Why does Jesus tell his disciples that he is going to be betrayed, killed and be raised on the third day in today’s gospel? It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the second part of the gospel at all. The second part of the gospel today is about paying the temple tax. This is actually a pretty awesome story, but what does it have to do with Jesus’ death?
If you go back to the first reading for mass today, Moses tells the people that out of all the people in the world, God’s heart was with their ancestors when He made them a people of His own and led them out of Egypt. As their descendents, God loved them the same way. He executes justice for orphans and widows and loves the stranger, providing them with food and clothing. They were told “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt”.
That is actually the point that connects all of the readings today. Jesus was traveling to Capernaum with his disciples. They were not residents of Capernaum so the collectors of the temple tax asked Jesus to pay the temple tax that is normally charged only to foreigners. Jesus was a stranger in a strange land. He did not want to offend them, so he performed a little miracle by having Peter go catch a fish that would have a coin in it’s mouth to pay the temple tax. That is such an awesome little miracle in and of itself! Can you imagine where he sent that fish to get the coin? Jesus must have known about a place where a person had lost a coin out of their pocket and it fell into the sea, or perhaps a shipwreck that had money on board lying on the bottom of the sea. This little miracle in today’s gospel is actually a beautiful thing if you think about it. Nothing is hidden from Jesus. He knows all things, even what is in the depths of the sea. He knows all the little known facts of our lives as well. Sometimes we are judged wrongly by others because they do not have all the facts of our lives. If that happens, we should rest confidently in the peace of Christ because the Lord knows the hidden things. It doesn’t matter what others think about us, because he knows the truth which is hidden.
However, let’s get back to the main focus of the readings for mass today. The Israelite people were once strangers in a strange land, and so was Christ in the gospel reading today. At some point, we have all been a stranger in a new place too. Some of us may have moved to a new country, a new city, a new home or school or even a new parish. We’ve all had the experience of finding ourselves in a group of people we do not know and maybe feeling like we don’t belong. It’s a little hard to be on the outside looking in, isn’t it? God doesn’t want this. In the first reading today it says that God loves strangers and that we are to love the stranger too, because we ourselves were once strangers.
Immigration is such a difficult subject to talk about. Just the word “immigration” probably changed the tone of the article you have been reading, because this word may have different connotations from the scripture passages that we have just been reading. The long term residents of a land often resent new people moving into their country and they do not treat them very well because of it. Immigrants are usually discriminated against because they do not speak the language very well, or they are having trouble making a living in their new environment. The long term residents feel that they are a burden on their society and that adds to the discrimination. In light of today’s scriptures though, is that really the right attitude to have with the immigrants in our own country?
Many immigrants are very polite and do not want to offend the people they have come to live with in any way, much like Christ did in today’s gospel when he paid the temple tax. He had to perform a miracle to come up with a coin out of no where though. However, most immigrants are poor and it is a real struggle to provide the most basic necessities for themselves and their families. It was that way with our own ancestors that immigrated to America too. At some point, every country in the world was settled by immigrants. In America, the “immigrants” took over the local Indian tribes by force and killed many of the Indian people when they settled our country. They used up the local resources the Indians used for their livelihood, by shooting all the buffalo. We should really give that some thought. Our ancestors who immigrated to America were not very respectful, contributing members of the Indian tribes who spoke their language either. Yet, we expect our immigrants to respect our country, adapt to our ways and speak our language and not be a burden on our resources.
The immigration problem in America reached the point that illegal immigrants were forcibly shipped back to their own country and our borders now have armed guards to keep them out. It is a complicated problem, but for God it isn’t complicated. We might not be able to do anything about the bigger problems of immigration, but we can treat the strangers among us with respect. They should be made to feel welcome and we should provide them with food and clothing until they can provide for themselves, just like God commanded us to do in the first reading for mass today. Perhaps we could think about teaching them job skills and our language, and acclimate them to our nation’s way of life. The Indian people that welcomed the white settlers in America (the Pilgrims) were greatly respected and admired for doing this. These Indians saved the lives of the Pilgrims and we celebrate their kindness every year at Thanksgiving. God answered the Pilgrims prayers through the local Indiana population who taught them how to hunt for animals, grow food and wear animal skins for warmer clothing in their new environment. Maybe we should think about the example they set. Even though they did not know about Jesus Christ, they did instinctively know their heavenly Father and out of compassion for the stranger among them, they listened to Him and obeyed His will.
