The Coin from the Fish and Temple Tax

Take Every Passage to Prayer - Volume 2, The Gospels
^{Tuesday August 06, 2024}

Matthew 17:24-27

Father, Jesus has demonstrated for us how to live as His disciples. Father, help me not to demand my rights. Give me a heart that is willing to humbly put aside my rights for the sake of serving others and honoring You. Father, please give me a generous heart that wants to give to others in abundance. Please provide me with the miraculous resources I need to be generous to others in their time of need. Father, make me a fisher of men, casting the gospel into their lives so that You will lead them to accept it. Amen.
Father, Jesus and His disciples returned to Capernaum. Peter is approached outside the house by the temple tax collectors with the insinuation that Jesus was not paying the two-drachma temple tax like everyone else. In other words, Jesus was a law breaker and, as such, was not worthy of being followed as a teacher.
Satan is clearly trying to alienate Peter from Jesus and, therefore, all of the other disciples as well. We read in the section “Jesus Tells of His Death and Resurrection” that Peter, influenced by Satan, denied the necessity of the death and resurrection of Jesus in Jerusalem. Now we read that Satan is tempting Peter to question Jesus’ character.
“Yes, he does,” Peter replied to Satan, affirming that Jesus pays the tax.
When Peter walked into the house, Jesus was the first to speak to him.
“Peter, do the kings of the earth require their own children to pay taxes or do they expect everyone else to pay?”
“Everyone else.”
“Yes,” Jesus replied. “The children of the kings are exempt from paying taxes.”
Father, Jesus was making a point. The temple tax was paid for You, the King of kings. Why should Jesus, the Son of the King, pay tax to You? Because He was the Son of God, He was exempt. The question posed by the tax collectors reveals that they thought Jesus was a mere man.
However, Jesus decided not to claim His right as the Son of God to avoid the tax. Even though He would have been justified to draw a line and take a stand, claiming His exemption, Jesus would not have honored You. He would have looked greedy. He would have looked self-centered. He would have looked “holier-than-thou.” He would have looked petty. He would have alienated Himself from the rest of the population who couldn’t claim that exemption. There may have been a mass exodus of disciples from His ministry team. The disciples may have followed Jesus’ example and believed they had permission to be greedy, self-centered, and petty themselves.
These are the sort of things Jesus wanted to avoid when He said He didn’t want to cause offense . He agreed to pay the temple tax. The question then became, “where was Jesus going to get the money?”
Father, in Luke 1:37, we read that “nothing is impossible with God (NIV).” No matter how bleak the financial situation may look for an individual believer or for a ministry, You can perform a miracle and provide exactly what is needed. In fact, You, the most generous God, have often provided far more than was asked for.
Jesus told His disciples who were experienced fishermen to throw out a fishing line into the Sea of Galilee. The first fish they catch will have a four-drachma coin in its mouth. What was Jesus’ tax requirement? Two drachmas. What coin was in the mouth of the fish? Four drachmas. Jesus performed a miracle that provided double what was needed. Father, why do we doubt Your generosity, power, and creativity when we pray? We should pray expecting that You will miraculously deliver to us far more than what we need for ministry.
What did Jesus do with the two extra drachmas? He paid His disciple’s tax as well. The generosity of Jesus was on full display. Instead of a selfish attempt to avoid paying the tax, Jesus instead showed a selfless heart that paid the tax for others.
A lesson we learn from this story is that sometimes we should put aside our privilege for the sake of ministry. Perhaps we were the first to arrive at an event and we sit in the most comfortable chair in the lobby. We have the privilege to sit there because we were there first. However, someone else comes along and can’t find a place to sit. A follower of Christ puts aside their privilege, gets out of the comfy chair, and allows the other person to sit there. What ways can believers put aside their privilege to serve others in need?

It is dangerous to read into scripture what was not intended by the Holy Spirit. Such might be the case in this paragraph, and I offer that disclaimer. However, in Matthew 4:19, Jesus said that His disciples will become fishers of men. If we explore that analogy, the casting of a line of the gospel into the sea of humanity will yield an individual who comes to faith in Jesus Christ. All we need to do is the work of “fishing”. Our triune God will bring the “fish” and have them bite the line (accept the gospel). The salvation of that person’s soul will have great value, just like the four drachma that was found in the mouth of this fish. Amen.