Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way. (Matthew 22:15–22)

Where did [the Pharisees] go? To the Herodians. For he did not say, “they advised” but “they took counsel.” And from the time when they came together with the Herodians, it appears that they mulled over with them a counsel of entrapment of this kind. A farmer does not need the help of that person whose land he possesses. Whoever has righteousness needs the support of nobody except God. He who walks in the iniquities of the devil needs the help of the devil. For a farmer of God does not seek after the aid of the devil, but a farmer of the devil does not find the aid of God, even if he asks for it. Did you ever see a thief ask of God that he succeed in his thievery? Or did one going to fornication place the sign of the cross in his forehead so that he would not be arrested for his crime? But if he did it, not only is he not helped, but he still further is betrayed because the righteousness of God does not know how to give support to misdeeds. So also those who desired to assault Christ quite appropriately did not hasten to the servants of God (that is, religious people) but to the Gentiles (that is, to the Herodians).

The conspiracy matched the conspirators. But who could give counsel against Christ except for the devil, who was the adversary of Christ? For the priests thought to themselves, “If we alone went and asked Christ, even if Christ said that it is not right to pay tribute to Caesar, nonetheless nobody will believe us when we speak against him, for already everybody knows that we are his enemy. But the testimony of enemies is rejected at a trial as suspect, even if it is true.” But they did not want to ask Christ by themselves because they were greatly suspected of hostility against Christ, lest by chance they be suspected of laying a trap for him and not be able to do so. For a manifest enemy is better than a pretend friend. As long as the enemy is feared, he is easily avoided, but as long as the pretend friend is not recognized, he prevails. Therefore, they sent their disciples to him,since they were less well known and less suspected, so that they might easily deceive him in a hidden manner or, if they were caught, they might be less embarrassed in front of him.…

But Jesus, aware of their malice, did not answer calmly in line with their speech but spoke harshly in line with their cruel conscience because God speaks more to the soul than to the body and replies to wills, not words. “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the money for the tax.” And they brought him a coin. He said to them, “hypocrites,” so that they could find in their heart among themselves what they heard in the ear so that they would consider that he knew the human heart and so they would not dare to complete what they were contemplating to do. Therefore, see that the Pharisees indeed flattered him in order to destroy him, but Jesus routed them in order to save them, because an angry God is more useful for a human being than an appeased human being is.

Incomplete Commentary on Matthew, Homily 42