Dual Citizenship

Our citizenship is in heaven, From whence also we look for the Saviour.
Philippians 3:20

The theme that unites today’s two readings (Philippians 3:17-21 and Matthew 22:15-22) is dual citizenship.  We are all familiar with this concept in civil law.  I came to Canada from the United States in 1980 as a “landed immigrant,” and, in due course I applied for and received Canadian citizenship. 

Paul implies another kind of dual citizenship when he speak of our citizenship in heaven, since this obviously does not abolish our earthly ties to whatever country we happen to live in.  Paul instructs the Romans, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God (Romans 13:1).” 

The question which the Pharisees put to Jesus is a trap: “Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not (v. 17)?”   If Jesus declares giving tribute to the Romans to be lawful, he is legitimizing the occupation by Gentiles of the holy land which God gave to Israel.  But if he declares it to be unlawful, he is encouraging civil disobedience and is making himself a public enemy. 

Jesus finds a way out of the trap: the coin with which the tribute is paid bears the Roman emperor’s likeness and inscription; it therefore already belongs to Caesar, so paying tribute is only giving back to Caesar what is already his.  Here again we have an implication of dual citizenship.  Membership in God’s chosen people does not prohibit a grudging acknowledgment of the occupying power. 

Of course, living out our obligations to this world and the next is easier said than done.   It is certainly much more difficult than being a US and a Canadian citizen, which only requires paying taxes to both countries. 

But living out this dual allegiance, like other dualisms, finds unexpected assistance in the doctrine of the Trinity, which includes the presence of a ghostly third, which is present in physics (light and energy are both waves and particles), in psychology
(materialism vs. idealism), in language (literal vs. metaphoric) and which challenges the lethal division in modern culture between the mind and the heart. 

The presence of the ghostly third also makes possible the dual citizenship implied by both Paul and Jesus in today’s readings, but that is not to say that it makes is easy.

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November 15, 2009