Temple Tax

 For Friday, May 19, 2023:

Matthew 17:27 NLT, Jesus speaking to Peter: “We don’t want to offend the Temple leaders, so go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the (Temple) tax for both of us.”

Jesus honored the Temple leaders and the Roman government, even though they both wanted to murder him. But it was not yet time for that. Now was the time to pay the Temple tax, and Jesus had an over-the-top plan. Sometimes he was just too cool! Jesus could have just handed Peter a coin, but instead sent Peter fishing, to discover a coin in the mouth of a fish! Of course it all happened just the way that Jesus predicted!

The coin was a stater, worth four drachmas, four day’s wages. For Jesus, this was a teachable moment. He asked, “What do you think, Peter? Do kings tax their own people, or the people they have conquered?” Of course kings typically tax the conquered. But here, the Temple leaders were taxing their own people! According to Jesus, that’s not the way God’s faithful should operate!

In churches, we don’t assign fees or taxes. Instead, we voluntarily give back to the Lord out of gratitude for what Jesus did for us: forgiving our sins, and assuring us a heavenly hereafter in the Lord’s presence.

God is good! Jesus is good too!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship