This weeks Gospel story reminded me of a song from many years ago that was written and sung by my favorite band: "Let me tell you how it will be, there's one for you, nineteen for me, cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman. Should five per cent appear too small be thankful I don't take it all, cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman. If you drive a car, I'll tax the street, if you try to sit, I'll tax your seat. If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet."

In the United States, all it takes to send shivers down the spine of any otherwise law-abiding citizen is to utter three little letters: IRS (the acronym for the Internal Revenue Service). And of course, the Beatles were writing their lyrics about the British tax system in the 1960s. Suffice to say that those who collect taxes for any government are dreaded in that country. And this is the situation in countries where taxes are used to provide essential services including defense, education, etc.  But think about how galling it would be to pay taxes to a foreign government, something just short of blackmail.

But this is exactly the situation in Palestineas it existed in Jesus' time. Matthew is collecting taxes for Rome, the hated conqueror. As such, he is barred from the synagogue and, according to the Jewish Torah, is lumped together with robbers and murderers. So he is someone who is not only loathed, but hated just as much as the conquerors for whom he collects the taxes.