Do not neglect to fulfill your obligations to the house of the Lord by paying your offering, giving your loving and generous contribution

“But lest you offend these people, go to the sea, cast the hook, and open the mouth of the first fish you catch. There you will find a coin; then take the coin and give it to them, for me and for you “(Matthew 17:27).

The disciples of Jesus were being questioned whether Jesus happened to pay the Temple tax. Jesus did not answer either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, He first questioned the deeper meaning of things. “Do kings charge taxes of children or strangers?” Peter answered, “Of strangers!”

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Strangers are those who are not regarded as children. We are not strangers in the house of God, in the world that He created we are children. The truth is that the world treats us as strangers, and we live in this world with the strangeness of not belonging to this world, because we are of God.

Here are some things that are important to our thinking today. When we pay our taxes, it does not mean that we agree with them. For many of the taxes and fees we pay are unfair, too many, dishonest, and often not used in the right way. But not agreeing, not finding the way of justice through them, we can not scandalize, we must fulfill our obligations.

The first of our obligations is with God, with the house of God and with the things of Him. The tax levied on Jesus or his disciples was on the Temple tax. We do not pay taxes to our temples, we pay our offering, we give our contribution with our offerings. Do it heartily, do not do this as a stranger, but as a son.

The son has an obligation with the things of the Lord, to take care of the house of the Lord. We do not find Jesus preaching tithing, we do not find Jesus compelling anyone to pay tithing or even bind faith to the condition of paying tithing, but He presents us as an example, a detachment, as one who does not scandalize and wants to take care of what are the obligations.

Do not neglect to fulfill your obligations to the house of the Lord by paying your offering, giving your loving and generous contribution. Do this as a son!

But if the world treats us as strangers, even as strangers we pay our taxes, our contributions and do not be scandalous. Let us be an example for the world we live in.