The Temple Tax

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

“When they reached Capharnaum, the collectors of the half-shekel came to Peter and said, ‘Does your master not pay the half-shekel?’

‘Yes,’ he replied, and went into the house. But before he could speak, Jesus said, ‘Simon, what is your opinion? From whom do earthly kings take toll or tribute? From their sons or from foreigners?’ And when he replied, ‘From foreigners,’ Jesus said, ‘Well then, the sons are exempt. However, so that we shall not be the downfall of others, go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that rises, open its mouth, and there you will find a shekel; take it and give it to them for me and for yourself’” (Matt. 17:24-27).

The apostles had just arrived in Capharnaum, and the tithe collectors of the temple approached Peter asking, “Will your master not pay the drachma?”

Every Jew over the age of twenty was required to pay an annual sum of two drachmas to support the worship of God in the temple of Jerusalem. This was an obligation for all, even for the Jews not living in Palestine.

Peter's affirmative answer—given without consulting Our Lord—suggests that Our Lord usually paid this tax. The conversation probably took place outside the house.

Our Lord was not close by at the time, so when Peter entered the house, Our Lord, already inside, asked, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth receive tribute or custom, from their own sons or from others?”

Under the ancient monarchies the tribute was considered a special payment for the benefit of the royal family. That's why Our Lord asked that question of Peter: “From whom do the kings of the earth receive tribute?”

The answer was easy: “From their subjects, from the others.”

The sons are exempt. With respect to the payment of the tribute, Our Lord is in the same position as the sons of the king. By declaring Himself exempt, Our Lord teaches us that He is God's own Son and lives in the Father's house (cf. John 16:15).

He is not obliged to pay the tribute. But Our Lord wanted to fulfill His duties as a citizen, as other people did.

However, He also made His divinity clear to all in the way He made the money for the payment.

This Gospel account, only told by St. Matthew, also shows Our Lord's spirit of poverty, for He lacked even two drachmas, a small sum in those days. Significant also is that Our Lord paid Peter's share along with His own.

“‘But that we may not give offense to them,’” Our Lord said to St. Peter, “‘Go down to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. And opening its mouth, you will find a stater. Take that and give it to them for me and for you.’” The stater equaled the sum of four drachmas.

St. Ambrose comments that this is a great lesson “that teaches Christians submission to the temporal authority, so that no one should disobey the edicts of a king of the earth. If the Son of God paid the tribute, are you perhaps great enough to refuse payment? Even He, who possessed nothing, paid the tribute. You, who seek the riches of the earth: why do you not recognize the duties which go along with these goods? Why do you consider yourself above the world?” (St. Ambrose, Commentary on St. Luke’s Gospel).

From these and other passages we learn that in order to imitate Our Lord, we should be good citizens who fulfill our duties at work, in the family, and in society.

Our Lord wants us to have a social consciousness, to be thinking of others, to fulfill our duties towards the state. Part of that is paying fair taxes. Voting according to our conscience, participating in public services are part of these duties.

As followers of Christ, we have to give a lot of example in this area. In the Furrow, Point 322, St. Josemaría says, “Love and respect the ways of behaving by which you may live in amity with other people. Have no doubt, either, that your loyal submission to duty can be the means for others to discover Christian integrity, which is the fruit of divine love, and to find God.”

It’s a reminder that we have to be Christians 100 percent That means also in fulfilling the duties of our state towards the state, and in giving example in doing that.

We're not just living our Christian vocation in some areas that may be comfortable or easy, but also in others, whereby we show our concern for the common good, which is the well-being of every person in society.

After the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the apostles were clearly aware that they had been sent out by Our Lord to make Him present in the midst of society. They—like the Master—were “not of the world” (John 17:16).

The world would often reject them. Seldom would they enjoy the benevolent smile that men reserve for something that is their own.

Without being of the world, without being worldly, the first Christians rejected customs and behavior that were incompatible with the faith they had received, although they never felt out of place in the society to which they rightfully belonged.

In their preaching, they would lay special emphasis on their place in the very heart of society.

The first Christians give us great example for our life in the middle of the world. They saw that it's there, in the middle of the world, that they had to fully exercise their influence and make their presence felt.

We're told in Scripture that salt is for seasoning and preserving from corruption the lives of all men (Lev. 2:13; Matt. 5:13); yeast is united completely with the flour and thus acts to ferment and raise the entire mass (Gal. 5:9; Matt. 13:33).

We're told that our light should shine before men, so that others—convinced through the deeds they have seen—may glorify the Father in heaven (Matt. 5:14-16).

We can examine our conscience and see: Do we give all the good example that God wants us to give in our social life, in the way we function, in the family?

The first Christians did not seek isolation. They didn't seek to be an exception. Christ did not seek to be an exception.

Our Lady and St. Joseph, when they went up to the temple of the Presentation and the Purification of Our Lord—they did not seek to be an exception, even though they might have considered themselves exempt.

The first Christians didn't put up barriers to hide behind and defend themselves in times of fierce persecution. Their attitude during these trials was neither pugnacious nor faint-hearted. They were serene, and, like yeast, unapparent within the mass of society.

The Christian presence in the world was a radical affirmation, and all the fury of the persecutors was incapable of shaking the serene and positive attitude of Christians. They were exemplary citizens.

The violence of the persecutions did not make them into maladjusted or anti-social people, nor did it change their basic attitude of solidarity with other people, their peers.

Tertullian says: “We are accused of separating ourselves from the popular masses of the State, which is false, because the Christian knows that he is in the same boat as his fellow citizens, shipmates in a common earthly destiny. If the Empire is shaken by violence, this evil affects all her subjects, ourselves included.”

At times slandered and misunderstood, the Christian remained faithful to his divine vocation and to his human vocation. He occupied his proper position in the world, exercised his rights, and carefully fulfilled his duties.

The first Christians were not just good Christians, they were exemplary citizens because their duties as citizens were the obligations of a well-formed conscience. Fulfilling those duties, they sanctified themselves.

As Christ has taught us, we all have to see what we can do for others. Sometimes we can fulfill our social obligations directly. There may be a poor person we come across in the street, or we might have items or clothing in our homes that we no longer use. We try and pass it on to other people. We try to be aware of orphans, or widows, or the elderly, to perform the corporal works of charity, mercy.

But we also try and help the state to fulfill its role as well. We don't shirk on that responsibility.

St. Justin says, “As we learned from him (from Christ), we pay the tribute and contributions, fully and promptly. … Thus, though we adore only God, we gladly obey you in all the rest, fully acknowledging that you are the kings and governors of men, and praying that along with the Imperial power you also possess a skill in governing that is full of wisdom.”

We can ask ourselves if we are known and seen to be good citizens who punctually fulfill our duties, to see if we are good neighbors.

Do we think occasionally about the people who live on the same road or street or area? Are there some people there that are more in need of our help than others?

Are we good colleagues to our fellow workers? Is there somebody there that maybe needs a bit of a helping hand or a bit of advice, or a pair of ears to listen to them?

This also means that we try to be present wherever the good of society is decided.

Christ wants us to be part of national and international organizations, to have a Christian influence there.

In Gaudium et spes of the Second Vatican Council, it says the Church has always encouraged Christians, “citizens of the temporal city and of the eternal city, to faithfully fulfill their temporal duties, guided by the spirit of the Gospel.”

The others should see in us the light of Christ reflected in honest work, in which we carefully fulfill our due obligations to our employer and fellow employees, and to society through the payment of just taxes.

Similarly, students should strive to form their conscience properly in their new profession, and professors should prepare their classes daily, improving their lessons year after year, without falling into routine or mediocrity.

Mothers should take care of the home, her children, her husband, if necessary paying a fair sum to whoever may assist her with her with her household chores, fulfilling these duties with perfection, according to their personal calling.

The Christian can't be satisfied with fulfilling only his family and religious duties. He should be present, if possible, where the affairs of the neighborhood, town, or city are decided.

In a document called Catholics in Public Life, the Spanish Episcopal Conference has said their life has a social and political dimension that springs from faith and affects the exercise of the virtues, the essence of Christian life.

Therefore, those who have the capacity and the calling should put themselves forward for public life. It's an important service to influence the highest levels of society.

St. Josemaría used to say that while it's very important for students to learn to put into practice the corporal works of mercy, their primary duty was to study so that they learn to be good professionals, so that they provide a better service, a professional service, so that they know their stuff, they know their job, and therefore, are of greater benefit to the whole of society.

As Christians who are called to be saints in the middle of the world, we should always keep present “the nobility and moral dignity of social and political commitments, and the great opportunities they offer to grow in faith, in hope, in love, in fortitude, in detachment, in generosity. When these social and political commitments are lived with a Christian spirit, they become a strenuous school of perfection and a demanding means of living the virtues” (Spanish Episcopal Conference, Catholics in Public Life, April 22, 1986).

Christianity has come to lift up the whole of society. That's what Christianity has been doing for 2,000 years, lifting up every aspect of society, helping people to live with dignity. The word “dignity” is at the very center of the whole of the social teaching of the Church.

If we are citizens who fulfill our duties in an exemplary way, we can show the way to Christ to many.

Sometimes that has some very practical applications and expressions: We shouldn't let children throw banana skins out the window of the car or plastic bottles out the window of the bus.

It means we teach children to care for the environment, to put litter in the litter bin, and sometimes to clean those litter bins.

In our days, we’re told, “a new and unformed mass has arisen in lands of old Christian heritage, while the world—in all its breadth—is a field of apostolic action that should reach all men, a task to which all Christians are committed. The Church and all of her children are enrolled in a mission, and the leaven should now exercise her renewing function” (José Orlandis, The Christian vocation of the man of today).

Often by little details of taking care of cleanliness, of picking up a piece of paper, of putting something in the litter bin, or obeying the just laws of the state, we give a good example to other people.

All this becomes possible when we realize that we are full-fledged citizens with obligations towards our country, society, towards nature, with rights to exercise but also duties to fulfill, and with a desire to face up to the difficulties that life in the midst of the world entails. We have so many things to maybe grow on and to improve on.

St. Paul says, “All of us, in union with Christ, form one body, and as parts of it we belong to each other” (Rom. 12:5).

Every Christian is bonded to the Church by the most intimate of ties. The Mystical Body of Christ is much more united than any individual or social being.

The very Life of Christ flows through the Body. Each part vitally depends on the others. The smallest injury or pain affects the entire organism. The whole Church labors to heal its every wound.

In society, every person somehow depends on other people.

There was a story of somebody once who decided they weren't going to go to work. They were going to stay home that day.

Then they went to get some breakfast and they opened the cupboard, but they found they had no coffee. Then they saw that they had no bread.

They went off to the shop to buy some coffee and some bread, but they found the shop had no coffee or bread, because the coffee man and the bread man had also both decided to stay home from work that day.

It’s a small little example of how all of us depend on the work of other people, and so we should take good care of our social obligations.

Each and every faithful Christian enriches the entire society through the practice of good works and the pursuit of holiness. At the same time, the individual Christian is enriched in a personal way.

“This is (part of) the ‘Communion of Saints’ that we profess in the Creed. The good of all becomes the good of each one and the good of each one becomes the good of all” (John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, Christifideles laici, December 30, 1988).

Through our pursuit of sanctity, we contribute in a mysterious but real way to the good of the whole of society. We win a continuous stream of supernatural merit for others through the faithful fulfillment of our duties.

“If you pray for the entire community,” said St. Ambrose, “then the prayer of the community will come back to you. This is because you form part of the whole. So you can thus obtain great benefits. The prayer of each member of the People of God is enriched by the prayer of the rest” (St. Ambrose, Treatise on Cain and Abel).

In charity and in justice, each one of us has to see what our duties are to contribute to the building up of society, of the whole of mankind. We have to try and foster that social consciousness in all of our children.

Christian ideals are driven by the desire to build a better world so that they feel for people who have less. They want to do something about it with concrete actions.

We accomplish a lot of this by our determined effort to improve personally, by the active practice of the virtues.

St. Gregory the Great says, “Each one sustains the rest and the rest sustains each one.” That's why there's a close connection between the so-called ‘personal’ and ‘social’ virtues.

St. Josemaría says, “No virtue worthy of its name can foster selfishness. Every virtue necessarily works to the good both of our own soul and to the good of those around us.

“We are all of us men and all likewise children of God, and we cannot think that life consists in building up a brilliant curriculum vitae or an outstanding career.

“Ties of solidarity should bind us all, and, besides, in the order of grace, we are united by the supernatural bond of the Communion of Saints” (Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, Point 76).

St. Paul lists the different gifts and charisms that God has granted to each one of us for the service of others. He said the greatest gift of them all is charity (1 Cor. 13:13).

We have to try and foster in our children a great love for all the aspects of that charity. Through the exercise of the different areas of charity, we can sow good all around us.

“Love each other as much as brothers should, and have a profound respect for each other. Work for the Lord,” said St. Paul, “with untiring effort and with great earnestness of spirit. If you have hope, this will make you cheerful. Do not give up if trials come; and keep on praying. If any of the saints are in need, you must share with them; and you should make hospitality your special care” (Rom. 12:10-13).

All of us can do more. We have to keep asking Our Lady, that she might open our eyes so that we might see that “more” that can be done and use all of the opportunities that God gives us to achieve those goals.

We cannot fail to sow good seed. Our life is a great act of sowing, where nothing is lost. We have before us countless opportunities to do good, to enrich others, to build up the whole of society.

May we not let these opportunities slip. May we always see those opportunities that may be around us and help that potential to be materialized.

We can ask Our Lady: Mary, help us to fulfill all of our civic duties, to grow to have a more refined conscience in fulfilling those duties, and to spread that refinement of conscience to everybody around us.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

PKN