Taxes, Marriage and the Meaning of Life
For the last few weeks, we’ve been hearing from Chapter 22 of Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus begins with the parable of the wedding feast, which the king wants to be full. That ends with the unexpected guest, brought in from off the street, without a wedding garment. The lack of a nice outfit wasn’t the problem, but the failure to even answer the king. Being at the wedding feast also means being in relation with the King, his son, and the whole company of guests. And like any real relationship, it requires two-way communication.
Following that parable, the Pharisees and Sadducees come to Jesus with vexing questions, to test him and trip him up in his speech. This is nearly as bad as silence. But at least it gives Jesus the chance to speak with them, if only they will listen.
The Pharisees last week asked Jesus about taxes and the political and religious implications involved in duties to a pagan emperor who claimed to be a god. Jesus didn’t talk politics with them, but spoke to their hardened hearts, earnestly appealing to them to give politics its place – and to give God the place God alone deserves. Which embraces even politics.
We skipped over the Sadducees, who try to ridicule the resurrection of the dead. After all, Jesus had just described a wedding banquet as an image of the kingdom of God. Using the custom of levirate marriage (Deuteronomy 25:5-10), the Saducees try to show how absurd it is to believe in an afterlife. Jesus appeals to them, as well, to discover that to God all are alive, and that this earthly life is the preparation for the fullness of life yet to come, where God will be all in all.
In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees return with a question about the greatest commandment – the deepest meaning of life. Their question is a test, but Jesus makes it more than merely a test. A person doesn’t study for a driving test only to pass the driving test, but to actually get in a car and drive. Someone doesn’t cram for the Bar or Boards only to pass the exam, but to become a lawyer or a doctor. And the study of God’s Law isn’t meant to make us simply students and scholars. It is fulfilled in a new relationship, as sons and daughters in the only-begotten Son.
Today’s first reading is a powerful reminder of how God has loved us in our need, as aliens and strangers, poor and in need. May we clothe ourselves in the garment of love, in our care for aliens and strangers, the poor and those in need. Love is not just a sentiment, an idea or a test to pass, but a way to live, the Way, the Truth and the Life who is Jesus himself.
-Fr. Tom
