JESUS AND THE TEMPLE TAXES

Mt 17:22-27

WORK AND MIRACLE. Few points to be clarified in this gospel passage:

First: When the Lord said: “You are going to catch a fish and you will see a coin inside the mouth of the fish. Therefore at that point, pay the tax.” That does not refer to any miraculous catch. It is not a miracle. What it actually means is this you have a debt to pay, you have a loan to pay, you have a tax to pay. If you have a obligation, go to the sea and fish for the whole day, you will have enough money to pay your loan, to pay your debts, to pay your tax. In other words, this gospel is not about a miraculous catch of a fish with a coin inside the mouth. This gospel is about hard work.

What the Lord says is if we have debts to pay, work so that we will be able to pay them. Don’t just ask me for a miracle. Don’t just pray the rosary and ask for a miracle so that we will be able to pay our debt. Don’t just go to Mass. Don’t just go the Adoration Chapel and kneel 24 hours a day. Don’t wait for the fish to land on our lap with a coin inside its mouth. What it means is work hard! What the Lord says is very simply what we have learned at home since our youth, “God helps those who help themselves.”

Miracles do happen, but what is important to remember is we must not abuse miracles. We must not ask for a miracle when hard work can do it. We must not ask God to do if through our own hard work we can achieve our goals. We must not just ask the Lord for a job then watch television all day long, sipping our soft drink, and expecting the Lord to give us a job. We must do our work. Unfortunately, it is so simply and yet so difficult. While we have been repeatedly told that we must work hard and work glorifies God, we are a people with original sin, tending toward laziness.

Second: In today’s gospel, Jesus paid His temple tax although He knew He was the Messiah! This was to avoid giving a bad example to other faithful Jews. Perhaps our Lord is telling us, too, that Christianity and good citizenship go hand in hand. Sometimes paying taxes might be very difficult to do when corrupt government officials abound. However, a failure in good citizenship is also a failure in being a good Christian! Do you believe this? Then go ahead and live it!

Third: St. Matthew is showing us a good point here. Our criteria for doing something should not be whether we have an obligation or not. Rather it should be: what does love seem to ask of us in a particular situation? Robert Rodenmayer in his book, Thanks be to God, says that there are three kinds of giving: grudge giving, duty giving, and thanks giving. The grudge giver says, “I hate to give.” This person gives little, for “the gift without the giver is bare.”

A duty giver says, “I ought to give.” This person gives more, but there is no song in his giving. A thanks giver says, “I want to give.” This person gives everything, and shows forth the image of God to the world. What kind of giver do we tend to be most of the time? There is a saying that the best kind of giving is when the giver does not know to whom he is giving and when the receiver does not know from whom he is receiving.