Book of Common Prayer

¹⁶ I’m not ashamed of the good news; it’s God’s power, bringing salvation to everyone who believes—to the Jew first, and also, equally, to the Greek. ¹⁷ This is because God’s covenant justice is unveiled in it, from faithfulness to faithfulness. As it says in the Bible, “the just shall live by faith.”

Humans reject God and embrace corruption

¹⁸ For the anger of God is unveiled from heaven against all the ungodliness and injustice performed by people who use injustice to suppress the truth. ¹⁹ What can be known of God, you see, is plain to them, since God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ There are, of course, things about God which you can’t see, namely, his eternal power and deity. But, ever since the world was created, they have been known and seen in the things he has made. As a result, they have no excuse: ²¹ they knew God, but didn’t honor him as God or thank him. Instead, they learned to think in useless ways, and their unwise heart grew dark. ²² They declared themselves to be wise, but in fact they became foolish. ²³ They swapped the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of the image of mortal humans—and of birds, animals and reptiles.

Unclean desires, dishonored bodies

²⁴ So God gave them up to uncleanness in the desires of their hearts, with the result that they dishonored their bodies among themselves. ²⁵ They swapped God’s truth for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever, Amen.

The Temple tax

²² As they regathered in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The son of man is going to be given over into human hands. ²³ They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they were very sad.

²⁴ They came to Capernaum, where the officials who collected the Temple tax approached Peter.

“Your teacher pays the Temple tax, doesn’t he?” they asked.

²⁵ “Yes,” he replied.

When he came into the house, Jesus spoke first, “What d’you think, Simon? When the kings of the world collect taxes or duties, who do they collect them from? From their own families, or from outsiders?”

²⁶ “From outsiders,” he replied.

“Well then,” said Jesus, “that means the families are free. ²⁷ But we don’t want to give them offense, do we? So why don’t you go down to the sea and cast out a hook? The first fish you catch, open its mouth and you’ll find a coin. Take that and give it to them for the two of us.”