Flora First Christian Church - Flora, IN

January 13, 2007

Matthew 17: 24-27

The Two Ministers Go Fishing

Two ministers decided that they needed a break from their churches for a few days so they decided to go on a fishing trip. They received the blessing from their families to take a vacation without them. However these two preachers had not fished in years. They went out and bought the best equipment and gear for their trip; they rented a first rate motor boat and a fully furnished cabin. They spent a small fortune on this vacation. The first day of fishing they caught nothing. The second day they caught nothing and the third day they caught . . . nothing. On the fourth day they caught one fish that was barely eight inches long. The last day, when they were about ready to quit, one of the guys finally snagged a big one! The two wrestled with it for nearly an hour. When they could finally see this monster of a fish and were ready to bring it into the boat—the line broke. Who would believe that they caught a BIG one? They knew then that there would not be a plaque with their names on it at the local conservation club house. All they had to show for their efforts was one fairly small fish. As they were driving home really depressed, one of the preachers turned to the other and said, “Do you realize that this one lousy fish we caught cost us over two thousand bucks? The other minister replied: “Wow! Then it’s a good thing we didn’t catch any more!”

Fish Tales

We’ve all heard fish stories about the BIG one that got away. I bet there are a number of these stories circulating even here. Some fishing stories we believe and some we don’t believe. How about our scripture reading this morning? That was a real fish tale in more ways that one. One, it was a story that involved a fish. Second, it’s a story that I’m not sure most of us would believe if it wasn’t in the Bible.

A lot More Going On

There was a lot more going on in the episode between Jesus and Peter than meets the eye.

Scripture Background

According to the gospel of Matthew, this episode took place in the latter part of Jesus’ ministry when He and the disciples returned to their home base in Capernaum after some travels. On this day the disciple Peter received a visit from the collectors of the temple tax.
This tax was asked annually of every Jewish man 20 years of age and older to defray the cost of the temple in Jerusalem. The yearly receipts of this tax were destined to pay for the animals for the general sacrifices, pay the Rabbis, inspectors of the sacrifices, supplies, and for repairs of the Temple.
Some Jewish leaders, priests, and rabbis paid the tax, while others did not. Priests and rabbis were exempt. The tax equaled approximately two days’ wages and it wasn’t a meager amont of money, so many would seek exemption if they qualified.

You Work Four Months to Pay Taxes

Did you know that the average U.S. citizen works from January 1st through April 15th just to pay their taxes: from federal, state, county, city and any other? Did you know that? It’s only after April 15th that we begin to work for ourselves. Wow, I guess two days wages for the temple tax really wasn’t much for the upkeep of something as important as the temple?

Does Your Teacher Pay the Tax?

On the day the collectors arrived in Capernaum they approached Peter, with the question, “Does your teacher pay the temple tax?” (Matt. 17:24).
It really was a fair question, as the tax was not enforceable by law. Peter answered their question, “Yes, Jesus certainly pays the tax.” However, Peter still took the news to Jesus who speaks first with an odd question of his own. “Peter, what do you think? Do the kings take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?”
Peter answered Jesus: “Uh, the sons are exempt.” The implication is that Peter and the rest of the disciples belonged to God’s royal family because Christ was heaven’s king. Therefore they were exempt from paying the tax, if they chose to be.
Because Christ always obeyed the commandments, Peter had no need to ask what Jesus would do.

Why Did Jesus Pay?

So why did Jesus pay the tax if he was exempt? Jesus said that they would pay so that others not become offended.
If Jesus did not pay the tax the accusation could have been made that Christ, who claimed authority over the Temple, didn’t really support temple, keeping his money for himself. Then . . . if Jesus paid the tax then it would seem to the people that he was accepting the status of an ordinary Jew. And on the other hand again, if Jesus didn’t pay the tax he would have compromised the importance of public worship.

Go To the Lake and Fish

Then Jesus continued by saying, “Peter . . . so we don’t offend anyone, go down to the Sea of Galilee and put a line in it. The first fish you catch will have a coin in it. Use that to pay the tax for both of us.”

It’s Not About Fishing: How Jesus Taught

Peter’s episode with Jesus wasn’t about fishing, and it wasn’t about paying taxes.
Jesus had a unique way of teaching his disciples. Sometimes he taught with earthy stories about heavenly things, like seeds being planted on different types of soils. Jesus sometimes taught by first asking a question, and he taught sometimes by example, both of which he did this day. Jesus made it clear in his teaching that day that God cares and provides for the needs of his people.

God Cares About Us Personally

So often, it is too easy to dismiss the miraculous things that happened in the Bible as mere fish stories because they can’t be proved with logic and science. After all, fish don’t go around with coins in their mouths; people who are blind since birth generally don’t see again; people don’t walk on water, and dead persons don’t come back to life after they’ve been buried. Right? Wrong.
If we really want to get to the heart of the matter, the most miraculous miracle of all is: There is a personal, all powerful God who is concerned with mere mortals by offering us a redemptive relationship through God’s own Christ.

The Grass in the Field & Birds of the Air

A little earlier in this same gospel we can find Jesus asking his followers: If God clothes the ground with grass that’s here today and gone tomorrow won’t he clothe you? If God provides food for birds that can’t build barns to store it in, surely God will see that we are fed?
God was not too busy to worry about the temple tax that day to see that a means was provided that it is paid. God is NEVER too busy to care for us.

What God Provides

God provides our needs, not our wants. That four drachma coin that was found in the fish’s mouth was just enough to pay the tax. How many of us would have wondered: “Jesus, if you’re going to do a miracle and put a coin in this fish’s mouth, can’t you make it a talent instead that will be worth a whole year’s wages. They’d fit in a fish’s mouth just as easily – right?”
Most often God gives us what we need, and exactly what we need. When we get way more than we need, we have a tendency to be wasteful, selfish human beings who fail to share God’s blessings. Having the basics provided is all about our relationship that has trust and faith as its foundation.
I can’t tell you the number of times that I have seen God’s provision for my needs, met to the penny. Wasn’t it Jesus who said on another occasion “Seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be open? Ask and it shall be given. (Matthew 7:7)

The Pennsylvania Snowstorm

Do you remember that blizzard that hit most of the Mid-Atlantic States last February? Hit especially hard was Western Pennsylvania where hundreds of cars were stranded on the Interstate for nearly two days. Among the stories that circulated on national news was a segment about a single mother, and her four kids who were trapped inside their car eighteen hours overnight on the interstate. They had no food, no water, and at times no heat due to turning off the car’s engine so they wouldn’t run out of gas. Eventually they did run out of gas. So she prayed for their needs to be met. Just when she began to fear for their safety, the storm let up and persons from other vehicles began checking on each other. Someone brought bottled water that a trucker was hauling. Someone else came with potato chips from . . . a semi hauling groceries. Someone else came with blankets from their cars. Trucks eventually brought enough gas to get to an exit.
The single mom’s testimony was that God provided what she needed . . . through others. She asked, she received, she was thankful to a gracious God who provided. God provided through agents, like our own who donate and work in the community clothing center, those who take mission trips, those who bring food for the Community food pantry, and those who take hot soup to their sick, homebound neighbor.

God is able to supply all of our needs

Somewhere along the line we all become a little blind to the fact that we are God’s agents, and that it saddens our Lord that there are people starving to death throughout the world literally and spiritually. God has created us to be His means to carry out some of his miracles.

Bruce Almighty Illustration

In the movie “Bruce Almighty,” Jim Carrey plays an ordinary guy, named Bruce Nolan who is given the power of God to use any way he chooses for a week. God is played by Morgan Freeman who tries telling Bruce that he is failing at playing God. God says, “Parting your soup? That’s not a miracle, that’s a magic trick. A single mother working two jobs still finds time to take her kids to soccer practice. That’s a miracle. A teenager who says no to drugs, and yes to an education – that’s a miracle.” To this message Bruce responds to God without a hint of sarcasm, “I surrender all.”
The movie goes on to make the point that we all have the power. The movie’s message is right. And you know why we have the power? Jesus tells that we all have the power because we are sons and daughters of the living God who is with us every minute of the day.

Real Miracle: Children of God

The real miracle in Jesus’ episode with Peter is that we are all children of God and CAN trust God to provide. You want to see a real miracle? Realize then that we had no part in God’s plan until he adopted us. Realize that without Christ, we are totally separated from God. Realize that through Jesus Christ, God has adopted us into his eternal family.
The real miracle is that God still performs them every day for anyone who is willing to surrender to Christ. Let the miracle happen!