Monday, August 13, 2018
19th Week in
Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Ezk 1:2-28
Gospel:
Matthew 17:22-27
(…) When they returned to Capernaum, the Temple tax collectors came to Peter and asked him, “Does your master pay the temple tax?” He answered, “Certainly.”
Peter then entered the house, but immediately Jesus asked him, “What do you think, Simon? Who pay taxes or tributes to the kings of the earth: their sons or the other people?” Peter replied, “The others.” And Jesus told him, “The sons, then, are tax-free. 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 it and let it pay for you and for me.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
A joke is told of a teacher who asked the class what is the capital of the Philippines. A genius-looking pupil raised his hand, stood up and answered: “Ma’am, the Philippines has no more capital, only debts!” His answer is thought-provoking and easily brings out the issue on corruption as contributory cause of poverty of our people despite our rich natural resources. Politicians and citizens alike pilfer. Politicians do the pilfering directly because they have access to funds, while ordinary people do it indirectly through tax evasion. Citizens justify their crime by finger-pointing corrupt officials. “Why should I pay taxes religiously when government officials will just pilfer our money anyway?” The argument lacks merit. The sin of others does not make our infractions moral. Jesus himself paid taxes despite the corrupt system of tax collection tolerated by the Romans. The Romans didn’t care how the tax collectors collected for as long as these collectors remitted to them their due. Today’s Gospel, of course refers to Temple tax. But as to taxes due to the government Jesus’ principle was: “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar…”
As followers of Jesus, fidelity to God means fidelity to our motherland. Good citizenship validates authentic discipleship. Much is yet to be done. Consider how government workers who cannot pilfer much because they don’t have access to public funds cheat our country by working so little for the standard wage the government is paying them. Workers on road repairs are classic examples. With how slow they work even as the public is watching, we are tempted to revise the road sign “Slow down, men working” to “Slow men working down”.
If good citizenship validates authentic discipleship, this country which has the most number of Christian followers in Asia shouldn’t be running out of capital if indeed these followers are real. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M. Email: [email protected].
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