“And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.”
Don't collect any more than you are required to, he told them — the tax collector's instruction is not to abandon their profession but to practice it honestly: collect exactly what is required, nothing more. The occupational ethics of the kingdom do not require everyone to become a full-time religious worker but to do ordinary work with justice.
Church Fathers on Luke 3:13
In the preceding words of John, it is plain that the hearts of his hearers were troubled, and sought for advice from him. As it is added, And they asked him, saying, &c.
Three classes of men are introduced as inquiring of John concerning their salvation, one which the Scripture calls the multitude, another to which it gives the name of Publicans, and a third which is noticed by the appellation of soldiers.
Now to the Publicans and soldiers he gives a commandment to abstain from evil, but the multitudes, as not living in an evil condition, he commands to perform some good work, as it follows, He that has two coats, let him give one.
Read all 16 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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