Explication
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Biblical commentaries
“They sent Pharisees and Herod’s followers to Jesus to trap him by making him speak. »
Here we are at a crucial moment in the life of Jesus. Yesterday, the chief priests, scribes and elders, exasperated, wanted to lay their hands on Him but, afraid of the crowd, they did not dare. Today they are sending men to trap him. Their duplicity, their hypocritical flattery make us think of the figure of the serpent in the garden of Eden or of Satan in the episode of the temptations in the desert. First compliment, congratulate, to put you to sleep. Then asked to answer yes or no to a question that leaves no way out.
If Jesus answers that the tax must be paid, he will be accused of compromising with the Roman occupier; if he answers no, he will be accused of advocating revolt. “Is it permitted, yes or no? » This is not the only time that Jesus’ listeners asked him such a question. Perhaps we have also felt stuck in the face of an alternative that turns out to be a dead end. Here we can admire Jesus’ presence of mind.
But let us also let ourselves be touched by his way of responding. He gives back to God his Father what comes from him – his freedom, his intelligence, his grace! Recognizing the gifts received from God on a day-to-day basis, and deploying them with joy and confidence: this is a beautiful way out of the closed questions of our legalisms: “Is it permitted, yes or no? »
Other texts: 2 Peter 3, 12-15a.17-18; Ps 89
