Whose Image Do You Bear?

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We often hear today’s Gospel as if Jesus is simply giving us a lesson about Church and State, taxes and religion. But there is something much deeper happening. The coin bears Caesar’s image, so it belongs to Caesar. But then comes the question Jesus leaves hanging in the air: whose image do you bear? Scripture tells us that we are made in the image and likeness of God. So if the coin belongs to Caesar because it carries his image, then your life belongs to God because you carry His.

So the first directive is: Remember Whose Image You Carry. The world is constantly trying to tell us who we are. But before you are successful or unsuccessful, admired or forgotten, strong or weak, you are someone marked with the image of God. Isaiah reminds us today that God is Lord even over kings and nations; He can even use Cyrus, a pagan ruler, to accomplish His purposes. God is bigger than the labels the world puts on us. And maybe some of our anxiety comes from forgetting that our deepest identity is not something we earn. It is something God has already given us.

Second: Give Things Their Proper Place. Jesus does not say that Caesar gets nothing. “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” We have responsibilities in this world. We work, pay taxes, obey just laws, care for our families, participate in society. Faith does not remove us from ordinary life. But Jesus is also drawing a line: Caesar can have the coin, but Caesar cannot have your soul. Your career can have your effort, but it cannot have your identity. Money can serve you, but it cannot become your master. The problem begins when we give temporary things what belongs only to God.

And third: Give God All Of You. We are usually happy to give God a portion of us: Sunday Mass, a few prayers, maybe a little time when life gets difficult. But Jesus is not asking for a religious corner of our lives. If we bear His image, then the whole person belongs to Him: our decisions, relationships, money, ambitions, bodies, plans, time, and even the parts of ourselves we would rather keep hidden. The question is not simply, “What do I owe God?” The real question is, “What in my life am I still refusing to give Him?”

Maybe that is the invitation of this Gospel. Look at the coin and then look at yourself. The coin carries the image of Caesar. You carry the image of God. Coins pass from hand to hand and eventually disappear, but the image God placed in you is meant for eternity.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me remember that I am made in Your image. Teach me to put the things of this world in their proper place and never give them the place that belongs to You. Show me what I am still holding back, and give me the courage to place my whole life in Your hands. May the way I live reveal whose image I bear. Amen.

– Homily by Rev. Fr. Patrick Agbeko