“Give to God What Belongs to God”: A Reflection on Planetary Praise

“Give to God what belongs to God.” The reading from the Gospel of Matthew leaves us with these final words. But if we read this commandment, to “give to God what belongs to God,” with an ecological lens, what types of behaviors might be demanded of us? The lectionary places together these passages from Isaiah, Paul, Psalm, and Matthew, inviting us to read each piece with and through the other. I will attempt to trace an ecological thread in these texts.

This week’s readings focus on God as the ultimate caretaker. The first reading from Isaiah invites a reflection on God as the one who delivers, the God who will return the people back to their lands.  The Psalm, offering praise to God, is often linked with this passage in Isaiah. In both passages, there is a trust in God’s future activity. Even in his letter to the Christian community in Thessalonica, the Apostle Paul offers thanksgiving to God.

The gospel readings present us with a particular challenge. This passage appears in the other synoptic gospels of Mark and Luke as well.  In an attempt to puzzle Jesus, the Pharisees ask him about whether or not they should pay taxes to the emperor. Jesus asks them to present the coin, he asks them to describe the image and engraving that it bears. He prompts them to answer their own question. Jesus also leaves the gathered with the task to “give to God what belongs to God.”

When we return to the Psalm, we see that ultimate praise is due to the divine. The lyrical passage invites us to sing to the Lord; this is a kinship chorus that includes all of creation. Rich with ecological and celestial imagery, the Psalm emphasizes God as creator. Its comprehensive understanding of interconnection includes all peoples, all lands, all the earth, all the nations. This passage of enthronement reaffirms God as the sustainer and caretaker of all things, deserving of all praise. In anticipation of a renewed future, the people praise the divine.

“Give to God what belongs to God.”

But what happens when humanity confuses the things of God and the things of the emperor? If human greed interchanges the dignity of the planet with the pursuit of the coin, do we lose sight of what belongs to God and what belongs to the empire? What happens when the earth is exploited, when oppressed communities are made more vulnerable?

When the shared plight of marginalized communities and the earth are ignored, humanity hands over to the empire what is actually God’s. In his encyclical Laudato Si, Pope Francis reminds us to listen to the “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” But perhaps, in giving to God what belongs to God,  as Jesus tells us, then the praise of the earth and the praise of the poor occupy the same key. This means that we must also care for our vulnerable kin: poor communities of color and our entire planet. All of creation is interconnected.

The Psalm invites us to engage in this planetary chorus through a “new song.” Within the scope of sacred Christian music, African American Spirituals offer a grammar for reflecting on how humanity and creation are bound up in the love of God. For example,  the lyrics of the Spiritual “He’s got the whole world in his hands,” rejoins kinship ties of brothers, sisters, rain, and wind. All care and order of our universe belongs to God.

“Give to God what belongs to God.”

In his recent exhortation Laudate Deum, Pope Francis concludes the document with the following: “ ‘Praise God’ is the title of this letter. For when human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies.”

“Give to God what belongs to God.”

We who are flesh; we who are kin with the lands and the waters and the stars and the earth; we are invited to give to God the glory and praise in a more complete way. Amen.