Go Fish
Matthew 17:24-27
Benjamin Franklin famously said, “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
Like most maxims, it oversimplifies things to make a point.
There are many other things that are certain.
Traffic in Dallas.
Disappointed Aggie fans.
In our text is another – opposition to God’s work.
Satan will not sit idly by while the light of Gospel shines to bring the lost to Christ.
If you study the Life of Christ, you will see that this event is almost certainly in the last year of His earthly ministry.
That year is marked by rising opposition.
The Jewish leaders are plotting to silence Christ.
There are many attempts to discredit Him through trick questions.
Of course we also know that the plot is taking form that will see Him arrested and crucified.
For now, the opposition takes the form of a slanderous accusation.
Kind of feels like the political ads on TV.
I am so ready to get past the month.
I am sick of the political ads, and unrelated, the ads for horror movies.
In our text, Christ’s enemies do not attack Him directly.
No, they put doubt in the mind of His follower.
That is standard operating procedure for Satan.
He rarely attacks head on.
He sneaks in and gets you where you least expect it.
“Hey Peter! Does that Jesus of yours pay His taxes?”
He says He does, but I do not think that he is sure.
After spending almost three years with Christ, Peter is wondering here.
How do we know that?
Because Christ heads it off in vs. 25.
He knew what was going on in Peter’s mind and moved to address it.
Now, let me explain what has sparked this problem.
This is not a Roman tax that is being collected.
That actually comes up in Chapter 22.
No, this is a Jewish custom.
The root of it is in Exodus 30.
Exo 30:11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Exo 30:12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.
Exo 30:13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.
Exo 30:14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.
Exo 30:15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.
Exo 30:16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.
So, this began as a tax collected when there was a census and it was used to support the services of the Tabernacle.
They were to pay one half shekel of silver.
That is about 2 tenths of an ounce, and worth about $12 today.
This was not instituted as something to be done annually, but it developed into that.
There is evidence for it during Solomon’s Temple.
We know from history that the Jews of the diaspora, spread all over the world, were sending funds to the Second Temple.
The Romans even tried to ban the Jews from sending it because they wanted to keep the currency in their local area.
Here’s a little history tidbit for you.
After Rome destroyed the Temple in 70 A.D., they converted this Temple Tax into the fiscus Judaicus, or Jewish.
They forced the Jews to pay that half-shekel to them, which began as a way to rebuild the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome.
This was finally abolished in 96 A.D by Emperor Nerva, who even minted coins commemorating the action.
That’s free and has nothing to do with what we are talking about, other than to reinforce the importance of this tax to the Jews.
Back to the text.
Christ asks Peter a question.
Who do king tax? Their own family or others?
The answer is of course others.
You are trying to take the wealth of others and make it your own.
By this principle, Christ is asserting that He is exempt from the tax.
Why?
Because He would be paying for His own house!
But, He says, lest they offend anyone…
Note that – there was no reason to press His rights there.
It would only make things worse – a lesson many could learn today!
…lest they offend anyone, He would pay it.
Not only would He pay it, but He would pay for Peter’s, too.
He sends Peter to go fishing.
Now, there is in the Sea of Galilean a type of tilapia that is evidently very tasty.
They are also known to pick up small objects from the late bottom and carry them around in their mouths.
We do not have the record of what happens after Christ told Peter to go fishing, but I am sure it went just like Christ said.
Peter put his hook in the water, caught a fish that had a coin in its mouth, and paid the tax.
If you want to get geeky with the coin here, it is called a stater in Greek.
This was equal to a shekel, so enough to pay the half-shekel for both Christ and Peter.
I could go deeper but I would lose you.
Now that we understand better what is going on, I want to dig into what happened here.
First, there was a need.
There was the Temple Tax to be paid.
Second, there was not an immediate answer to the need.
Christ did not pull out His wallet and Peter did not get out his debit card.
I take this to mean that they may not have had the money on hand.
Third, God already had a plan to supply the need.
This did not catch God off guard.
That fish and that coin were already in place for what would happen.
Fourth, Peter still had to go fish.
Christ could have turned a pebble into silver.
He could have pointed to a coin lying on the ground.
He could have provided that silver in so many different ways.
However, He wanted to Peter to experience the miracle and know that God can provide.
I want to make a few quick observations on this.
I. God knows our needs.
Christ knew what was troubling Peter’s mind.
Christ knew of the obligation to pay the tax and need for a coin.
Listen, God knows how much is in your bank account and how much change is in your couch.
He knows about the bill you just got and the one that is coming you haven’t received yet.
He knows your heartaches and your anxiety.
He knows your fears and your doubts.
He does not turn a blind eye to these.
No, He loves us and cares for us.
“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want!”
We are not bothering Him by taking our needs to Him in prayer.
He knows and He wants to hear from us.
II. God can provide your needs in the most unexpected ways.
I was praying for some extra money recently.
I really hoped that I would just open the mailbox and it would be there.
He had other plans.
There were a couple of funerals that I ended up doing.
To be honest, I am a little nervous now.
The amount I was praying for hasn’t fully come in yet.
I don’t know what I am going to have to do for the rest of it!
Just because God does not answer your prayer in the way you expected does not mean He did not answer it.
Sometimes He likes to remind us just how powerful He is.
III. God often leaves something up to us.
Peter still had to go get a fishing line and a hook, walk down to the lake, bait the hook, throw it in, and wait for the fish to bite.
I wonder how long God made him wait.
Was it instantaneous?
Was God maybe trying to teach him patience and made him sit there for a while?
All I know is God gave Him something to do.
Naaman could have been healed from his leprosy on the spot, but God said to go dip in the Jordan seven times.
The widow woman could have found money in her house, but the prophet told her to get a bunch of pots and pans and pour her oil into them.
I fear that we blame God when we ought to be blaming the fellow in the mirror.
Did we think to pray about the problem?
Did we seize the opportunities God provided?
You see, God likes to get us involved in how He provides for our needs.
IV. Trust God even when it makes no sense.
Peter needed money.
There are plenty of ways to make some extra money.
He was a fisherman – he knew how to make money at it.
But Christ said, “Peter, you are gonna catch one fish and it will have coin in its mouth.”
What are the odds?
They are 100% when that is what God tells you to do!
Many times what God is doing is just reminding us that He is in control.
He has to make it so we can find no excuse to pat ourselves on the back.