This seemingly insignificant tale of Peter finding a fish with a coin in it to pay for his and Jesus' expected tax (other versions say 4 Drachma coin; so it covers for 2 each due) surely has some meaning. The point Jesus brings up is for the children to make others pay tribute; in some "token" if I can use the pun true children of God shouldn't be subject to others but others subject to them.
Christ shows in His humanity that insulting someone should be avoided at all costs so greater good can be accomplished.
Matthew 22:15-22 discusses rendering to Caesar what is owed and to God the same. This shows again the same theme that we can also extend to Romans 13:7 for the church. This isn't a subject I will go into in great length here; I will say in short it is the exception rather than the rule when situations arise which we must take a stand for God and against the rules of men; particularly as Acts 5:29 illustrates when told to keep our mouths shut about Christ.
From here on several things are apparent. The miracles Christ was doing are shut down; except for the healing of the blind mentioned in Matthew 20:29-34. Secondly Jesus spoke almost exclusively in Parables at this point and third His greatest excoriation of the Pharisees was about to commence and this takes up the entire chapter 23 of Matthew.
Jesus was basically in his last weeks at this point which takes up about a third of the Gospels as far as I know (my estimate).
It reminds me in a strange way of Revelation as the final judgments seem to take the same space or more than the first but encompass weeks or maybe a few months at most. Our Lord had to focus on the Disciples knowing they would abandon Him and need to have strength to continue until Pentecost after the shock of the death of Christ who they had communed with and been shepherded by for several years. Surely Jesus didn't minimalize their grief but showed them it was for their greater good to die
This seemingly insignificant tale of Peter finding a fish with a coin in it to pay for his and Jesus' expected tax (other versions say 4 Drachma coin; so it covers for 2 each due) surely has some meaning. The point Jesus brings up is for the children to make others pay tribute; in some "token" if I can use the pun true children of God shouldn't be subject to others but others subject to them.
Christ shows in His humanity that insulting someone should be avoided at all costs so greater good can be accomplished.
Matthew 22:15-22 discusses rendering to Caesar what is owed and to God the same. This shows again the same theme that we can also extend to Romans 13:7 for the church. This isn't a subject I will go into in great length here; I will say in short it is the exception rather than the rule when situations arise which we must take a stand for God and against the rules of men; particularly as Acts 5:29 illustrates when told to keep our mouths shut about Christ.
From here on several things are apparent. The miracles Christ was doing are shut down; except for the healing of the blind mentioned in Matthew 20:29-34. Secondly Jesus spoke almost exclusively in Parables at this point and third His greatest excoriation of the Pharisees was about to commence and this takes up the entire chapter 23 of Matthew.
Jesus was basically in his last weeks at this point which takes up about a third of the Gospels as far as I know (my estimate).
It reminds me in a strange way of Revelation as the final judgments seem to take the same space or more than the first but encompass weeks or maybe a few months at most. Our Lord had to focus on the Disciples knowing they would abandon Him and need to have strength to continue until Pentecost after the shock of the death of Christ who they had communed with and been shepherded by for several years. Surely Jesus didn't minimalize their grief but showed them it was for their greater good to die
This comment thread is locked. Please enter a new comment below to start a new comment thread.
Note: Comment threads older than 2 months are automatically locked.
Do you have a Bible comment or question?
Posting comments is currently unavailable due to high demand on the server.
Please check back in an hour or more. Thank you for your patience!
Report Comment
Which best represents the problem with the comment?