Monday in the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time, August 14, 2023

Matthew 17, 22-27

As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were overwhelmed with grief. When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?” “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?” When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the subjects are exempt. 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.”

“As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee.”  The events in this Reading take place after the Transfiguration and the Lord’s subsequent exorcism of a young boy.  Since this took place in Galilee, we should suppose that St. Matthew more specifically means Capernaum.  This “gathering” refers to the preparations for the last journey to Jerusalem.  “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”  The preparations include the Lord’s explanation to them of the purpose for this last journey.  They were going up for the Passover at which he would hand over his own Body and Blood.  “And they were overwhelmed with grief.”  He had spoken to them before about this, but they had refused to accept it or brushed it aside.  Now the Lord makes the point that he will suffer and die during this visit to Jerusalem.  And it was easy enough to believe because of the increasing hostility of the Jewish leaders as well as the Pharisees.  Their grief would have been compounded by confusion since he had spoken quite openly about the coming of the Kingdom.  Was he giving up now?  

“Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?”  The collectors of the Temple tax work for the Sanhedrin and so are also looking for a way to discredit Jesus or get him in further trouble with the authorities.  The question is not asked out of curiosity but is a challenge, as the collectors went in search of Peter to ask him when he was apart from the Lord.  Peter’s reply in the affirmative is probably based on seeing the Lord do this in the past as it is hard to imagine that the Lord would not, as a Jew, reject the support of his Temple.  “From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?”  The Lord, who knows all things, knew of Peter’s encounter.  He spares Peter any potential embarrassment from his speaking for him by preempting whatever he was going to say.  He also reminds Peter, by this demonstration of his omniscience, that he is far superior to any earthly king.  By putting the question in this way, the Lord also divides the people of the earth into either his subjects or foreigners, as though Peter should choose which he was to be.  “From foreigners.”  Perhaps Peter hesitated here, as he had seen the Lord ask simple questions  only to turn the answer against the one (such as a Pharisee) who gave it.  “Then the subjects are exempt.”  The Lord would have let his reply sink into Peter’s mind: so the Lord is saying we do not owe the Temple tax?  “But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up.”  That is, there is no need to stir up trouble here on the eve of their departure for Jerusalem.  “Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.”  Extracting the coin for tax from a fish seems odd.  But the Lord, while on earth, did not make things out of nothing, though he could have, nor does he create money for the tax here.  He used what was available and increased it (the bread and fish at the feeding of the five thousand) or improved it (the water at the wedding at Cana).  Here, he makes use of a fish that had gotten a coin stuck in its mouth.  Peter paid the tax, but he also gratefully knew that the Lord had included him among his subjects.

It is necessary in all aspects of our lives to act as the Lord’s subjects even while engaging in the most basic activities to provide for ourselves in this world until the Lord calls us home.