Sunday October 22nd: Encounters! beginning of new journeys…

Whose image is this?

Matthew 22: 15-20

Encounters are more than simply meetings, greetings
and goodbyes, although many begin and end that way.
Our values, experiences, our inward hunger all journey
with us, and often, as in today’s Gospel, define our encounters on the journey through life.

Those who questioned Jesus that day, were determined
to bend his mind to their firmly held views. Jesus tore down
the walls of hypocrisy surrounding them, revealing their hidden intentions and the values that sustained them.
Only when his word is planted deep in the soil of our lives
will they bear fruit. Only then could a new journey, new life begin.

As we leave this ‘Sunday Encounter with Jesus’ and return
to homes and communities where both ‘Cesar’ and ‘God’
share our paths and our lives, let us take with us
the question that lies at the heart of today’s gospel:
Whose image is this? We may be surprised to discover how easily Cesar can take the place of God in our lives; and what is perhaps worse, how often we have refused to follow Him on a new and transforming journey.