As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were overwhelmed with grief. 24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” 25 “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?” 26 When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the subjects are exempt. 27 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.”
Jesus and his disciples were gathered in Galilee. As they were about to leave for Jerusalem Jesus made his second prediction of the Passion. This is the shortest of the three predictions of the Passion. God was going to allow Jesus, the Son of Man, to be handed over to men by Judas and they will kill him. The Son of Man who came to redeem men would suffer at the hands of the men he came to redeem. He will be raised by God on the third day. The prediction does not state which men will kill him. Neither the Jews nor the Gentiles were identified as the ones to blame. The disciples were overwhelmed with grief which means that they understood at some level what was going to happen to Jesus. The human participants were unwitting agents in God’s plan of redemption for mankind.
The incident about payment of the Temple tax is found only in Matthew. When Peter was alone, the tax collectors asked him if Jesus, his teacher, does not pay the temple tax. Peter knew that Jesus was accustomed to paying the temple tax, so Peter answered yes. All male Jews 20 years old and above, were obligated to pay the annual temple tax (Ex. 30:11-16). The temple tax was usually collected by local men. The Jewish priests were not obligated to pay the temple tax. It appears as if Jesus was held in high regard hence a question about paying the tax as opposed to a demand for payment. When Peter entered the house where Jesus was Jesus asked Peter a question to which the answer was obvious; a king does not tax his own family. Peter had previously confessed Jesus to be the Messiah (Mk. 8:29) so since the Temple tax was a tribute to God, Jesus the Son of God should be exempt from paying the Temple tax. The tax could have been paid by ordinary means from the purse kept by Judas to fund Jesus’ ministry (Jn. 13:29) but the miracle allowed the tax to be paid by divine means.
Almighty God, grant us the gift of faith so that we may truly trust and believe in your Son. Let the Holy Spirit enlighten our hearts so that the truth of the Gospel may be revealed to us. This we ask through Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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