We bear the image of God in our hearts

Let us be careful that a person can sell their conscience without even receiving a single penny for it. My brothers and sisters, we sell our conscience when we keep silent about injustice simply to save ourselves and our own position. We sell our conscience when we tell a lie to avoid inconvenience, or when we humiliate someone to exalt ourselves. Every such choice leaves a mark on our own conscience. A person may achieve some profit, but in the meantime they stifle the voice of conscience, that quiet, divine voice that speaks within us, and thus the image of God in which they were created gradually fades away within them. Therefore, today the gospel invites us to ask ourselves: to whom do we belong, who has the final word in our decisions, God or our own selfish interests?

In the gospel passage we heard that the Pharisees and the Herodians come before Jesus. They are people who otherwise were each other's political and religious opponents, yet now they join forces to catch Jesus in his words and get rid of him. They cannot connect in doing good, but they are bound by the common intention against Jesus, who disturbs them because he proclaims the truth. They step up to him and speak thus: Master, we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Their words seemingly are full of respect and recognition, but their intention is completely insincere. They praise Jesus with this contrived kindness, yet in reality they are setting a trap for him. Therefore Jesus answers: Why do you put me to the test, you hypocrites? He exposes the chasm between their words and their real intentions.

Dear brothers and sisters, their behavior also warns us that hypocrisy can never be compatible with truth and sincerity. The hypocritical person destroys the most precious treasure, trust between people, in order to turn it to their own advantage. Therefore, this evening the gospel invites us to examine our own heart. We can speak very beautifully and truthfully about God, but in the meantime we can treat unworthily and unjustly those with whom we live and whom we meet day by day. We can pray daily for peace while with our words and actions we bring lack of peace into the lives of others. Hypocrisy begins when we expect from others everything that we ourselves are not willing to do. We use a double standard: with one we excuse ourselves, and with the other we ruthlessly judge our neighbors. In the Gospel of Matthew the Lord pronounces a strict judgment on hypocrites, comparing them to whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but are dead on the inside. What a chasm can yawn between words and real intentions!

The Pharisees and the Herodians pose the question to Jesus: is it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar or not? The question is seemingly simple, but behind it lies a dangerous trap. If Jesus answers that it is lawful to pay the tax, then they can accuse him of favoring Roman oppression and the occupying power against his own people. And if he says it is not lawful, they can report him to the Roman authorities as a rebellious enemy of Caesar and the empire. But Jesus, seeing through their deceitful intention, asks for a tax coin and asks them: Whose image and inscription is this? They blurt out: Caesar's. Then he pronounces the well-known words: Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's!

On the coin there is the image of Caesar, but let us ask ourselves: whose image is engraved in man? We find the answer on the very first pages of Scripture, in the Book of Genesis: in his own image God created man. Therefore Caesar has his own right to what is his, but no earthly power has the right to take God's place in man's life, because man is God's property. The coin may bear the likeness of Caesar, but every human being without exception bears the image of God. Thus Jesus' answer not only teaches the questioners the proper order, but also reminds us of our deepest human identity. Therefore, dear brother, never forget that you belong to God: do not give your conscience into the hands of foreign forces, and do not sell it at any price! Belonging to God also means that we cannot claim to be His while despising our fellow human being, who is also the image of God. Every person, without exception, is created in the image of God, regardless of where they come from or how much they differ from us. It is our duty to recognize and respect this dignity in every person.

This realization leads us on this Mission Sunday to the essence of our mission: Christ came to save every person. His love knows no boundaries, it is not restricted by nations, languages, or cultures. Therefore the Church cannot keep the treasure of the gospel merely to itself, but is called to take it to every nation so that every person may hear the good news of redemption: that they are a beloved creature of God, their sins are forgiven, and death is not the final word. Missionaries set out to distant lands because they firmly believe that every soul has immeasurable dignity and everyone has the right to know the love of Christ. Let us support them with our prayers and material offerings! However small our donation may seem, it can mean someone's schooling, healing, a safer life, or the encounter with Christ itself.

However, Mission Sunday expects a response not only from those who travel to distant continents, but from all of us. We must ask the question: what mark does my faith leave in the lives of the people living around me? With our life do we bring our fellow human beings closer to God, or do we obscure His face from them. The child learns from our example what it means to believe; our coworker at the workplace measures the credibility of Christian words based on our deeds; and the one who offended us can experience the power of forgiveness from our response. Our mission begins where we live in everyday life. We do not all need to move to faraway countries, for we can be missionaries right where we happen to be: our faith becomes a blessing for others when it is transformed into patience, justice, goodness, and deeds of mercy.

Dear faithful, this evening we are here in Medjugorje from all over the world: we have brought our prayers, our burdens, our gratitude, and our sins. We have come before the Lord as we are, with everything we carry in our hearts. In this Holy Mass the Lord gives himself to us once again: he does not come to condemn, but to call us to conversion and a new life. He calls us to be more honest with ourselves, more honest with our fellow human beings, and more faithful to God. Let us not postpone this conversion, let us not wait for others to change first! Let every single person ask themselves the question: what is it that I need to change in my own life? Where did I keep silent about the truth, whom did I judge unjustly, where did I slander, and where did I place my own selfishness ahead of others? Did I help others on the way leading to God, or did I rather make their steps more difficult? There is no one among us, whatever language they may speak, who could not find at least one area in their own life where their faith is still waiting to become real, concrete deeds. The Virgin Mary dedicated her entire life to the work of God with her yes. Although she did not understand everything in advance, she believed and completely entrusted herself to God's guidance. May her intercession obtain for us that open heart with which we hear the word of God, welcome it, and put it into practice in our daily life. Amen.