A Devotional

Taxing Tale

Isn’t it amazing how in the Bible certain people come to life
for us right off the page? Thousands of years have passed,
and we can see and know so well the rash disciple Peter, for
example, who was always speaking first, and learning his
way out of trouble later. Can’t we all identify with that
sometimes? But with Peter, Jesus knew that the impetuous
fisherman could walk away from his mess with something
valuable for his ministry later in life.
Once when their ministry brought them back to Capernaum,
the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and asked if
his teacher paid the two-drachma tax? Peter responds,
“Yes.” (Matthew 17:24-25) He is quick to jump to his
teacher’s defense. Then we see him seek out Jesus inside the
house, but before he can speak, Jesus already knows what he
has said and starts asking Peter whether kings tax their own
sons or others they have conquered? Peter responds, “others,
the sons are free.”
Jesus says, “However, we don’t want to offend them, 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 tax for both of us.” Matthew 17:27 Peter
did as Jesus instructed and found within the fish’s mouth a
shekel to pay the tax. Jesus was not beholden to the laws of
men, but for the sake of Peter, paid for them both. He used a
fish pulled from the Sea of Galilee, literally Peter’s old
fishing grounds, to do so. He could have plucked the coin
from anywhere, but made Peter, the fisherman, fish for the
miracle to illustrate it.
We know this would not be the last time Peter would need a
redirection, and certainly, this was only a foreshadowing of
Jesus’s ultimate purpose and presence among the disciples at
that time. Jesus was planning to pay for us all. He was
setting up for His ultimate payment on the cross for all of our
sins. The Son should have been free, but He paid for us all.
Yes, I think we can all identify with Peter. We rashly stumble
about, saying the wrong things most of the time, and
miraculously, we open up the Bible and our hearts and find
Jesus waiting there for us.
“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering
for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through
Christ.”
Submitted by Rachel Linkswiler