"Take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.” (Matthew 17:27)
24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?” 25 “Yes,” he said. When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him, “What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?” 26 When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the subjects are exempt. 27 But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.”
Jesus confronts the question of legitimate authority. All sorts of people have and exercise authority in our lives. Jesus makes it clear that when an authority is a legitimate one, then we have a duty to obey it. It is not up to us to decide what we want to do at any particular time. This curbing of absolute freedom can be seen to be for the common good. It is the common good of humanity that recognizes that we cannot have absolute freedom as this would preclude any sort of human community to which we could belong. Absolute freedom is known by the name “anarchy.” -- Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL
Jesus is not an anarchist; He submits to the reasonable demands of the law. There is no way He would let any secular law override His conscience judgment. Therefore, paying taxes is one of the duties of any member of society. We demand that the government provides certain services — they have to be paid for — hence, taxes. We cannot necessarily pick and choose what taxes to pay because that would result in chaos and probably very few taxes being paid. Paul teaches us that secular governments can make demands upon us (Romans 13), provided they do not infringe on the rights of our consciences. -- Kerygma
Pericopes:
PAYMENT OF THE TEMPLE TAX - Matthew 17:24-27
