Gospel Reading: Mk 12:13-17
SOME Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. So the second married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died. At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and [the] God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.”
REFLECTION
Why are you testing me?
Jesus knows the malicious intent of the Pharisees and Herodians sent by the Sadducees to ensnare him. His answer to the question of paying taxes will make him either a traitor or a rebel. If he says yes to taxes, he will be branded as pro-Roman and hated by his fellow Jews. If he says no, the Romans will arrest him for fomenting rebellion.
Knowing their bad faith, Jesus entertains them anyway. His reply, “Repay to Caesar… repay to God…,” disarms them and leaves them dumbfounded. His enemies are thrown off course by this unexpected answer.
Does Jesus make a compromise? No, he maintains his focus as the Son of God who is above the concerns of the Romans and the Jews on paying taxes (toll tax and temple tax). His Jewish haters must realize that the Kingdom he is establishing is above all kingdoms and religions.
Jesus is concerned about a higher value. People must submit themselves to the power of God and live peacefully in his realm where everybody has a place, where no one threatens or is intimidated because of taxes.
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“Lord, because you have made me, I owe you the whole of my love; because you have redeemed me, I owe you the whole of myself” (St. Anselm).
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.