Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
(Tobit 2:9-14; Mark 12:13-17)
Today’s gospel demonstrates Jesus’ astuteness and, more
importantly, his wisdom. He sees through
his opponents’ pretenses to their desire to trap him. They ask whether a Jew should pay the Roman
tax. If Jesus says, “Pay the tax,” he
would lose the people’s favor. If he
says, “Don’t pay it,” he may have soldiers tracking him down. Of course, his solution avoids both
unfavorable consequences.
Jesus also tells his adversaries to give God His due. This debt cannot be paid in a lump sum but
requires due attention every day. Humans
are to praise and thank God for His blessings.
They are also to appeal to Him for their needs. in short, they are to develop a close
relationship with the Lord.
Often we worry when we should trust. We should see every challenge that we face as
an opportunity to seek God’s favor.
Expressing our dependency, we draw closer to God, who is hopefully our
destiny as well as our Creator.
