An Interesting Use of Freedom -
Matthew 17:24-27, CEB - When they came to
Capernaum, the people who collected the half-shekel temple tax came to Peter
and said, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”
“Yes,” he said.
But when they came into the house, Jesus spoke to Peter
first.“What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect taxes, from
their children or from strangers?”
“From strangers,” he said.
Jesus said to him, “Then the children don’t have to pay. But just so we don’t offend them, go to the
lake, throw out a fishing line and hook, and take the first fish you catch.
When you open its mouth, you will find a shekel coin. Take it and pay the tax
for both of us.”
The temple tax collectors in Capernaum want to know if Jesus
pays the annual tax required of all Jewish males older than 20. The tax is levied and administered by the
religious leaders to provide for the upkeep and temple priests support. There were fringe Jewish sects at the time
who refused to pay the tax. It’s
possible the officials were trying to find out if Jesus was in one of those
rebel groups. Peter affirms that Jesus
does pay the tax because he has no reason to think that Jesus doesn’t. When they get back to the house, this prompts
a discussion between Jesus and Peter.
Jesus,
through a leading question, gets Peter to admit that a King’s children are not
taxed. The implicit point Jesus then
makes is that He and Peter are children of God and not required to pay the
tax. “The children are free,” is how one
translation renders Jesus’s words.
However, Jesus knows this will not go over well with the officials and
will escalate conflict, so he provides the money to pay the tax supernaturally. The coin in the fish’s mouth is a nice touch,
especially since that coin is the exact amount to cover the tax for Jesus and
Peter.
Why
does Jesus develop a specific argument for not paying the tax and then provide
for the paying of the tax anyway? There
are least a couple of reasons. The first
is the reason Jesus Himself provides. If
the tax is not paid, it will become a hindrance to the Jesus’s mission. We already know from multiple occasions previously
covered in Matthew that the religious leaders were looking for a reason to
discredit Jesus. Jesus expresses a
desire to avoid giving them pretext with this offense.
However,
there is another issue here that Jesus Himself points out. The children are free, thus He is free not to
pay the tax. But he doesn’t use His
freedom to excuse Himself. Instead, He
freely chooses to contribute the tax anyway because this will create good will
for His movement – or at least avoid creating ill will for the moment. Just because we have freedom to avoid something
doesn’t mean that we should. Children
should want to contribute to the Kingdom of their Parents. God’s children should use their freedom to do
good things even when it costs them to do so.
One
more point. The resource that is
provided for Peter to pay his tax does not come from Peter. I’ve caught many fish over the years that I’ve
fished, but I have yet to find four days wages (the temple tax was about two
days average wage) in any fish’s mouth. God
provides the resources for Peter to exercise his “freedom.” I believe the same could be said for all God’s
children. This and other passages form
the basis for the system of support for the church. We are invited to volunteer our resources for
the work of the church rather than be taxed. But we are also reminded that all the resources
we control are at our disposal because of the provision of God.
Question: Think about
the causes that you have voluntarily given the most generously to. What motivated you to freely give like that?
Prayer: It all
belongs to you God. If you wished, you
could take it all back in an instant.
Thank you for your provision. Help
us use whatever freedom you have given to do good. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for people that hungry today.
Song: FREELY, FREELY
- Aaron & Esther
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