Homily | June 2, 2026 | Whose Image Do You Bear? | (Episode 145)

One of the most famous lines Jesus ever spoke appears in today's gospel.

Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.

Most people think this gospel is about taxes.

It's not.

The tax question is simply the trap.

The Pharisees and the Herodians are trying to corner Jesus.

If he says, don't pay the tax, the Romans can arrest him.

If he says, pay the tax, many Jews will turn against him.

It's a brilliant political trap.

But Jesus refuses to play their game.

He asks for a coin and says, Well, whose image is on this?

Caesar's, they say.

Well, then comes the famous response, well, then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.

But here's the question nobody asks.

Well, what belongs to God?

The coin bears Caesar's image, so it belongs to Caesar.

But whose image is stamped on you?

The book of Genesis tells us that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God.

The coin belongs to Caesar because it bears his image.

You belong to God because you bear his.

That's the real point of the gospel.

Jesus is not primarily teaching a lesson about taxation.

He's teaching a lesson about identity.

Everything we have comes from God.

Our life, our soul, our gifts, our time, our talent, our future.

The deepest question is not whether we are giving Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

The deeper question is whether we are giving God what already belongs to him.

And this becomes even more important when we hear the first reading.

St.

Peter speaks about the coming of the Lord and the passing away of this world.

He reminds us that everything we see is temporary.

The buildings, the careers, the achievements, the political movements, the stock markets, the headlines, all of it will pass away.

What remains?

Only God.

And because of that, Peter says something remarkable.

Grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Notice he doesn't simply say grow in grace.

He also says grow in knowledge.

And that's an important apologetics because many Catholics have a good heart, but they do not know their faith.

They know what they feel, they know what their grandmother taught them, they know a few prayers, but they cannot explain why they believe.

And in today's world, that can be dangerous.

Why?

Because the cultural is asking questions.

Why believe in God?

Why trust the church?

Why believe in the Eucharist?

Why believe in moral truth?

Why believe in Christ?

And did he really was he risen from the dead?

If we can't answer those questions, our faith becomes vulnerable.

The church has never asked us to check our brains at the door.

Quite the opposite.

The greatest minds of all of human history have been Christians.

Augustine, Aquinas, Newman, Edistein.

The faith is not afraid to question, because truth is never afraid of investigation.

Saint Peter understood this.

That's why he says grow in knowledge.

A mature Catholic should know, should not only know what he believes, but he why he believes it.

And there's a practical lesson for all of us.

Because every day someone is trying to claim your allegiance.

Politics wants your allegiance.

The culture we live in wants your allegiance.

Social media definitely wants your allegiance.

The marketplace wants your allegiance.

Everyone is competing for your heart.

But there's only one person whose image you bear, Jesus Christ.

That's why the saints could remain peaceful even when kingdoms rose and fell around them.

They paid their taxes, they fulfilled their civic duties, they were good citizens, but they never forgot where the ultimate citizenship was.

Their deepest loyalty belongs to God.

And perhaps that's the examination of conscience for us today.

If someone looked at my life, whose image would they see reflected there?

Would they see the image of Christ?

Would they see a man or a woman growing in grace and in knowledge?

Would they see someone whose priorities reveal that God comes first?

Because one day every coin, every possession, every accomplishment will remain behind.

But the soul that bears the image of God will live forever.

And on that day, the Lord will not ask how much we accumulated.

The Lord will ask whether we gave him what always belonged to him in the first place, our hearts.

Amen.