Matthew 22
“Give, therefore, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” This answer of Jesus in today’s gospel might be just a witty retort to the wicked trap of the Jews. Matthew, however, probably saved this episode to show more than Jesus was a verbal genius. The word of Jesus makes us reflect on what belongs to the divine authority and human authority.
One of the signs of the modern world is a conscious attempt to remove religion from the human world. Another name for this attempt is secular humanism. Some might associate this with the separation of the State and the Church. But this attempt has a fundamentally different goal. Secular humanism does not necessarily destroy religions. However, it denies the divine authority on any human act. Practically, it is atheism. For a secular humanist, religion is only a personal taste or preference. Religion is fundamentally not so different from an association of stamp collectors or a kennel club. Secular humanism believes that the man decides everything according to his capacity.
In our generation, in particular, secular humanism manifests itself in law and science. Law wants the authority to define everything, and science wants it to manipulate anything. Law existed to protect justice and to promote the common good. Now, the law attempts to define justice and re-define the common good. Science existed to understand nature. Now, science attempts to manipulate nature, including human life.
When the man removes God from the world, he holds infinite options in his hands to please himself. As long as he has power, he can determine anything and everything. As we have seen in Canada and the US, people want to define and re-define gender, sex, marriage, family, life, death, truth, and so on. And, very often, people bring these issues to legislatures and courts. But do they have the proper ability to define? The man can define his ideas or his creations. Ideas and inventions come from the man, and he has the authority. However, what law now attempts to define or re-define are not from himself. We are not either owners or creators of life and death, or marriage and family. Modern science believes it can apply its knowledge of nature to manipulation of nature for human satisfaction. But will it, or can it also assume its responsibility? Especially in life science, when human lives are involved, who can vouch for their human dignity? When nature is polluted and destroyed, who can reverse and restore?
In many sci-fi movies, protagonists often reminisce about life before certain world-changing events. Usually, the previous one used to be with homes with green grass, parents with children, children running on the hills, many people with busy daily routines, etc. Then, the present reality doesn’t have any of those – no families, no happy children, no garden, not many survivors at all. Only individuals equipped with technology control and exploit second class humans or people without any right or dignity. Of course, no God is among them; no church exists there.
When the man removes God from his life, from the world, he finds nothing for himself. We are only wayfarers in God’s land. If we remove God, we find ourselves in the darkness of the void.
