Dear Student of the Word,
For many years, I thought Jesus avoided indicating who He truly was in the gospel accounts except in rare cases. I have come to see from our recent studies in Matthew just how wrong I was. The gospel accounts are full of direct and indirect evidence that Jesus was not only a moral teacher but the Son of God! This is why the gospel writers wrote and this is the main message that they communicated. You will see evidence of this in this week's study.
This week I wrote:
v. 24 – This tax was a two-drachma assessment (about two days wages) on every Jew to help maintain the Temple in Jerusalem as commanded by Lord through Moses:
Then the Lord said to Moses, "When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them. Each one who crosses over to those already counted is to give a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the Lord. All who cross over, those twenty years old or more, are to give an offering to the Lord (Exodus 30:12-14).
The tax collectors asked Peter if Jesus paid the tax, which was actually redemption money for every person over 20 years of age. Remember, Matthew was writing to Jews, so this question and the answer would be of interest to everyone who was reading.
v. 25 – Peter answered that Jesus did pay this tax and his answer made sense, since Jesus had given every indication that He did uphold all the Law as a good Jew. Yet when Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. He asked Peter a question about whether or not sons of royalty paid the taxes that the king established.
v. 26 – Peter correctly answered that the sons of royalty did not pay taxes. Jesus implied that He was such a Son, a Prince in fact, and that He was exempt from such a tax. Jesus had no need to pay any redemption; He had come to redeem man from the need for such a tax.
v. 27 – Jesus was not going to press the point beyond the lesson to Peter. So then He instructed Peter to go throw in a line, take out a fish, look in its mouth, find a four-drachma coin and take it pay the tax for both Jesus and Peter. Wow! There is so much to see in this story and all of it indicted that Jesus was and is the Son of God.
1. Jesus knew what Peter had been talking about before Peter told Him.
2. Jesus knew that He was a Son exempt from the tax.
3. Jesus was gracious and did not want to offend the tax collectors by refusing to pay.
4. Jesus had mastery over the fish in the sea.
5. Jesus was generous and paid the tax for both Peter and Himself.
Can you see any other lessons to be learned from this story?
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. You can write them or find the studies to Corinthians, First Timothy and Mark's gospel on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go there to sign up to receive each week's study.
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thanks for bible study materials via net. I always find it blessing. I am currently in kenya methodist university-meru, doing my degree in theology. have a wonderful time.
Posted by: John | June 30, 2008 at 09:38 AM