Daily Catholic Lectio
Mon, 12 August 2024
Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time – Monday
Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28. Matthew 17:22-27
Four-drachma coin
Paying taxes is a burden. We are obligated to pay income tax, goods and services tax, road tax, road tolls, and so on. Whenever we pay taxes, the state becomes a shareholder in our property. In certain parishes, churches, and chapels, we have a feast tax. Often times, the money received through feast taxes is spent unwisely. In a few chapels, some caste people don’t receive from other caste people claiming that the chapel is theirs; here, tax becomes an alienating element. By and large, paying taxes is a duty, and this duty offers us some rights.
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus pays taxes for Peter and himself. The event begins with a question posed by a few to Peter: ‘Does your teacher pay the temple tax?’ It was customary during the time of Jesus that every Jew in the Roman Empire had to pay a temple tax of two drachmas per year. This was collected for the maintenance of the temple. Though this was initiated by Julius Caesar, Moses also prescribed the payment of half shekel to the Temple for the expiation of sins (cf. Exod 30:11-16).
In Jesus’ time, half shekel was rendered in Greek Drachma or Roman Denarii.
Jesus works a miracle in order to pay the temple tax. This is the only place in the gospels where Jesus works a miracle for himself (partly). The fish that Peter catches has a coin named ‘stathera’ (‘four-drachma coin’). Some people interpret this as saying that Peter had to work to pay the taxes.
The four-drachma coin is paid on behalf of Peter and Jesus.
The narrative shows how the early church struggled to be part of the state. The narrative instructs us on the importance of being part of the structure and honouring the regulations of our place.
In the first reading, Prophet Ezekiel sees the vision where the glory of God comes down in the firmament. The distance between God and people is narrowed.
Jesus, who called himself the Temple, was ready to pay the temple tax. The word became flesh and dwelt among us – and paid taxes like us! And humans are so clever that they are able to extract taxes from God himself – this is the politics of power!
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“The pilgrims of hope take the responsibilities of the world seriously” (Jubilee 2025 AD, bite 171).
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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