Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary time
(Ezekiel 1:2-5.24-28c; Matthew 17:22-27)
Christians interpret Ezekiel’s vision in today’s first
reading as referring to Christ. He is
God with a human appearance. In fact,
the appearance is actual, not virtual.
Jesus is the humanly enfleshed God, Lord of heaven and earth. The gospel supports this understanding.
Jesus questions Peter regarding taxes to show that he is the
Son of God. Everyone except the family
of the Temple’s owner would be subject to the tax. Since God owns the Temple, His son would be
exempt from the tax. Rather than cause
trouble explaining the point, Jesus just pays the tax. In doing so, however, he shows his divine foreknowledge.
We hope to remember the divinity of Jesus as we face life’s difficulties. He became human to share our lot. Now he comes to support us in distress. In both bad times and good, we look to him for
support and thank him for his help.
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