DID JESUS PAY TAXES?

 

HOMILY GIVEN AUGUST 14, 2023 AT THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR

The collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, "Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?" "Yes," Peter said. Jesus said to Peter, “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."

Matthew 17:22-27

To say the least, this is an insightful little story. It shows that Jesus, while he was here on earth, was not only questioned by the State, but also by the Church, about whether he would pay his taxes!

Matthew’s gospel has two stories about Jesus and paying taxes. Both times, we see the questioner trying to ensnare Jesus as a man at odds with the government and organized religion. Jesus knew we had dual citizenship, so he says later on in chapter 22, “Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s!

Today the question, rather than paying taxes to the State, was about whether Jesus would pay the religious “temple tax.” It would be like a reporter from The Record asking me if I was going to make my annual contribution to the Archbishop’s Catholic Service Appeal to which all our priests are asked to contribute!

Again, the tax authorities asked their question with malicious intent. They were actually hoping that Jesus would refuse to pay such a tax because if he refused, they would have something of which to accuse him!

Peter’s immediate answer to the questioners was that Jesus would indeed pay his taxes. After answering their question. Peter went to Jesus and told him of the situation. Jesus basically tells Peter to pay it so that they would not set a bad example for others. If the laity are expected to support the Catholic Services Appeal, why not their priests? After all, both Jesus and Peter knew that the Temple was God’s House and it cost quite a bit of money to operate, just as we priests know that it costs the archbishop a lot to run the archdiocese!

The last part of this story is quite interesting. If you take it literally, you would assume that Jesus told Peter to go fishing and that he would catch a fish with a coin magically in its mouth worth what the both of them owed in Temple taxes! That’s certainly not what Jesus meant here!

We are told that people of those days often said things in the most dramatic and vivid language possible and often with the flash of a smile. This was what Jesus was doing in his answer to Peter. Jesus did not perform miracles to spare people from doing things they could do for themselves. Jesus did not work miracles to simply spare his disciples from hard work and personal responsibility.

No, what he is saying to Peter was something like this, “Peter, go back to your fishing job and earn what we need to pay our Temple taxes! It would be like telling a typist that she could find a new coat in the keys of her typewriter or a mechanic that he could find food for his family in the cylinders of a car. No, here it’s simply a matter of doing the work, reaping the reward and paying your bills!!

What I have learned from this gospel is simple. I need to quit asking God to miraculously take care of things that I am quite capable of doing for myself! As I like to remind myself sometimes, “Ron, there is no rescue party out looking for you, so just do it!”