29th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 22nd October 2023
Someone once said that ‘the only things certain in this world are death
and taxes’. And it appears from our gospel that at the time of Jesus, taxes
had to be paid then also!
The Pharisees never missed any chance or opportunity to try and trap
Jesus. They were always hoping that he would say or do something that
would trap him and make him look foolish in front of his friends and
followers.
Just because we are followers of Jesus, it does not mean we are exempt
from living in the real world. We go to work, earn our wages and spend our
hard-earned money on the things we need to stay alive. Bills have to be paid
and we too today have to pay tax to keep our economy going.
People often misquote this saying from the New Testament; ‘money is the
root of all evil. The correct saying in the Letter to Timothy is ‘the love of
money is the root of evil.’ There is nothing wrong with money in itself. It is
how we use, misuse and even abuse money that matters.