He said, Yes. And when he came into the house, Jesus preceded him, saying,
What think you, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?
All Commentaries on Matthew 17:25 Go To Matthew 17
John Chrysostom
AD 407
So that Peter should not think that he said it after hearing it from others, he forestalls him by showing this very thing and giving Peter, a man who up to now shrank from speaking about these things, freedom to speak about it. What he says is something like this: “I am free from paying tribute. For if the kings of the earth do not take it from their sons but from their subjects, much more ought I to be free of this demand, being the Son not of an earthly king but of the king of heaven and myself a king as well.” Do you see how he has distinguished the sons from them that are not sons? And if he were not a son, he brought in the example of the kings without purpose. Someone may say, “Yes, he is a son but not trueborn.” Then he is not a son, and if he is not a son or trueborn he does not belong to God but to someone else. But if he belongs to someone else, then the comparison does not have its proper strength. For he is speaking not of sons generally but of truly begotten sons, their very own sons, of sons who share the kingdom with their parents. And so by way of contrast he mentioned “the sons of others,” calling those that are born of themselves “their own” and those not born of themselves “of others.” The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
