Giving what is due.

In this week Sunday's Gospel we read:

"..give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar - and to God what belongs to God." - Matthew 22: 21

After reading this article,  I can't help to notice that the relationship between this article and that phrase somehow relates.

First let us look who the Prime Minister is. The PM is our elected leader through our democratic system in Malaysia, he is our leader which steers the country to a economically, socially and politically stable nation. The Prime Minister also plays a role in maintaining the peace in our country, moreover he is also the image of Malaysia to the world.

Next, the let's looks at the Archbishop. The Archbishop is the head of the Catholic community here in Kuala Lumpur and acts as the head of the other dioceses also as the Metropolitan. The Archbishop is one of the many successors of the Apostles whom belongs to the college of Bishops. He is our leader in faith, speaking against injustice and the defender of the Catholic faith here in Malaysia, He also is the image of the Catholic Church here in Malaysia.

If you were to read this article you would realise the great differences between what our earthly and civil leader (the PM) had said and what our earthly spiritual leader had said. It may be too early to judge the actions of Archbishop Julian who only took his office for a few weeks as compared to our PM who held it for 6 years already. Nevertheless, through experience and favour, we sometimes wonder if our civil leader has really meant what he said.

As Catholics, Christians, we are to respect both our leaders as what Christ has said. Judging from all that has happened in this country, it is somewhat easy to lose hope and faith in our civil leaders. Sometimes without a doubt we can have anger and even resentment to those whom we have elected to hold office. As what Christ has said by giving back to Caesar what belongs to him, not only this relates to taxes, but also towards the respect we ought to give our civil leaders.

The very same respect we give to God and his workers, as in this case our Archbishop, Priests and those who serve the Lord with their lives.

The frailty of human leadership is that, they will always be judged and always be kept in the limelight, and any crime they do will be criticised and any good they do would also be questioned at times.

By giving to God what belongs to Him and to our leaders what belongs to them means that we should give the respect and honour to what to their due. By no means, should we scowl or to even curse our civil leaders, no matter how bad they are, but rather to pray and have the hope that they might be changed. On another hand, sometimes we too might not like our spiritual leaders. This goes both ways,

When Jesus said to give back what is belonged to the other person, he is saying that everyone deserves the respect and honour according to what their position in the community is, the power they have; it may be contradictory to what they ought to do but nevertheless there's always a reason why they are in that position.

Here's the article from The Ant Daily once again:
http://theantdaily.com/Main/The-moderate-prime-minister-and-the-loving-shepherd