Welcome Back to Banquet of the Word!
Join us every week for background on this Sunday readings.
Our mission is simple: We want to help everyone in “pew-land” get more out of mass.
Fun Fact #1:
Who was Cyrus (mentioned in Reading 1)? Cyrus was the king of Persia. The Persians were an enormous, powerful army. All you really need to know is that after generations of bad kings who sought to harm the Jewish people, Cyrus was a “light among the darkness.” In the first year of his reign, he issued the decree of liberation to the Jews. He made a decree that the Temple should be rebuilt so that the Jews should be free to return to their land. Thank God for Cyrus!
Isaiah 45: 1, 4-6
(The 1st Reading is Old Testament. It always links to the Gospel.)
Notice how the Lord grasps the hand of Cyrus, his anointed one. The Lord blesses Cyrus for being a beacon of light to his people on His behalf. The Lord says here that he has called Cyrus by name; he has called us ALL by name. Do we grasp His hand?
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 96: Give the Lord Glory and Honor.
(The Psalm is a “response” to what we heard in the 1st Reading)
This beautiful psalm sounds like exactly what the people of Israel would have said to God and to Cyrus. Because Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their land and rebuild the temple, they were so grateful! So full of thanksgiving!
Listen to the psalm as if it is the Jews speaking to Cyrus and to God. This last verse picks up images of last week’s reading when we were asked to be “dressed” for the banquet of Heaven:
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.
1 Thessalonians 1: 1:-5B
(The 2nd reading is usually from Paul’s letters. Speaks to how the early church was built after Christ’s death and resurrection).
Today we have the very first 5 verses of Paul’s first letter to those in Thessalonica. Paul’s letters are just like the letters you and I write to our loved ones. They have an introduction/greeting, the “meat” of the letter or the content, lesson to be learned, and then a conclusion.
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.
The underlined piece of the reading, if ever you are looking for it, shows how God’s plan for us did not ONLY come through words (or Scripture, the Bible), but also through Tradition and the Magisterium.
These three – Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium – these are the 3 legged stool on which the Catholic Church stands. This is what sets us apart from our Protestant brothers and sisters who stand on Scripture alone.
Matthew 22: 15-21
(The Gospel is the highest point of the Liturgy of the Word. That’s why we stand.
We are about to hear from and be instructed by Christ Himself.)
Today we have a potentially confusing reading. Let’s unpack it bit by bit. You know the one I mean, the one that ends with this verse: “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.”
- The reading begins with the Pharisees wanting to trap Jesus and find fault in him.
- They addressed him as Teacher and said, “you are a truthful man; you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status. (This is all said to “butter him up.”) Tell us, then, is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”
- Jesus responds. He knows the malice of their hearts, their intent to trap Him. He draws back the veil between them, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax.”
- They handed him the Roman coin. He said “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.”
- Jesus brings the insight forward: “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”
What just happened? Actually, Jesus played a joke of sorts on his questioners.
In order to get this “first century joke”, you have to know 2 things. 1) Jesus is having this conversation in the temple. And 2) in the temple? There are no graven images allowed – because it would suggest idolatry. So after Jesus is challenged, he says to them:
“Hey wait a minute, why don’t you show me that coin in your pocket? The one you pay taxes with?”
Then the Pharisees show him a coin with Caesar’s head on it – which they are not allowed to have in the temple. In this moment, picture their faces turning beet red and realizing – “Doh! We’ve been had.”
Ultimately, the Pharisees are all show but no heart. We see this example yet again today, when they are supposedly a righteous people but so consumed with detail that they fail to see the bigger picture.
Summary:
In today’s first reading God chooses Cyrus and blesses him who will be a beacon of light for his people. The gospel shows us the hypocrisy that can creep in when we go against God’s plan and choose our own “gods”, our own graven images. We are always better off going with God’s originial plan and giving him “Glory and Honor” as our psalm says!
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.”
Banquet of the Word 