The practice of peace with justice

Good morning, happy Monday, and many blessings.

The five verses of today’s Gospel speak about two very different themes between them. (a) The second announcement of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus (Mt ‪17:22-23‬); and (b) they report Jesus’ conversation with Peter about paying the taxes and the dues to the temple (Mt 17:24-27). Is a story about dead and taxes.

We all must deal with the unpleasant realities in life--death and taxes among many others. Even the Son of God was not exempt from these. How Jesus handles these situations gives us wisdom for dealing with the same.in our lives.

In today’s readings from the New Testament, Jesus have a clear message concerning the obligation to pay taxes. But paying tax is not the main issue. They are just examples—case studies, if you wish—concerning obedience and submission to the authorities: to the state, the city, or the church. The underlying principles go much deeper than the question of whether we pay our taxes or not.

Jesus told Peter why He paid the tax. He said, “lest we offend them.” There were very few who knew, as Peter did, that Jesus was the Son of God, and this was not the proper time to reveal that secret. And He also knew that if he refused to pay the tax that more people would be prejudice against Him and His teachings.

Next, notice the poverty of Christ. He didn’t have any money to pay the tax with, but He had an unusual way to get the money. He furnished the money out of the mouth of a fish. He was Lord of heaven and earth, but we read in 2 Corinthians, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Cor 8:9 (KJV). Furthermore, He didn’t order Judas to pay the tax out of the bag he carried, because that was for the basics like food; He would not use that money for His personal use.

Now Jesus’ repeated emphasis on his dead was not only necessary to correct their mistaken assumption that He would not die, but it was also necessary for other reason.  It was necessary for them to know that this bad news would become the very core of the message that they would be taking to the world. It would not be the bad news, but the Good News—that Christ died for our sins and rose again. Now having been convinced of Christ’s identity, who He was would give effect to what He did. Only as the only begotten Son of God could His death actually pay the penalty for the sins of all humankind. So, the disciples needed to be convinced of the person and work of Christ, who He was and what He did for us, because it would absolutely be the core of the message that they would live and die for years to come.

We can argue for or against these two issues, tax payment and death. What interests me is that you can understand that in a radical discipleship with Jesus both themes must be grounded on the practice of peace with justice. No exploitation or oppression is liberation.

Blessings

Fr. Luis+