ACC ~ Matthew 17 v25 - 26

THE SONS ARE FREE

CHRYSOSTOM: So that Peter should not think that he said it after hearing it from others, he forestalls him by showing this very thing and giving Peter, a man who up to now shrank from speaking about these things, freedom to speak about it. What he says is something like this: “I am free from paying tribute. For if the kings of the earth do not take it from their sons but from their subjects, much more ought I to be free of this demand, being the Son not of an earthly king but of the king of heaven and myself a king as well.” Do you see how he has distinguished the sons from them that are not sons? And if he were not a son, he brought in the example of the kings without purpose. Someone may say, “Yes, he is a son but not trueborn.” Then he is not a son, and if he is not a son or trueborn he does not belong to God but to someone else. But if he belongs to someone else, then the comparison does not have its proper strength. For he is speaking not of sons generally but of truly begotten sons, their very own sons, of sons who share the kingdom with their parents. And so by way of contrast he mentioned “the sons of others,” calling those that are born of themselves “their own” and those not born of themselves “of others.” THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 58.2. [1]

[1] PG 58:567; NPNF 1 10:358-59.

IMMUNITY FROM TAXES

JEROME: Our Lord was the son of a king both according to the flesh and according to the spirit, begotten either from the stock of David or from the Word of the almighty Father. Therefore as the son of a king he did not owe tax, but as one who had assumed the humility of the flesh he has to fulfill all justice. We unfortunates, who are enrolled under Christ’s name and do nothing worthy of such great majesty, for us he both underwent the cross and paid our tax. But we do not pay him tribute in return for his honor and like the sons of a king we are immune from taxes. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 3.17.26. [1]

[1] CCL 77:155.

DO KINGS TAKE TRIBUTE FROM THEIR SONS?

HILARY OF POITIERS: Is it not clear that the sons of kings are not subject to tax and those who are the heirs of a kingdom are free from service? But his words have inner meaning. A drachma was demanded of the people. Now the law moves toward that faith which was to be revealed through Christ. Therefore by the custom of the law this same drachma was demanded from Christ as though from an ordinary citizen. But to show that he was not subject to the law and to demonstrate the glory of his Father’s dignity in himself, he offered as an example of earthly privilege the fact that kings’ sons are not subject to census and tax. He is the Redeemer of our soul and body. Nothing should be demanded of him for his redemption, because it was necessary that a king’s son be distinguished from the common lot. Therefore the king’s son offers a stumbling block to the tax law in order to do away with it, he being free from the duty of the law. ON MATTHEW 17.11. [1]

[1] SC 258:70-72.