“A message from the Lord to the king He has anointed, to Cyrus. I have caught him by his right hand, ready to subdue nations at his coming, put kings to flight, open every gateway before him, so that no door can keep him out. And now (says the Lord) I will still lead thee on thy way, bending the pride of earth low before thee; I will break open gates of bronze, and cleave through bars of iron; their hidden treasures, their most secret hoards, I will hand over to thee. Know by this that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, Who am calling upon thee by thy name; and that I do it for love of My servant Jacob, of Israel, My chosen people.”
Prophecy of Isaias, 45: 1-4 [link]
Thus begins our first reading this weekend. Isaiah the prophet in the splendid 45th chapter of that prophecy names a non-Jewish king, Koresh (or in English Cyrus), to perform a job for Him and restore the Jewish people from seventy years of exile to their own land, the Holy Land, what we know today as Palestine. The prophet even calls this Persian emperor an ‘anointed one,’ or in the Greek language, a ‘Christ.’ For Koresh has been chosen by the Holy One for this particular mission; in freeing the Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem, some five hundred years before Christ, Cyrus would make his own contribution to establishing the environment for the birth of Christ, for the Jews would bring back to Palestine some Persian customs and even the Aramaic language of the Apostles. But the Jews returned to Palestine would not have their own sovereignty for millennia (until the establishment of the modern Zionist state). The family of our Lord would be subjected after the Persian empire to the Macedonian empire of Alexander the Great and the Seleucid Greek empire after that, and the Roman Empire at last. All of these empires had overlordship of the Jewish kingdoms, to a greater or a lesser extent. How does a religious person, such as you or I, who claim a religious allegiance to the Holy One – how do we respect these human and worldly lordships and empires? Our Lord Himself grew up in Galilee, where there were small Jewish villages and large non-Jewish towns. He would have spoken familiarly the Aramaic of the Persians, in the carpentry business of S. Joseph He would have spoken the Greek of the Macedonians, and in the synagogue the Hebrew of His heritage. So, He knew well what He was talking about when He established this character of the Christian Church:
“…the Pharisees withdrew, and plotted together, to make Him betray Himself in His talk. And they sent their own disciples to Him, with those who were of Herod’s party, and said, ‘Master, we know well that Thou art sincere, and teachest in all sincerity the way of God; that Thou holdest no one in awe, making no distinction between man and man; tell us, then, is it right to pay tribute to Caesar, or not?’ Jesus saw their malice; ‘Hypocrites,’ He said, ‘why do you thus put Me to the test? Shew Me the coinage in which the tribute is paid.’ So they brought Him a silver piece, and He asked them, ‘Whose is this likeness? Whose name is inscribed on it?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they said; whereupon He answered, ‘Why then, give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’
Gospel of S. Matthew, 22: 15-21 [link]
The Apostles and early priests like S. Paul knew how to live under empire and respect the human overlord – S. Paul knew also how to use the Roman systems to spread the Gospel far beyond anybody else’s expectations. They were taught by Christ to give what is due to the human emperor to him, and give what is due to the Holy One to Him. As we see in our gospel message above, the Church throughout the world (like Christ) lives and must live under human potentates and governments. The Church has always seen this as at least a divinely permitted and at most a divinely ordained system – we are meant to be thus subject to men and nevertheless remain faithful to God. Cyrus the Persian in the first reading was designated by the Holy One, and so are our governments today, for better or for worse. Often where we are, despite our belief that we are being democratically governed, we find ourselves helpless before the antics of our politicians and policy-makers. But they must have their due. And their incompetence should make us trust more and rely more upon the benevolent government of God our Lord, Who draws us on to our true end – happiness with Him forever. And so let us in every situation, as Paul says in our second reading today, continue to show our active faith, our unwearied love, our endurance in hope in Our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory and praise now and always.
“Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church assembled at Thessalonica in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; grace be yours and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you continually in our prayers; such memories we have of your active faith, your unwearied love, and that hope in our Lord Jesus Christ which gives you endurance, in the sight of him who is our God and Father.
First letter of S. Paul to the Thessalonians, 1: 1-3 [link]
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 