On the octave of Saint Stephen. The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 17: 'At that time, when the Lord Jesus had come to Capernaum, those who received the didrachma came to Peter and said to him, Does not your Master pay the didrachma?' And the rest. Since the wording of this sermon also seems to us most unlike Maximian, we reject it among the spurious, even though Frisius found this same one adorned with the name of St. Maximus in a Milan codex, of which mention was made by us with praise in the earlier note. For in the time of Augustus Caesar Judaea was made tributary, and by his command each one professed the census in his own region and city.
Whence Joseph, with blessed Mary, went up from Galilee into Bethlehem, a city of Judaea, to profess the census there, because he was of the house and family of David. But because the Lord had been reared in Nazareth, which is a town of Galilee subject to the city of Capernaum, therefore the census was demanded of Him; since all newcomers who came thither professed the census. And because they did not dare to approach the Lord on account of the greatness of His miracles, therefore they went around to His disciple Peter, and asked whether his Master paid the didrachma.
They asked either with simple intent, to collect the census, or certainly maliciously, to find out whether He would pay the census or would contradict the will of Caesar, so that they might find an occasion of accusing Him. And because the collectors of the census had gone around to Peter apart, therefore, when the Lord had come home, before Peter suggested anything to Him, He anticipated him; so that when the holy apostles perceived that He understood the things which had been done in His absence, they might not be scandalized at the exaction of the census. For He said: 'What thinkest thou, Simon? The kings of the earth, from whom do they receive tribute or census? from their sons, or from strangers?' But he said: 'From strangers' (Matt. 17). For the Lord according to the flesh was a king's son.
He was indeed a king's son according to the flesh, because He had been begotten from the stock of David. According to the Spirit, because He was the Word of God the almighty Father. And therefore, being a king's son, He ought to have paid tribute to no one. But because He took upon Himself the flesh of our lowliness, therefore He paid the tribute. But we, wretched and unhappy, because we render nothing worthy of so great a majesty. He indeed paid the census for us and underwent the cross. We too do not render tribute, and as though not paying tribute we are, like king's sons, exempt from taxes. It behooves us, therefore, always to be zealous to render Him the tribute of good works. He said to him: 'Then the sons are free' (Matt. 17).
For if in every kingdom and nation the sons of the king are free and exempt from taxes, how much more that one Son of the eternal King, under whom all the kingdoms of the earth are established. And it follows: 'But that we may not scandalize them, go to the sea, and cast a hook, and take the fish that first comes up. And opening its mouth thou shalt find a stater, and taking it, give it to them for Me and for thee' (ibid.). Blessed Jerome says: 'What I should first admire in this place, I know not—the foreknowledge of the Lord, or His greatness.' For His foreknowledge is to be admired, because He knew what was going on in the depths of the sea, and what the fish carried in its mouth, and which one out of so great a multitude would first come up to the hook.
His greatness therefore and power is to be admired, that at His command a stater was at once created in the mouth of the fish: for what was to be, He made by His word alone; for by these signs He is shown to be He of whom the prophet says: 'And His eyes behold the depths of the abyss' (Dan. 3). But greatly to be wondered at is the faithlessness of the Jews, because, though they were rational men, that was found in the mouth of a fish which was not found in their mouth: namely, the stater of equity and justice. For if the passage be taken simply, it edifies the hearer; for by these words the Lord is shown to have been of such poverty that He had not wherewith to pay for Himself and for His disciple. In which deed He taught that poverty is to be followed.
But perhaps someone objects to this: 'Why then did Judas carry money in the purses?' To which it must be briefly answered thus: because the Lord counted it wrong to divert the goods of the poor to the uses of Himself and His disciples. In which deed also He left us an example, that the things which we have once vowed to God or to the poor we should in no way divert to common uses. Allegorically the sea signifies this present age, according to that: 'This great and spacious sea' (Ps. 103). And again: 'I am come into the depth of the sea' (Ps. 68). Capernaum indeed designates the Synagogue, the census-collectors the scribes and Pharisees. By the hook too is understood the preaching of Peter and of the others;
by the fish which first came up to Peter's hook may beautifully be understood Cornelius, who first among the Gentiles believed at Peter's preaching. By the stater, which was two didrachmas (something is missing in the text) ... of the teaching and of the two Testaments. For when the Jews (Acts 10) wished to bind the Lord under the fetters of the law, saying that it was not lawful to heal on the sabbath, and, as though He were guilty, destined Him to death, what else were they exacting than the census of our redemption? But while they were exacting it, the Lord commanded Peter, who is the master of all preachers, to cast the hook of holy preaching into the sea of Gentilehood. And when he cast it, the first fish to come up to his hook was Cornelius, who carried a stater in his mouth;
but yet it was hidden: the stater, that is, the confession of the true faith and the work of the two Testaments, of which it is written: 'He was a just and good man and fearing God and giving many alms to the people' (Acts 10), etc. And so when blessed Peter came and preached, he brought to light the stater which lay hidden, since Cornelius confessed Christ the Son of God and was reborn by the water of holy baptism. In that, indeed, which He says: 'Taking it, give it to them for Me and for thee' (Matt. 17), He shows that through Peter and his successors the doctrine of the two Testaments was to be made manifest to Jews and Gentiles. So then what He says—'taking it, give it to them for Me and for thee'—is to be understood thus: 'for Me' as for the Lord, 'for thee' as for the servant;
'for Me' as for the author, 'for thee' as for the minister of salvation. Otherwise, this fish which first came up to Peter's hook may also fittingly signify the protomartyr Stephen, who carried a stater in his mouth: the confession of the true faith and the doctrine of the two Testaments. For, set in the council, he confessed the Father and the Son, saying: 'Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the power of God' (Acts 7). Set also in the council, he interpreted the law of the Old Testament as fulfilled in the Son of God. And so when Peter preached, this one first swallowed the hook, because this one first attained the palm of martyrdom.