Today in the Gospel, we witness Divine intellect against the demonic intellect. The trap that the Pharisees and Herodians set is one of perfection. If Jesus answers not to pay the Romans He would be arrested for sedition, hence the purpose of the Herodians being there. Who were the Herodians? They were from King Herod and they were there to give the evidence of the sedition. If Jesus answered to pay the Romans He would escape sedition, but he would lose His credibility with the common people who hated the Roman rule and were expecting a Messiah to lead a rebellion. I can just imagine what it would have been like to be an Apostle and see these two groups approach you and to hear this question asked, knowing the meaning behind it and knowing the implications of being related to a guilty man. Nothing good could come of this trap and that is exactly what it was. There was no honesty and sincerity in what they said. Yet Jesus over turns their demonically crafted plan and turns the question back on them. He shows them by carrying the Denarius they were violating the First Commandment to not have graven images of false gods, which the Emperor was. And He reminds them that they are made in the image and likeness of God and their work should be the work of God and not the work of the devil.
We, too, however must be very aware of the traps that are set for us in order to distract ourselves from the image we are created in and how that image is meant to glorify God. Only in our closeness to the Divine will we escape the trap maliciously set for us. In the letters of St Paul it says the devil is prowling like a roaring lion ready to devour us. One way he traps us is to put much or a great deal of our energy into things that don’t matter. One thing I used to like to do, and still often feel tempted to do, is play video games. I beat many games, spent hours late night and early mornings playing these games. What do I have to show for all those hours? Nothing good I assure you. I was very passionate, almost trapped, until I completed the game. Oh people might say it was not a big deal, everyone deserves a break but it wasn’t a break. It did not refresh me for the other things in life, it simply took time I had that I will never get back and wasted it. For me that was a trap. Only in Christ did I find freedom from living in a fantasy. I often joke that if I spent that same amount of time praying I would be able to levitate or bilocate which would really help me serve my purpose.
There are many cunning traps set for our lives to get us to work for nothing, “important,” things like status. How many people are working for status? We might tell ourselves things such as, “Once I have it made I will then do good things for the poor.” Or if working for fame, that you will use it for good. Perhaps wanting to be a great athlete, but for what purpose are you exerting your effort now and using your time? Are we rendering the image and likeness to God into a great work of pride? Only in our closeness to God will we escape from these cunning traps to simply distract us from the reality of life or to work from nothing.
To be healthy we must ask, “What is our purpose?” And then we must see if the things we are doing in life are fulfilling that. If our purpose is to know, love and serve God and be happy with Him in eternity then we must question what we are doing.
It is not wrong to get recreation, but our recreation should help us and not hinder us. For example, many people like to watch media. Okay, fine and good but what we need to ask at the end of watching is do we feel refreshed to fulfill our vocation? Suppose you are a parent and after watching TV you are more grumpy, well then you have fallen into the trap of wasting your time and energy. If you go on vacation and you are more stressed than when you started, you have wasted your time. Our life must be pointed towards a goal to be healthy. Just as eating has a purpose and, undeniably, it can be pleasurable still if at the end of eating you are not strengthened for your vocation or purpose then the food has not served its purpose but has instead been a snare to you. You have fallen into a crafty trap, and you have fallen there because you have not stayed close to the Divine and you have tried to be satisfied without God and that means without love.
We cannot make things an end in themselves; things are for a purpose. That purpose is to know, love and serve God and be happy with Him in this world and the next. Most things are good in themselves but they are terrible ends. If I expect to be satisfied in winning a game and the game is going to be a game changer in my life and give me my identity, then I am going to be sorely disappointed. If I earn money without it being for the express purpose of fulfilling my vocation, it will become my master and it is a cruel master. They say the god of money always demands twenty-five percent more. When rich people are interviewed, it is rare that they are satisfied, they always need twenty-five percent more. Money is not a security, it does not ever fulfill it promises. If we earn to support our purpose then we will be satisfied and we won’t worry. So we are back to the trap. The trap is you can be fulfilled without God but the truth is you cannot. Stay close to God and He will show the way out of whatever trap you are in, just as He showed the Apostles and the Pharisees in today’s Gospel.