Fishing and Tax Collecting

As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee,
Jesus said to them,
"The Son of Man is to be handed over to men,
and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day."

And they were overwhelmed with grief.

When they came to Capernaum,
the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said,
"Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?"
"Yes," he said. 
When he came into the house before he had time to speak,
Jesus asked him, "What is your opinion, Simon?
From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax?
From their subjects or from foreigners?"
When he said, "From foreigners," Jesus said to him,
"Then the subjects are exempt.
But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook,
and take the first fish that comes up. 
Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax.
Give that to them for me and for you."

I am not sure what to make of this story.  Michael the Lesser is not a completely trained apologist so some things do stump him.  This is one such reading.  We start off with the very stark proclamation that Jesus is to be handed over, killed and will rise on the third day and the apostles were overwhelmed with grief and then we get this rather odd story of a temple tax.  

The tax goes way back into history and the fact was that almost no one paid it at the time of Jesus.  But when asked if Jesus paid the temple tax, Peter, who knew better, answered "yes."  In effect, Jesus was committed to paying the temple tax because of the word of one of his apostles and so he paid it with found money, from the mouth of a fish. 

Now what this story means to us today, I will leave for you to mull over as I will be doing.   If you have any ideas, let me know by leaving a comment. 

Remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory.  They are desperate for your help, don't let them down.