Re:Verse passage – Matthew 17:24-27 (day three)
“Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?”
How much pressure could Jesus apply to the system of customs and culture? When was it better to go along with certain expectations? When was it the right time to resist? These are strategic questions that often loom large in the minds of people who aspire to lead. Right away, though, a problem arises. People—actual persons—can become, in the perspective of that would-be leader, obstacles to change. When one views people in that way, one cannot love them. The question Jesus appeared to ask was not one of strategy: How can I move toward my goals in spite of the challenge posed by this particular group of people? Rather, it would appear to have been a different question: What is the good that I might do for this particular group of people? That is a question of love, and it is a question that does not shrink from death.
