I had to do some homework for this reflection. I didn’t know the details of the Gospel situation about the temple tax and how it impacted the disciples. It turns out that all adult Jewish males were supposed to pay the temple tax for use of the temple. This is for the use of the religious building; it is not a civil tax. When the temple tax collector asks Peter if Jesus pays the tax, Peter says yes, he does.

But Jesus has just warned the disciples that things are not going to go well. He tells them that he will be betrayed and will die, but it’s sort of ok because he will be raised from the dead. The disciples do not really understand what will happen and they are overwhelmed with grief that he would die.  There has already been a lot of controversy, with others trying to discredit Jesus, trying to find things to arrest him for, to put him down and get rid of him. 

Before Peter even has a chance to tell Jesus about his conversation with the temple tax collectors, Jesus is aware that there is a problem. It turns out the priests and rabbis do not have to pay the temple tax because they work there. They are the religious and exempt from the temple tax. Jesus asks about who pays taxes. He says the kings on earth take taxes from foreigners, not their own people. The intimates of the house do not pay. The religious do not pay the temple tax. Of course, Jesus is an intimate of his father’s house, the temple. Jesus is saying that he is obviously exempt from the temple tax, but he will make sure the tax gets paid anyway, to avoid more controversy.

This seems to me that he is showing his true dual nature here. He is wholly God, and wholly man, son of God and son of Man. As son of God he would be exempt from the temple tax, but as son of Man he should pay it. So he tells Peter he will pay it, and tells Peter to go to the sea and drop in a hook (not a net) and the first fish he will catch will have in its mouth the coin they need to pay the tax.

This is a little miracle you don’t hear much about. I think the layers in this story are interesting. As God he is exempt from the tax but as man he will pay it, with miracle money. It’s a little bit of, let’s not make any more waves, things will go bad soon enough on their own. It is also a reflection of Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and render unto God that which is God’s. While Jesus is here, he’s still subject to man’s laws and to human nature, even though he is really God.