Matthew 17.24-27
24 When they came to Capernaum, those
who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said,
“Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?” 25 He
said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying,
“What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs
or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” 26 When
Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are
exempt. 27 “However, so that we do not offend
them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up;
and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to
them for you and Me.”
Death and taxes are said to be the two unavoidable things in
life. Jesus has clearly stated that He
would experience death at the hands of evil men and in today’s text we see that
He “paid” taxes as well. In this passage
we see both the human and divine nature of Jesus clearly on display. He was seen as a man and treated like a man
in the way that they charged Him taxes.
He responded to this situation in a divine way by knowing about a
conversation for which He was not present and in the way He paid the tax. This narrative gives us some interesting
insights into the nature of Jesus which should produce responses in our lives.
A NATURAL QUESTION WITH A SUPERNATURAL ANSWER: When Jesus
and His disciples came into Capernaum, the officials of the temple were apparently
in town collecting taxes for supporting the temple. The temple should have been supported by the
tithes and offerings of the people, but apparently a system of taxation was
implemented. Whatever the history or
purpose of this tax might have been; the officials confronted Peter on whether
or not Jesus paid His taxes. Peter
answers in the affirmative and then goes to find Jesus to let Him know about
the tax collector’s question. It must
have been a difficult subject for Peter to bring up, taxes always are. In the end Peter does not have to say
anything because Jesus brings the subject up.
Peter thought he was going to be alerting Jesus to a potential problem,
but Jesus was well aware of exactly what was going on. Just like He is always aware about anything
that is going on in all of our lives all the time. We don’t need to inform God about
anything. He knows about everything we
face all the time.
A NATURAL PROBLEM WITH A SUPERNATURAL SOLUTION: Jesus asks
Peter a question about how taxes were charged by the rulers of that day. Kings would not charge taxes of themselves or
their family members because they would have, in reality, been paying taxes to
themselves. Jesus wanted Peter to know
that, as God, He should not be expected to pay this tax. However, He also does not want to be an
offense to the people at this point in time so He agrees to pay the tax but
does so in a strange and supernatural way.
He sends Peter on a fishing expedition and tells him that the first fish
he catches will have a coin in its mouth that he was to use to pay the tax for
both of them. God not only knows about
our problems, but He has the ability to meet all of our needs in ways that we
can never expect or imagine. He wants us
to trust Him with every circumstance of our lives, including death and taxes.
APPLICATION: Rest in the fact that God knows about every
problem we face. Trust in the truth that
God is able to meet every need we have.
His supernatural knowledge and power should produce peace in our hearts
as we trust in His provision. We should
seek to keep from offending others as much as is possible.
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