Today's Church Readings

In an effort to further my study of my faith, I am going to attempt to track each Sunday's readings, a summary of the homily, and my interpretation of the message as well. I am obtaining my quotes from BibleGateway.com.

The link to the search for today's readings:

King James version, New Living Translation.

First Reading:

¹This is what the LORD says to Cyrus, his anointed one, whose right hand he will empower. Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed with fear. Their fortress gates will be opened, never again to shut against him.

⁴"And why have I called you for this work? It is for the sake of Jacob my servant, Israel my chosen one. I called you by name when you did not know me. ⁵I am the LORD; there is no other God. I have prepared you, even though you do not know me, ⁶so all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Second Reading:

¹This letter is from Paul, Silas, and Timothy. It is written to the church in Thessalonica, you who belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May his grace and peace be yours.

²We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. ³As we talk to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and your continual anticipation of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴We know that God loves you, dear brothers and sisters, and that he chose you to be his own people. ⁵For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know that the way we lived among you was further proof of the truth of our message.

Commentary on this passage

Gospel

¹⁵Then the Pharisees met together to think of a way to trap Jesus into saying something for which they could accuse him. ¹⁶They decided to send some of their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to ask him this question: "Teacher, we know how honest you are. You teach about the way of God regardless of the consequences. You are impartial and don't play favorites. ¹⁷Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?"

¹⁸But Jesus knew their evil motives. "You hypocrites!" he said. "Whom are you trying to fool with your trick questions? ¹⁹Here, show me the Roman coin used for the tax." When they handed him the coin, ²⁰he asked, "Whose picture and title are stamped on it?"

²¹"Caesar's," they replied.

"Well, then," he said, "give to Caesar what belongs to him. But everything that belongs to God must be given to God."

Commentary on this passage

The message of the homilist Reverend Joseph M. Cooper, St. Joseph Cathedral, Manchester: Father Joe spoke about how we often focus on the first half of Jesus' statement "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's," without paying much attention to the second half - "Everything that belongs to God must be given to God." (Bear with me, I am still getting the hang of which edition to be quoting from, which lines exist in my memory, etc.) He posed the rhetorical question: "How can we give God anything, when everything is God's anyway?" He went on to speak about how, in our work to achieve our goals, we often speak about how hard we worked to obtain our success. We should instead be focused on the fact that all that we have we have through the grace of God. Therefore, what we can render unto God is our gratitude for the grace of His gifts.

My interpretation: Well, at first I like it whenever Jesus lays the smack down on the Pharisees. It turns my thoughts to all of those who have come since Him who have been in similar positions. I think one addition interpretation of His message should be directed towards anyone who "works" in the name of the Lord who believes that they are imbued with some sort of higher station than us lay people. They should render unto God their thanks for His grace that has resulted in their fortunate station in life. There are too many holy men who have determined that the laity are supposed to function in service to the clergy, instead of the other way around. I will attempt to take the message of today's gospel and be more thankful for the things that I have and recognize God's grace in making them possible.