Monday 19th week in ordinary time
"Mt 17:22-27"
The collectors of the half-shekel tax went up to Peter and said, "Does not your teacher pay the tax?" He said, "Yes." And when he came home, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their sons or from others?" And when he said, "From others," Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free. However, not to give offence to them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel; take that and give it to them for me and for yourself."
Everyone was asked to pay half a shekel for the support of the Temple. When they came to Peter and asked him if Jesus paid the tax, Peter didn't say, 'Oh, let me ask Him!' or 'Well, yes, sometimes He does...' St Peter knew Jesus and didn't hesitate for a second; he said 'Yes', Jesus pays taxes. Maybe he was unsure about how Jesus was going to pay, but he didn't doubt that Jesus would pay.
Strictly speaking, God didn't have to pay taxes for His Temple, so why did He? As He says, "not to give offence to them." In other words, not to give bad example. When Jesus went to be baptised by St John, the Baptist was a bit confused; why would the Messiah want to be baptised by me? And Jesus gave a similar answer: let's give an example that people will follow. Many times Jesus did things He wasn't obliged to do, to give us good example.
Jesus could have avoided paying taxes, as we can sneak on to the train without paying or illegally download programmes, films and songs... but He gave us a good example that we should follow. In 2010 two 8-year-old boys found a bag on a bus containing more than 15,000 dollars in cash. Immediately they went to the police to find the owners. A police officer, teasing, said to them, "You could have kept the money!" One of the boys said, "We wish! But it is not ours." "But no one would know", replied the officer. To which the other boy answered, "God would! And the owner would. And we would as well..." The right thing is the right thing even if nobody is looking at us. Let us ask Our Lady, Mirror of Justice, to intercede for us so that we may follow the example of her Son and practise the virtue of justice, even if only God sees.
