Homily 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 18, 2026
Today's readings can be found here . As I reflected on today’s Gospel, my first thought was that I wish Jesus had given the Pharisees a different answer. I recently paid my school taxes. It would have been nice to tell the district that paying taxes was against my religion. Our Gospel today isn’t really about taxes. It’s about the Pharisees trying to trick Jesus. They thought they were clever. They asked a question they thought would have no good answer. Should they pay taxes to Caesar? If Jesus answered yes, the Pharisees would claim He supported the Roman occupiers of Israel. If He answered no, they could report Jesus to the Roman authorities as a rebel. The perfect trap! Jesus, however, sees right through them. Jesus asks to see a Roman coin and provides one of the mor...