Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Matthew 17: 22-27
August 11, 2025 | Monday

Today’s Gospel

While Jesus was in Galilee with the Twelve, he said to them, “The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. But he will rise on the third day.” The Twelve were deeply grieved.

When they returned to Capernaum, the temple tax collectors came to Peter and asked him, “Does your master pay the temple tax?” He answered, “Yes.”

Peter then entered the house; and immediately, Jesus asked him, “What do you think, Simon? Who pay taxes or tribute to the kings of the earth: their sons or strangers and aliens?” Peter replied, “Strangers and aliens.” And Jesus told him, “The sons, then, are taxfree. But, so as not to offend these people, go to the sea, throw in a hook, and open the mouth of the first fish you catch. You will find a coin in it. Take the coin and give it to them for you and for me.”

Today’s Reflection

Despite what the Lord has done to them, the people of Israel remain obstinate from time to time. Moses narrated what the Lord had done to them, saving them from slavery and electing them as His own among the many peoples of the world. He also gave them precepts and covenants peculiarly their own. Moses, however, chided them for remaining obstinate and unfaithful to the promise. “Circumcise your hearts” may have been the most sublime reprimand given to them. The segment consists of one of the many beautiful passages in the Scriptures. It promotes love and adoration to the Lord to the extent that “Israel has to embrace strangers,” for they once were “strangers in a foreign land.” The filial “fear of the Lord” should be maintained and be witnessed by them to all people. They should provide an example of “the limitless love of God and their reverence for Him.”

Nevertheless, God’s favor and love cover all people. It does not discriminate. But it demands “filial fear” and reverence in love from us. We should do the same to our brothers and sisters. The passage of the greatest commandments can be found in this passage.

Jesus and his disciples were traveling towards Jerusalem, and while they were in Galilee, the prophecy about His passion and death occurred. Unlike in the Gospel of Mark, the disciples reacted appropriately:“They were sad” as they understood, though hazily, Jesus’s teaching. However, the gist of the Gospel reading today is the scene in Capernaum and the question of paying the temple tax for Jesus and Peter. The close bond between the two becomes apparent and reinforced by the mere fact that Peter is the only disciple conversing with Him, braced some more by the fact that a single coin pays for both of them. Another unique feature of this story is that, for the only instance in the Scriptures, Jesus benefits from his miracle. Every male Jew is required by Law to pay or contribute annually to the temple’s maintenance. By this time, Christian Jews were questioning whether they should continue contributing to the temple’s coffer to upkeep the temple, especially in connection with the debate after the destruction of the temple. The point of the Gospel is to avoid upsetting the authorities or tax collectors, and the coin coming from the mouth of the fish obliquely avoids accepting the obligation to pay taxes. The connection revolves around the confession of Peter about Jesus as the Son of God, the temple as the House of God, and Jesus has no obligation to pay for the upkeep of His Father’s House. Nonetheless, in order not to “scandalize them,” Jesus and Peter paid their taxes.

/Vulnerasti, 2025