First Reading - Deuteronomy 10:12-22
Gospel - Matthew 17:22-27
The first reading highlights the law of loving obedience to God. The Book of Deuteronomy is the book that enunciates the law. However, the main thrust of the enunciation of law of the book is that the law which is enforced must be obeyed in love. God, in the first reading, demands the loving obedience of the people of Israel because He is the God who rules over everything in heaven and on earth, and has supreme sovereignty. It is this God who took care of the people of Israel, when they were through the desert and sojourners. It's this God who multiplied the number of the people from being handful to a great multitude. It's this to this God, people of Israel were to love and adore in reverential fear.
The gospel of the day can be divided into two parts. The first part speaks about the second passion prediction of Jesus and the second part mentions about the duty to give tax. The first part certainly evokes a sad feeling because it repeats the prediction of the passion and death of Jesus by himself to his disciples. However, this also draws our attention to an act of loving obedience of Jesus to his father through this action. Jesus obeys his father by his passion and death.
The second part of the passage draws our attention to the following of the civil law or the law of the Church. In this section, Jesus is faced with the problem of temple tax. This incident also recalls the historical situation of the early Christian community who were in dilemma whether to give temple tax to Jews or not because they had embraced a new way of life in Jesus. This dilemma is resolved by the beautiful example of Jesus, although he was not obliged to give tax but in order to support the Law and avoid any scandal or threat, he consented to give it.
Dear friends, any kind of law or regulation that curbs our freedom can be unpleasant and choking but when we realise that this is for a better good or it has a good reason, then we can get reconciled with the situation. God demands a loving obedience of the people through the Law in the first reading but people often failed to keep the Law. On the other side, Jesus willingly and delightfully obeyed his father, for he knew that was required for a greater purpose. Furthermore, the second part of the gospel passage also suggests that when it entails exclusion of scandals and has a good purpose, we should obey the Law; the civil or the Church. The law can become oppressive if we are concerned about only oneself at the cost of others (I want good of myself alone) but when we realise and understand that the law is really meant to achieve a greater good, then we will certainly appreciate and respect that.
Secondly, the readings also remind us that we are given a law enshrined in our hearts that is our conscience which plays a vital role in our lives. Our conscience helps us recognize the voice of God and also strives to seek goodness for society and others according to the will of God. Hence, we need to check our conscience everyday to track our life - whether it's self-centered, God-centered or the Other-centered.
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