

I read an interesting perspective of Jewish theology recently. I am not going to unpack all of it here for the time being. There is a great deal of wisdom to be derived from it and the space here is limited. However, it introduces an interesting concept to ponder upon. The Jewish theologian said that when God created the world, He removed Himself from it but not completely. We cannot function or exist without the presence of God. He removed Himself just enough to give us the freedom to act because the intense will of God is irresistible. I am sure one can find many faults in this argument if one wishes to do so. However, the idea is not an exhaustive metaphysical theory. It is just something to ponder upon. Our heavenly Father prepared this world for us to produce fruits for the Kingdom of God and distanced Himself. He is not absent. He gives us room to act. In the case of our Christian gospel, Our heavenly Father, not only cultivated the world for us, but He sent His Only Son to show us the way to cultivate the best fruits in this world. Now, He sits at the right hand of the Father and participates with us through intercession and His Spirit.

This simple detail of the parable gives us great insight into the heart of the Landowner. He gave everything for the tenants to be successful but unfortunately, the tenants forgot that what they had didn’t belong to them but to the Landowner.

In our Anglican liturgy, we have a sentence we say whenever we bring our offerings to the altar. It is a verse taken from from the Bible;

“For all things come from Thee, and from Thine own have we given Thee.”

It is taken from I Chronicles 29:14. We say this sentence as a way to remind ourselves of our condition. We, as Christians, cannot succumb to the idolatry of meritocracy which is a conversation strong in present times. In other words, we cannot claim that we deserve what we have because we worked for it and then go on to say these words on Sunday. Even if you don’t come a tradition which uses these words in your liturgy, this Truth is an universal Truth that all faithful followers of Jesus must accept.

Jesus, the Son of living God, even gave us an example of His own Life based on this Truth.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:5-7

If there is anyone in the world who can claim to deserve anything based on their own merit, it is Jesus. Yet He denied Himself. We, as created beings, receive everything we have through the grace of God. Therefore, we can only give back what we receive. As followers of Jesus, this Truth should be manifest in our lives.

Only those who are ignorant of God’s love or have hardened their hearts to His voice would act as if what they had received belongs to only to them. This is an attitude not just a mere act of selfishness. It is a seed which soon produces fruits of hatred and violence. It is a seed which blinds our souls to the compassionate heart of God. Eventually, it will bear fruits causing us to hate and despise all things divine and gracious. The tenants succumbed to extreme acts of hatred because they forgot that they were mere tenants. The things they had didn’t belong to them.

One thing is clear for those who follow Jesus, whatever we have is not ours but belongs only to God. He demands this back and we have to give it to Him.

God, our Heavenly Father, will send His servants to collect His rent. He will put people in our lives who ask of us our compassion and generosity. Sometimes He will send people to just share the space we occupy. These are His servants coming to collect what is due to God. We are to give freely what is required of us. God has given us all things necessary for us to share His Love to those who come to us seeking for it; spiritually and materially. We cannot turn away from these servants or think of them as unworthy of our love. Perhaps the most terrible thing we can do is to treat them as if they are invisible. Pretending someone is invisible is the closest thing to murder. Murder is, in essence, making someone completely invisible. We can make someone invisible with our actions and words. Therefore, let us pay attention because God always sends His servants to collect rent.

This parable had an even stronger impact on us this week. Just yesterday, we heard someone refer to our homeless youths as useless people who don’t want to improve themselves. This person was referring to their social status and judges them according to their lack of material wealth. We were offended that these words were proffered in their presence. We confronted the person in the most pleasant way possible. We did not want to escalate the situation. However, it was pointless. This person claimed that she had reason on her side. In a way, she had the reasoning of the world on her side. Therefore, it was impossible for us to say anything to her. The best thing to do was to walk away. Then the young people gathered around us and we talked about the incident. Surprisingly, they were not offended by her words. They ended up consoling us because we were more upset than them. They said that they knew who they were and these cruel words did not affect them. This is quite an interesting statement. They knew who they were. Where did they receive this knowledge of themselves? Perhaps they have received payments from other tenants who knew exactly that God is the true owner of everything which belongs to them.