An intimate connection

St. Peter’s Fish”, which came served with a coin in the fish’s mouth,  was full of bones and spines - Photo: Fr Colin McLean
St. Peter’s Fish”, which came served with a coin in the fish’s mouth,  was full of bones and spines - Photo: Fr Colin McLean

Reflections on a 3 month course in the Holy Land in 2012, Part 1.

Recently I celebrated Mass for the Columban community here at St Columban’s, Essendon. The Gospel was the text of Matt 17: 22-27, one of the strangest Gospel texts I know. However, I have an intimate connection to it. During our 3-month course at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute, set up by Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem, close to the Separation Wall erected by Israel to separate Palestine from Israel, the class had excursions into other parts of the Holy Land. During the few days we had in Galilee, we visited Capernaum (Kfer Nahum) and ate lunch at a restaurant on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, looking out at it from the table was inspirational. A few of us ordered the specialty, “St. Peter’s Fish”, which came served with a coin in the fish’s mouth, mentioned in Matthew’s Gospel: a very evangelical local interpretation of the Gospel story! The fish was not tasty, it was full of bones and spines. I hope the catches of fish by Sts Peter, Andrew, James and John were better.

The view of the Sea of Galilee from our table - Photo: Fr Colin McLeanThe view of the Sea of Galilee from our table - Photo: Fr Colin McLean

Reading the footnotes to this Gospel account in I needed to re-read the text: “But so as not to offend these people (the Temple tax collectors) go to the lake, throw in a hook and open the mouth of the first fish you catch. You will find a coin in it, take it and let it be pay for you and for me.” Jesus was suggesting that the Temple tax should be paid so as not to offend the Jewish neighbours of the mostly Jewish-Christian community in which Matthew’s Gospel was written. Hence, a little known text from this Gospel is a forerunner of enculturating the Good News of Jesus into the world’s cultures, just as St. Paul said to the Athenians: “As I walked around looking at you shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed: To an unknown God. Now what you worship as unknown, I intend to make known to you.” It demonstrates the importance of entering into a culture and presenting the Good News from within, and not imposing it from the outside.

Columban Fr Colin McLean lives at St Columban’s, Essendon.

 

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