Bible Diary

Daily Reading

St Luke
Mission Sunday

LECTIONARY
145

FIRST READING

Is 45:1,4-6

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.

PSALM

PS 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10

Response: Give the Lord glory and honor.

Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.

For great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
awesome is he, beyond all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are things of nought,
but the LORD made the heavens.

Give to the LORD, you families of nations,
give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name!
Bring gifts, and enter his courts.

Worship the LORD, in holy attire;
tremble before him, all the earth;
say among the nations: The LORD is king,
he governs the peoples with equity.

SECOND READING

1 Thes 1:1-5

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. The Thessalonians' Faith and Example We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

GOSPEL

Mt 22:15-21

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”

Daily Reflection

The Jewish people were expected to pay three kinds of taxes: ‘ground tax’ – one tenth of their produce (in cash or kind); ‘income tax’ – one per cent of the male member’s income; and ‘poll tax’ – by every male member from the age of fourteen to sixty-five, and every female member from the age of twelve to sixty-five. While the taxes were unjustly imposed, the Jews also resented them because the practice went against their religious beliefs. They believed taxes were to be paid only to their God and king; so paying taxes to the Roman Emperor would amount to accepting Him as their God. This is why the Pharisees used the question to trap Jesus, whom they presumed would either fall out of favour with the people or the Roman authorities.

Instead of answering the direct question, Jesus raises the question to another level. His answer goes beyond telling us not to compromise - He also emphasises that the only binding obligation is that of justice, that of giving to every person what is due to them. If God has given us all that we are and have, then we are bound in justice to give back to God some gratitude, loyalty, and service.

On Mission Sunday, it’s only appropriate that we ask ourselves ‘how have we done this?’