The Gospel gives us some insight into the lives of Jesus and Peter. At the end of the Gospel, Jesus tells Peter to catch a fish that will have a coin in its mouth that is worth twice the temple tax and he said, “Give that to them for me and for you.” None of the other disciples are mentioned so there was only a need to pay the Temple tax for two people.
Jesus was obviously grooming Peter for his role as leader of the church long before anyone was aware. Jesus and Peter went to the Temple together to pray and worship without the rest of the disciples. If it is mentioned in today’s Gospel, I’m sure this was not the only time it happened. Jesus made sure that Peter received a basic understanding of the new message of salvation and a good foundation for his faith.
The church has struggled throughout its history with arguing and bickering; sometimes to defend the faith against heresies and sometimes because of power struggles. Defending the faith against heresies and evil is necessary and must be accomplished. But the evil of power struggles can creep into the church and our own lives.
We often want to make a point about our position on a specific issue. It becomes about what we want to proclaim rather than what is right or wrong. It’s about the outcome that we want to see.
The temple collectors asked Peter why Jesus did not pay the Temple Tax. Jesus teaches a lesson that only the outsiders, the foreigners pay a tax in a country. Therefore, the tax should not apply to the citizens of heaven, especially the Son of God. But Jesus teaches us a valuable lesson in today’s Gospel, Jesus is concerned about offending the Temple Workers.
Paying the Temple Tax is not that big a deal, so it is better to pay the tax than to offend the Temple Workers trying to explain that he was he Son of God.
This is important for us today. Know when to pick your battles. Defend the faith but it is not necessary to take everyone to task on minor issues that would only end up causing resentment and hard feelings toward you or the church.
It is difficult to turn away from making our point or from pointing out what we think is the error in someone’s thinking. If the issue is a clear-cut case of evil that needs to be defeated to protect the traditions and teachings of the church, we must defend the faith.
But if it’s less than that, maybe we should let it alone. Jesus took that position in today’s Gospel. We don’t always have to force others to think like we think on every minor issue.
Through prayer we can discern the times we must defend our faith and the times we should be silent. Lord Jesus, help to know when to speak and when to simply pray.
