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 more recognizable quotes from the Scriptures.  Repay to Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar, and to God what belongs to God.  Some of you may be familiar with the phrase “coin of the realm”.  It signifies the unit of currency any given nation uses.  In the United States, we have the dollar.  In Europe, there’s the euro.  And so on.

            Jesus tells us we have to repay to God what belongs to God.  What is the coin of the realm where God is concerned?  With what currency do we repay God?  God doesn’t give us wages of any kind.  Getting wages implies we do something in return for payment.  Jesus was very clear that you can’t get to heaven by simply following the rules of the Law.  God loves us and gives us gifts, graces, and blessings at no cost!  So how do we repay God for the many gifts we’ve received?  The coin of the Kingdom of God is giving the blessings we’ve received to others.  To love and care for others as God cares for us.

            There are many denominations of the currency of the Kingdom of God.  Charity, faithfulness, prayer, compassion, glory and honor to God, generosity.  I’d like to focus on one that I’ve encountered in the Scriptures and from spiritual reading over the last few months.  That “coin” is mercy.

            Mercy is a word we hear all the time.  It’s everywhere in Scripture and in the prayers of the Mass.  We start our liturgy by asking Jesus to have mercy on us!  In Matthew chapter nine, Jesus tells the Pharisees “Go learn the meaning of the words I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”  The “coin” of mercy may be the most valuable thing we can give to others.

What do you think of when you hear the word mercy?  Most of us think of having compassion or forgiveness instead of punishment. The word mercy is derived from the Latin word misericordia.  It combines the words miseria, meaning misery, and cordis, meaning heart.  The word literally translates into taking someone’s misery into your heart.  This is what God does.  He takes all our sins, troubles, and miseries and holds them in His heart.

            We’re called to do the same for others.  To look upon the suffering and pain of others and hold it in our hearts.   To forgive others and have compassion on them.  To treat others with kindness and understanding, especially the stranger.  To love them and do what we can to ease their suffering.  Who in our lives needs our mercy?  How can we use the gifts God gave us to be merciful to others?  In our actions, thoughts, and words.  Friends, family, immigrants, the poor, those we disagree with?  Everything we have is a gift to us from God.  God pours out His mercy on us and takes our miseries into His heart.  How can we return this mercy, which belongs to God, back to God?