Matthew 17:22-27

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Introduction

Jesus Again Foretells Death, Resurrection

22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

The Temple Tax

24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” 25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” 26 And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

This is the second time Jesus has (3 total times, 16:21, 17:22-23, 20:17-19) mentioned to his disciples of his coming suffering and death at the hands of those in Jerusalem, and they still don’t understand why he’s telling them this. Therefore, we see here that it causes them “great distress”, because they don’t understand why Jesus must suffer and die.
And it’s important for us to realize that as we read the Gospels, particularly the synoptic Gospels, that they’re a narrative (a story) that progressively reveals how God intends to save his people, and it’s at this point in the story that we see the disciples yet to perceive Jesus’ mission clearly. In fact, they won’t understand it clearly until after his death and resurrection.
When we read the Gospels it’s helpful to remember that the Messiah is carrying the story of the OT forward, in fact, he’s bringing it to its fulfillment. And while the disciples don’t see it yet, we have the great privilege of looking back at these events in hindsight, with eyes opened by the Holy Spirit.

Disciples ignore Jesus’ mention of resurrection

This is also one of the reasons why the disciples don’t seem to acknowledge Jesus when he says that he’ll be raised on the third day. You get the impression that they don’t have any category for what he means, or how it could fit within their own eschatology. And because they don’t seem to have any category for a suffering Messiah their minds just simply checkout by the time Jesus mentions his resurrection.

Jesus will persist in telling them these things

Yet, Jesus will persist in telling them these things, so that when the time comes they will remember. For instance, we read in Luke chapter 24, starting in verse 6, that after Jesus had been raised from the dead, two angelic beings appear to the women at the tomb saying,

6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

and by the time we reach Acts chapter 2, Peter is preaching to his fellow Jewish-men, with astounding clarity, the reason for Jesus’ death and resurrection, and ultimately calling them to repentance and faith.
In John chapter 2, starting in verse 18, after Jesus had overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple, the Jews ask him,

What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Again, the disciples eventually remember the Scriptures and the words that Jesus spoke and comprehend them after he is raised.
In John 2:12 Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem with a large crowd following him, taking palm branches and crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” John then quotes from the prophet Zechariah,

15  “Fear not, daughter of Zion;

behold, your king is coming,

sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

then John says in verse 16 that Jesus’,

disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.

So after everything is said and done, the disciples, at some point after Jesus’ resurrection, have this aha moment, where all of a sudden the puzzle pieces fall into place. What seemed disjointed and confusing at first finally made sense. All of these events, these Scriptures, and teachings from Jesus flood their minds, and are instantly filled with meaning and significance.

Aha! Moments

And I’m sure all of us have had this same kind of experience countless times in our lives. We’re taught a multitude of subjects, given a list of facts to memorize, you try to categorize these things, make sense of them, but it isn’t until much later, at certain junctures in your life, that you begin to grasp a fuller picture of what was being communicated to you at first. Maybe you misunderstood what someone said, maybe you had a wrong working definition of a particular word, or were missing the context of what you read, but all of a sudden the light bulb goes on and what seemed strange and out of place before makes perfect sense, and it explains so much.

The experience of discipleship

And in many ways this the experience of the disciples, they were students just like us, disciples just like us, but for now, we see them, here in Matthew 17, groping in the dark to understand what Jesus is doing and saying, but eventually the Holy Spirit will illumine their minds, he’ll connect all of the dots for them, and they’ll finally have their moment of clarity.
And more than that, they will eventually preach and teach these things to others, and ultimately even write them down for us to read, explaining even the most challenging of doctrines, describing how God has redeemed us through Christ, and how everything in the OT pointed to Christ and is fulfilled in Christ. And we stand here today benefiting from their hindsight, marveling at what was revealed to them, and has been revealed to us.
And this experience should not be foreign to us as disciples of Jesus. As new Christians there is often so many questions unanswered, so many things that are outright foreign to us, and concepts we’ve never heard before or thought about. Many new Christians read their Bibles, in great zeal, for the first time cover to cover, yet so many are often left feeling like they understood so little, and therefore give up.
But my admonition to that person is to start again, persevere, because while there may be so much in front of you to know and understand, that also means there is so much joy to be had in growing in your knowledge of God, and you can’t love God if you don’t know God, and the more you know God, the more your love for him will grow. Over time, you realize that through other biblical teachers, fellow Christians, Bible studies and private study the Holy Spirit begins to faithfully illumine the Scriptures. He helps you understand what is written, to connect the dots, to have those moments of clarity that revolutionize your life and your love for God.

To whom shall we go?

I’ve always loved Peter’s words in John 6 after Jesus has spoken some hard words, not so much hard words to understand, but hard words to stomach, so many of his disciples turn around and no longer follow him. And so Jesus turns to the twelve and asks them, “Do you want to go away as well?” and then Simon Peter answers him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life...”
The disciples hung with Jesus even when his words were hard to stomach, they stuck with him even when they didn’t understand what he was doing, or what he was saying, because they recognized that Jesus had the words of eternal life. Therefore, let us persist in following him, let us persist in seeking to understand the Scriptures, knowing that Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth, that we might grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord. For Jesus has the words of eternal life, and to whom else shall we go?

Temple Tax

Now, let’s continue on to verse 24. The disciples have gathered together again in Galilee after some of them had gone up to the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus, while the others had remained down below. They then travel back together to Capernaum, which is on the north side of the Sea of Galilee. And if you’ll recall this was Jesus’ home base, many even believe they lived in Simon Peter’s home together.
Then in chapter 19 Jesus will finally make his move to the region of Judea and to the city of Jerusalem where he’ll ultimately be delivered over to the chief priests to suffer and die. And so it’s at this point at the end of chapter 17 that we get the impression that Jesus and his disciples are packing up and preparing for their trip south. But before they leave Matthew records for us several incidents and teachings from Jesus. The first begins there in verse 24,

24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” 25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” 26 And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

If you have your Bibles open there’s probably a heading added above this paragraph that says something like, “The Temple Tax”, and rightfully so. This incident is instigated by a tax collector’s effort to collect the annual Jewish Temple tax, also known as the two-drachma tax. Two drachmas was equivalent to a half-shekel, which is what was required of all Jewish men over the age of 20, rich or poor, as outlined in Exodus 30:13. Which would have been equivalent to approximately two full days of common labor.
The Jewish shekel was the equivalent of four Greek drachmas, which was equivalent to one Roman denarii. Now, I don’t point that out that so that you might memorize it, but so that you realize there were multiple currencies being used in Israel at the time. In fact, this is one of the reasons there were moneychangers stationed at the Jewish Temple. The Jews, for whatever reason, only accepted a special currency from Tyre, so anyone bringing their annual Temple tax in another currency needed the moneychangers at the Temple to convert the currency for them, and, of course, the moneychangers charged them a fee to do this.

A Jewish tax, not a Roman tax

And it’s also important to remember that this tax was not a Roman tax levied against the Jews, instead it was a tax that they levied upon themselves in an effort to obey Exodus 30, which was given to support services affiliated with the Tabernacle. So, ultimately, it was a tax that God had levied against the Israelites for the service of the tabernacle.

Should Jesus pay the Temple tax?

Now, not everyone was necessarily willing to pay this tax by the time of Jesus’ day. In fact, the tax had only been put back into practice a few generations earlier, and some in Israel even disputed the validity of the tax for a multitude of reasons (which I won’t mention here), which is why I think this tax collector asks Peter, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” So you get the impression that the collector is aware that some refused to pay this tax and he’s inquiring whether Jesus intends to pay or not.
Then in verse 25 Peter responds without hesitation, and maybe even presumptuously, that, yes, Jesus intends to pay. So Peter turns around and heads into the house, but while he’s headed in Jesus runs into him, apparently knowing what Peter had said to the tax collector and asks him,

“What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?”

Now, this question is supremely important to understanding this text. Jesus is asking a question that Peter will immediately know the answer to in order to make a point. So Peter answers, “from others.” It’s obvious that a king’s sons would naturally be exempt from any tax imposed by their father, the king. This is why Jesus follows up then by saying, “then the sons are free.”
Jesus is giving Peter an analogy to remind him of who he is. What Jesus is saying is that this tax isn’t applicable to him, because this tax was imposed upon Israel by his Father in heaven, the King of Israel, and Jesus is God’s one and only son, and is therefore under no obligation to pay this tax. Remember back in Matthew 12:6 when the Pharisees are up in arms over Jesus’ disciples violating the Sabbath, and Jesus responds by saying, “for the Son of Man is the lord of the Sabbath,” and “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here”?
Jesus is saying that if they really understood who he was they would not be asking him to pay the Temple tax, because something greater than the Temple is here. The very God who instituted the tax is in their midst, and their hardened hearts have made them blind to it. So there’s a great sense of irony that Israel’s tax collectors would come asking Jesus to pay this Temple tax. Again, Jesus uses this moment to remind Peter of who he is.

Humility

However, what Jesus says next is incredible. Despite having no obligation to pay this tax Jesus says there in verse 27,

27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

Given who Jesus is, the only begotten Son of God, the Word who was made flesh, that he’s still willing to submit to this Jewish law, despite not being obligated to it, is an awesome display of humility. It’s like when Jesus asked John the Baptist to baptize him and John’s like, “What?!? I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But then Jesus responds to him by saying, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus had a mission to redeem his people, despite their unbelief and despite having to humble himself in the likeness of human flesh.
This is exactly what Paul is talking about in Philippians chapter 2 when he says,

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

At this point it’s important for us to be reminded of just how much Jesus laid aside when he became incarnate. Jesus was no mere man, he is very God of very God, made in the likeness of human flesh, and when he became a man, humanity was added to his deity, Jesus did not stop being God, he did not stop being worthy of worship. But when he became human he laid aside his glory and humbled himself, submitting himself to every precept of the law, even this tax, which was an insult to his glory. (R.C. Sproul, Matthew Commentary, p. 325) Jesus’ life was marked by humility in even the smallest of details.

Not to give offense to them

There is so much wrapped up in that little phrase, “not to give offense to them”, so much that we can learn from it. Paul understood this idea when he wrote in his first letter to the church in Corinth, and wrote of how we should not let our rights become a stumbling block to the weak. He was addressing those who were fully aware that there was nothing wrong with eating food sacrificed to idols, because those idols were fake. Yet he says there were those who were weak, and because of their former associations, they thought it to be sinful to eat such foods. So Paul admonishes the strong to not trample the weak in the exercising of their rights, but that they should be willing even to abstain from eating meat, if it were to make another brother stumble. And that we should have this same mind among us.
Lastly, Matthew wraps up this episode with yet another record of a miracle there in verse 27,

go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

This miracle seems almost like a tag line to point of the incident, but in a very real way it emphasizes, again, Jesus’ identity. While Jesus submitted to the tax, his method of paying the tax demonstrated, again, who he was. He gave Peter yet another glimpse at his glory, that same glory which Jesus would once again enjoy with his Father in heaven after his mission was finished.

Prayer

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