Wednesday, 28th Week of Ordinary Time

Matthew 17:22-27
The Daily Office

It is highly likely the time that this Gospel was written, the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans.  After their failed rebellion, Jews were forced to pay the “temple-tax” to Rome as a war reparation.  So, what does this story have to do with us in the Church 2000 years later?  There are two clues.  The first is Jesus’s admonition against “giving offense.”  The Greek word translated as “offense” is the root of the English word “scandal.”  And it has two distinct but related meanings.  One can either “scandalize” by giving offense, or one can “scandalize” by causing someone to sin.  The other clue is the chapter in the Gospel that begins right after this story.  Chapter 18 in Matthew is Jesus’s Sermon on Church order and life together in the Church.  Three times in that chapter, Jesus will warn his disciples against actions that “scandalize” others. 

What this story hints at, and what Chapter 18 makes explicit, is that we who call ourselves “Christian,” are not to live alone, but together.  And living together means living with disagreement.  It does not mean leaving a community of committed Christians the first time we disagree with a sermon, or find that a decision does not go our way.  If even the Son of God did not always insist on having it his way, should we?  We Americans call ourselves a free people.  But we are citizens of God’s kingdom first.  And no one is free in God’s kingdom.  We owe our very lives to the God who made us and loves us to the end.  What do we owe to our brothers and sisters in the Church?  All Jesus asks of us is that we be a little patient with our brothers and sisters in faith.  But more on that tomorrow.