Gospel Reading for August 11, 2025 – Matthew 17: 22-27
TRIVIAL MATTERS
As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were overwhelmed with grief.
When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?” “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?” When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the subjects are exempt. 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 spoke about being handed over to men who will kill him, and this was one of the occasions when the Jews tried to find fault in him. Well, they could not OUTSMART Jesus, who instead of insisting he should be exempt from paying the temple tax, thereby giving them a chance to find fault, instructed Peter to fish for the coin in the mouth of the fish so he could pay the temple tax for both of them.
If the Jews weren’t so blind, they would have realized that Jesus was no ordinary man. Aside from healing, raising from the dead, exorcising evil spirits, here was another miracle. Just a word from him made things happen – the delivery of a coin from a fish!
When you come to think about it, Jesus should have been exempt because the Temple was a place of worship for God, and he is God’s Son. But the accomplishment of his mission was more important to him, so he did not give so much attention to TRIVIAL MATTERS which he knew they wanted to use to trap him. As a matter of fact in Mark 12: 14-17, when asked if it was right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar, he easily resolved the issue by simply asking them who’s image and inscription was on the coin saying, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
In the practice of our Faith, we have to learn where our priorities should be and not let TRIVIAL MATTERS stand in the way of deepening our relationship with God such as, focusing on church politics more than the faith life of its members, and so on and so forth.
Lord, teach us to focus on deepening our relationship with you!
