From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?

 Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up."  And they were exceedingly sorrowful.

When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, "Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?"  He said, "Yes."  And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, "What do you think, Simon?  From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?"  Peter said to Him, "From strangers."  Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free.  Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first.  And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you."

- Matthew 17:22-27

Yesterday we read that, after the Transfiguration, when Jesus, Peter, James, and John had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.  So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him."  Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I bear with you?  Bring him here to Me."  And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.  Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?"  So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.  However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."

 Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up."  And they were exceedingly sorrowful.  This is the second time that Jesus precits His death and Resurrection for the disciples.  He shows that He is going to His Passion freely, and He is not being taken against His will.  The first time He told them that He will suffer and die and be raised on the third day was just after Peter's confession of faith (see this reading).

When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, "Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?"  He said, "Yes."  And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, "What do you think, Simon?  From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?"  Peter said to Him, "From strangers."  Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free.  Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first.  And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you."  My study bible explains that the temple tax was an annual head tax on all male Jews (except for the priests) over twelve years of age for the maintenance of the temple (see Numbers 3:43-51).  It adds that since Jesus is the Son of God, He is both High Priest and "proprietor" of the temple.  Therefore He is exempt from the tax.  But He pays the tax anyway, both to avoid unnecessary offense and to show that He has totally identified Himself with mankind.  Sons are heirs.

 Christ is our great High Priest (see Hebrews 4:14-16).  He is permanently so.   But, as St. Paul adds in the passage in Hebrews linked here, and as Jesus' behavior teaches us in today's gospel passage, He is one of great grace, tremendous humility, identified fully with humankind.  This gracious act teaches us about what it means to be a true leader.  Christ knows fully who His men are, because He lives as one of them.  It is, moreover, a teaching to us about God.   The God of the universe is gracious and loving, and this is what it means to be "God-like."  As Christians, the root of our worship and understanding of relationship to Christ is in the Eucharist.  Via the Eucharist, we participate in His very life, death, and Resurrection.  As such, we are to grow in God-likeness.  St. Paul names the fruit of the Spirit in us, as he writes, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).   In 1 Corinthians 13, St. Paul writes about love.  He names many charisms and great gifts.  But the one essential thing that gives all else meaning and value, he tells us, is love.  He writes, "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."  He adds that all else will fail, but love never fails.  And finally, he tells us, "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."  What we are to understand about God-likeness, in all the virtues shown to us by Christ, is that its essence is truly love -- and all the virtues we understand as fruit of the Spirit constitute aspects of love.  St. John tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8).  Let us understand that we are to grow in that likeness.  Love isn't simply desire.  Neither is it just passion.  It is not about what we want.  It is about who we are and who we become more deeply as we grow in the likeness to Christ.  It involves humility, and patience, and forbearance, and a willingness to suffer for love -- and to understand that suffering as full of meaning and truth and worthy of recognition as heroic effort -- as our Lord shows to us first.  Let us consider a lifetime of learning to become more deeply the bearer of that love, for it is the light of the world.  It is the true mark of sonship and freedom.