Matthew 17:24-27

Now that the transfiguration is over and Peter is sufficiently humbled by speaking where silence would do nicely Jesus and his apostles reach Capernaum. And of course, the Jewish leaders there are looking for any reason to trap Jesus they could find so they lean on the temple tax.

Understand this, through God's law and precepts the temple was cared for. The priests had an income, the instruments were created hundreds of years earlier. This was an annual tax, it was called an offering, but it is spelled out in Exodus 30.

Exodus 30:12-16
[12] “When you take a census of the sons of Israel to count them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord, when you count them, so that there will be no plague among them when you count them. [13] This is what everyone who is counted shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to the Lord. [14] Everyone who is counted, from twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution to the Lord. [15] The rich shall not pay more, and the poor shall not pay less, than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves. [16] And you shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and give it for the service of the tent of meeting, so that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.”

The leaders continually fail in challenging Jesus’ teaching so they are left with nitpicking on matters of the law. And Moses was given detailed instructions on matters of law. Here it is 2 drachma, in Exodus it was half a shekel, in truth, it was an offering equivalent of two days of wages once annually for every male over the age of 20. It is an offering and is also called a ‘ransom’ for the people.

So before anyone tells you that God does not care about what we give Him regularly think back on this. God specified a set amount (2 days wages annually) in addition to tithes and offerings in Leviticus. (10% of revenue of everything else.) If you believe that God cared this much in the Old Testament about how much and how often His people gave money and all of a sudden in the New Testament He's changed His mind, there may be a flaw in your thinking.

Despite the excuses we make, God expects regular giving from Christians. A tithe of 10% is bare minimum, and does not cover our offerings over and above that. But offerings are still expected. And this ‘tax’ was actually an offering that was taken from what was earned.

Jesus illustrates this by telling Peter to go fish. You see, by now, Jesus and the apostles were sustaining themselves solely with the offerings the early believers gave. And since Jesus told Peter to pay for himself and Jesus with what he pulls from the water. The reason that Jesus didn't tell Peter that he should wait until he has enough to pay for all 13 men, is likely because the apostles, with the exception of Peter, could have all been under the age of 20. Note the Jewish leaders were not questioning the apostles giving the temple tax, just Jesus.

So they ask Peter, so does your rabbi pay the temple tax? Peter's immediate answer is, “YES HE DOES!” Then Peter comes to Jesus kinda like the confident 5 year old checking on the accuracy of statements he’s already made. And Peter doesn't even get the question out because as soon as Peter enters, Jesus knows what he was going to ask.

And Jesus gives Peter the lesson going back to Jesus’ identity as divine. Jesus clearly asserts that he is not obligated to pay because he's the Son, not a stranger. However, He doesn't want to offend someone with such a trivial matter. So He arranges to pay.

It's at this point that my ADD/ADHD brain starts annoying me. And I have to ask myself a question, the answer to which doesn't make a bit of difference to the story at all. And that question is this, did Jesus know somehow that there was currently a fish swimming around with the exact amount required to pay for Him and Peter? Or did He cause the coin to miraculously appear in the fish the moment Peter caught it? Is God intimately aware of all things all animals have swallowed ever at any time or is this a specific miracle to this fish and this fisherman?

How it got there doesn't matter. But I'd still like to know.
Wouldn't you?



[24] Now 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 stater. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”