MARY, OUR MOTHER

SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY # 319

And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received the half–shekel came to Peter, and said, "Doth not your master pay the half–shekel?" He saith, "Yea." And when he came into the house, Jesus spake first to him, saying, "What thinkest thou, Simon? the kings of the earth, from whom do they receive toll or tribute? from their sons, or from strangers?" And when he said, "From strangers," Jesus said unto him, "Therefore the sons are free. But, lest we cause them to stumble, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a shekel: that take, and give unto them for me and thee." (Matt. 17:24-27)

THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST: Our Lord claims to be the Son of Him to whom the Temple belongs, that is, God the Father. As the kings of the earth do not exact tribute from their own children, so neither does God from His own Son.

[From 'A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture' by Bishop Knecht, D.D.]
(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)