Tag Archives: taxes

Taxes and Faith

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This coming Sunday is the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the previous post we noted that Matthew is sending us in the direction of a series of controversy stories that follow on the heels of the three parables of the Kingdom of God. As it has throughout this section of Matthew’s gospel, the question of authority continues to play out. In this scene the Herodians have been added to the playing field as a counterpoint and yet similar view as the Pharisees. Boring (Matthew, The New Interpreters Bible) comments: Continue reading →

Flow and Direction

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This coming Sunday is the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Lectionary Cycle A. Over the last three weeks we have considered three tightly connected Matthean parables: the two sons 21:28-32; the tenants in the vineyard 21:33-46; and the wedding banquet 22:1-14.  They are parables about doing (or not doing) what God (father/landowner/king) wanted (or submitting one’s self to their authority): sons working in the vineyard, tenants giving the owner the fruit, and invitees accepting the king’s invitation to his son’s wedding feast and wearing the proper garb. Continue reading →

German Reform: vested interests

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The previous post pointed to the broad resentment of German society to the eternal taxation be it from the Church or from the Imperial Courts of the Emperor. There were other economic factors also in view: land, wealth and revenue. But consider the latter category. Perhaps revenue is from the sale of land, animals, crops, or other items; but perhaps revenue is the very stream of taxes causing the resentment – and your class thinks it belong to them. One person’s vested interest may very well be another’s burden. Continue reading →

German Reform: princes, patricians, and peasants

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In a previous post we introduced the dynamic of taxation as one element of the German Reformation. But who was specifically the target of Imperial and Papal fund raisers? To answer that one needs to consider the social strata of all who would be caught in the taxing nets of the “outsiders” – the Pope and his ostensibly all-Italian Curial mafia, or, the gapping maw of the Holy Roman imperial court. Continue reading →

Paying attention

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FISHERS-OF-MENWould that acquiring our funds for paying taxes were simply a matter of taking an afternoon off and going fishing. Wouldn’t that be nice! I think today’s gospel is one of those accounts which people hear, give the holy nod (Jesus did it, I believe, I don’t exactly get it, but God’s ways are above mine…) and move on. My experience is that people most often recall the “coin in the mouth of the fish” but are less clear about the discussion that preceded Jesus’ instructions to Peter. One should note that the Gospel never records the catch or the payment. Don’t get me wrong, if God can create the universe I have no doubt that placing a coin in a fish’s mouth is possible….but…  Just a few verses before Jesus tells the disciples that their faith can move mountains. Was that hyperbole or was there an expectation that mountains could be moved? Is the expectation that the coin would be found in the mouth of the fish? Continue reading →

Taxes and Faith

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DenarriIn today’s gospel we are witness to Jesus’ encounter with the authorities and their question about the payment of taxes. Certainly the question of taxes is as much about authority as any topic. And there is perhaps no thorny or inflammatory topic of conversation than taxes. One may easily assume it is with malice that Jesus is asked about the census tax payable to Rome. The empire exacted three types of taxes: a ground tax, which required that ten per cent of all grain and twenty per cent of all oil and wine production be given to Rome; an income tax, equivalent to one per cent of a person’s income; and a poll/census tax, which amounted to a denarius or a full day’s wage. To add insult to injury, the tax could be paid only in Roman coin, most of which contained an image and inscription considered blasphemous by many Jews: Tiberius Caesar Divi Augusti Filius Augustus Pontifex Maximus (“Tiberius Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus, high priest”). Continue reading →

Will you read the whole post?

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WARNING: this post is excessively long and potentially soporific.

Recently I received a private email from someone who follows my musings. They expressed concern that I was “becoming political.” Their motivation was a recent posting on Calumny. In their view it seemed as though I was choosing a “side” in the on-going “political dialogue” (which is hardly much of a dialogue). And I was choosing a side – hopefully the side of truth and the teaching of the Catholic Church on the sin of calumny. That the backdrop is the unending, crafted message about voter and election fraud, is just the case writ large that serves to help faithful people understand the moral question about what they choose to repeat or assert.

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