The gospel reading today
taken from Mark 12:13-17, tells about how some priests
and elders tried to set up Jesus by asking some tricky question. They asked,
“Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay, yes or no?”
Jesus seeing through their hypocrisy said to them, “Why do you set this trap
for me? Hand me a denarius and let me see it.” They handed him one and he said,
“Whose head is this? Whose name?” “Caesar” they told him. Jesus said to them,
“Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.”
This reply took them completely by surprise.
The first reading from
Tobit 2:9-14, tells the story of a righteous man named Tobit, who became blind.
One day he heard a kid bleat. He told his wife to return it for he said they
have no right to eat stolen goods. His wife said that it was given to her but
he did not believe. The wife then said, ““Where are your charities and your
righteous deeds? You seem to know everything!”
It is easy to admire or judge
a person because of spoken words, but ultimately real motives will be known. In
the 1st reading, it was not Tobits righteous anger that made him mad
at his wife, it was his situation, he was blind and probably in a stressful and
depressing condition. As with the gospel, it was not really about righteous
question that they ask Jesus but about setting him in a trap. What is our take
home on this?
1. We might consider
holding back judgment of why this person is acting like that and consider first
there background and situation because there might be some condition that made
him/her react in that way.
2. It pays to be discerning
when confronted with tricky question and situation least we fall into the trap.
3. God knows what is in our
hearts. No amount of eloquence can hide the truth. No amount of righteous talks
can hide the motives of the heart. No amount of articulation can save us from our
lies.
Nothing hidden that will
not be known. He knows everything including our hypocrisy.
by aats
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