Originally published at crisis magazine
“Render unto Caesar…” may cause some alarm. God Incarnate seems to be lauding Caesar, yet Caesar hardly seems laudable.
The Caesars were a rather disreputable bunch, given their depraved lives. Let us recall that after the worthy life of Augustus, there were Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. Hardly Catholic role models.
All the Roman emperors, whether of the Julio-Claudian line, the Flavian, or the Antonine, were devout votaries of pagan gods, whose tribute they exacted from the early Christians. Refusal resulted in over two hundred years of sadistic persecution.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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Let us not forget the conduct of Caesar’s armies in the conquest of nations. Not only was it barbaric, but to their vanquished enemies they meted pitiless punishment. So staggering was their legendary, totalizing cruelty that it caused Tacitus to write in his A.D. 98 De Vita et Moribus Lulii Agricolae, “they create a desert, and call it peace.”
How could the Savior recommend homage to Caesar?
Clearly, He does not.
It was not the Caesars to whom he was recommending tribute but to what they represented: the legitimate state and the proper order it established. That order
