Payment of the Temple Tax (Mt 17:22-27)

Tax payment is the duty of every citizen. It is an acknowledgement that we accept the state’s sovereign power of the State and in return we get the security and other benefits offered by the State.

At the time of Jesus the Jews were under Roman Empire. They had to pay tax to the Romans. They had 4 kinds of taxes; such as Land Tax, Poll Tax, Tax on Personal Property (export and import customs at seaports and city gates), and House Tax (those who lived in Jerusalem). Apart from these taxes they had temple tax named as didrachma.

We are the people of dual citizenship (relate to Green Card Holder in US context). We are citizens of our mother land as well as the citizens of the kingdom of God. We pay tax to our mother land. Is there any obligation like tax towards “Kingdom of God”? We know that the King of Kings does not want any of our taxes and it is impossible to pay the tax to God directly. But we are called to have treasures in the Kingdom of God by helping God. How?

Remember the scene of Last Judgment in the Bible. “When you did these things to your brothers and sisters, you did it to me”. Let us do our obligation to the kingdom of God (by helping the needy) as we do the obligation to our mother land.