This weekend we listen to a word that calls us to accountability with God.  God has provided us with all that we have and all that we are.  From the moment we open our eyes to the first breath of the day we are indebted to God.   Often we feel that who we are and what we have is all ours.  Rather it is all God’s.   God is great and generous with us.

In the Gospel today in an attempt to trip Jesus up and accuse him of some infraction they place a coin with the image of the Emperor and ask if they should pay the tax.  Jesus cuts through their game and attempt to trap him.   Whose head is on the coin? Jesus asks,  Caesar’s they respond.  That is to say, that which is not of God, and doesn’t belong to God, God doesn’t want nor desire.  Jesus dismisses it.  However, he challenges them and he also calls us to give to God what belongs to God.

This past month we have been reflecting on the call to stewardship, to be good stewards of the gifts God has given us and how do we return them to the Lord.  Each of us is called to be good stewards and this week we reflect on our accountability to God and how we return to the Lord.   We have heard the personal witnesses of parishioners sharing their talent and time in service of the poor to a commitment to Tithing,   The more that we are willing and conscience of our need to be accountable to God, the more we truly become Good stewards of what God has given us.  Now is the time for us to have full accountability with the God who has blessed us so much.   You may ask yourself what does it mean to be a steward and how am I to be accountable in my stewardship.  A steward is one who manages the possessions of another. We are all stewards of the resources, abilities and opportunities that God has entrusted to our care, and one day each one of us will be called to give an account for how we have managed what the Master has given us.
This is the maxim taught by the Parable of the Talents. God has entrusted authority over the creation to us and we are not allowed to rule over it as we see fit. We are called to exercise our dominion under the watchful eye of the Creator managing his creation in accord with the principles he has established.
Like the servants in the Parable of the Talents, we will be called to give an account of how we have administered everything we have been given, including our time, money, abilities, information, wisdom, relationships, and authority.
We will all give account to the rightful owner as to how well we managed the things he has entrusted to us.