Lectionary 145: Earthly Rulers and How to Deal with Them

Key:

What these passages tell us about God

What these passages tell us to do

What these passages tell us not to do

Commentary/observations

Reading 1 IS 45:1, 4-6

Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus, whose right hand I grasp,
subduing nations before him, and making kings run in his service, opening doors before him and leaving the gates unbarred: For the sake of Jacob, my servant, of Israel, my chosen one, I have called you by your name, giving you a title, though you knew me not. I am the LORD and there is no other,
there is no God besides me. It is I who arm you, though you know me not,
so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none besides me. I am the LORD, there is no other.

Responsorial Psalm PS 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10

R. (7b) Give the Lord glory and honor.
Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all you lands. Tell his glory among the nations; among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. Give the Lord glory and honor.
For great is the LORD and highly to be praised; awesome is he, beyond all gods. For all the gods of the nations are things of nought, but the LORD made the heavens.
R. Give the Lord glory and honor.
Give to the LORD, you families of nations, give to the LORD glory and praise; give to the LORD the glory due his name! Bring gifts, and enter his courts.
R. Give the Lord glory and honor.
Worship the LORD, in holy attire; tremble before him, all the earth; say among the nations: The LORD is king, he governs the peoples with equity.
R. Give the Lord glory and honor.

Reading 2 1 THES 1:1-5B                                                                     

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace.
We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father, knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen.
For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.

Alleluia PHIL 2:15D, 16A                                                                   

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Shine like lights in the world as you hold on to the word of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MT 22:15-21                                                                              

The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech.
They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion, for you do not regard a person's status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" 

Knowing their malice, Jesus said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?  Show me the coin that pays the census tax." 

Then they handed him the Roman coin. 

He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?" 

They replied, "Caesar's."

At that he said to them, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God."

1.    God is supreme over and controls all earthly rulers. He determines who rules according to His purposes.

2.   We, and the earthly rulers themselves, often do not understand why God grants/allows particular rulers power.

3.   God is the artist and earthly rulers are just the tools/instruments God uses. We must not confuse the tools/instruments with the one using them. Similarly, we must not elevate the tools/instruments above the artist.  

4.   We have to trust God’s plan, even when we don’t understand why a particular ruler is in power and when we would have preferred a different ruler.

5.    So how do we deal with earthly rulers, especially those we would not have chosen?

a.    Humbly respect the ruler’s authority. That is not easy sometimes, but scripture is very clear on this principle.  There are exceptions to this, as we see in Exodus 1:15-2:4, but they are unusual. However  we are wise to remember the legal protections available to us. See Acts 22:23-30.

b.   Keep our focus on God Remember His transcendent goodness and power and make Him, rather than the disagreeable ruler, the center of your attention. Matthew 14:28-31 provides a helpful analogy; Peter overcame the adversity he was in as long as he focused on Jesus rather than the adversity, he sank back into the adversity when he focused on it, but was delivered when he returned his focus to Jesus.

c.    Actively worship and serve God. That is how we “Repay… to God what belongs to God” as Jesus puts it in today’s gospel reading. Active service is particularly important; it takes our mind off what we are upset about and focuses it on something good. That’s probably why the Holy Spirit stressed the need to “do good” in the midst of disagreeable circumstances in Psalm 34:14, Psalm 37:3, and Psalm 37:27.    

d.   Pray for the ruler. Scripture repeatedly tells us to pray for those put over us, especially when they are not the rulers we would have chosen.  Among the things to pray for are that the ruler develops  humility and a servant's heart;  that he recognizes that he is subordinate to and serves at the pleasure of God; that the he/she be  just, fair and non-corrupt; that the leader have  good subordinates and works well with them;  and that the ruler recognize the importance of wise counsel.