Read Matthew 17:22–27
Questions from the Scripture text: Where were they staying (Matthew 17:22)? What did Jesus say would happen to the Son of man in verse 22? What would men do to Him (Matthew 17:23)? But what would happen on the third day? How did the disciples receive this news? To where did they come in Matthew 17:24? Who came to Peter? What did they ask him? How did Peter answer (Matthew 17:25)? Into where did he go? Who anticipated the interaction? What binary-option question does He ask him? What two options does He give? What option does Peter select (Matthew 17:26)? What does Jesus say about the sons? When He says “nevertheless,” as what does he identify Himself (Matthew 17:27)? What reason does He give for paying the tax? Where does He tell Peter to go? What does He tell Peter to do? Where is he to find the money? What is Peter to do with that money?
What is Jesus teaching Peter as they pay the temple tax? Matthew 17:22–27 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus is King and God, Who freely humbled Himself to save us.
Jesus is the Son of Man, that glorious figure of Daniel 7:13–14 to whom belongs dominion, glory, and kingdom over all peoples and nations and languages. Yet it is this Son of Man Who is about to be betrayed (Matthew 17:22) and killed (Matthew 17:23). Even though Jesus includes the truth about His resurrection, the disciples are exceedingly sorrowful. This could be because of the fact that He must be humiliated first, or it might be because they don’t comprehend the certainty and glory of the resurrection. Whichever the case, they certainly recognize the great contradiction between Who Jesus is and how He will be treated. The kings of earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against YHWH and against His Christ (Psalm 2:2). They continue to do so today, even though He has been exalted above them.
Immediately, in Matthew 17:24, we see the hostility of the world against Christ’s Kingship. No sooner do they arrive, than the temple-tax collectors come find them. Truly, Jesus came to His own, but His own received Him not. That very temple was a symbol of Him Himself. Here He was, its fulfillment; and, rather than worship Him, they were hoping to get their half-shekel. How many have come to Christ to gain from Him what they desire, rather than to submit to Him and worship Him! Don’t you make this dreadful error, dear reader.
Peter knows Jesus to be perfectly righteous. His Master has never violated God’s law in all the time that he has known Him. So, of course, he answers that Jesus pays the double-drachma (worth half a shekel, Matthew 17:24). But he has missed the great contradiction. Just as he was sorrowful that they would betray and kill Christ, he should have been sorrowful that the servants of the temple did not acknowledge the God and Christ of that temple.
So Jesus brings this incongruity to Peter’s attention in two ways. First, He asks the question in Matthew 17:25. The kings of earth do not tax their sons, and the King of Heaven does not tax the Son of God. Sons are free. The Son is free (Matthew 17:26). He doesn’t pay the tax under compulsion. He pays it the same way that He goes to the cross: willingly humbling Himself. Jesus did not come, insisting upon His rights. He came, humbling Himself in order to save us. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (cf. Matthew 20:28).
The second way that Jesus underlines the incongruity to Peter is by highlighting that He is not just Christ but Creator. Not only did He create the fish at the beginning, but He rules the location of every fish in the sea, and every stater (a four-drachma coin, worth one shekel, exactly two men’s temple tax), and the path of the fishhook through air and in the water. The One Who upholds all things by the Word of His power (cf. Hebrews 1:2–3) is paying the temple tax for Himself and His friend! This, the Lord has done on a much grander scale, when He paid for the sins of Himself and all His friends (cf. John 15:13–15). Dear reader, believe into Christ. Give yourself entirely up to Him. You can have no greater friend.
What is the difference between how you would approach Jesus as someone trying to get something from Him, and how you would approach Him if He is your King and your God? How has Jesus humbled Himself for you? How are you willing to humble yourself for Him and for His church?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for giving Your Son, through Whom You made the worlds, and Who upholds all things by the Word of His power. Though kings and rulers take counsel together against You and against Him, give us to serve You with trembling and to kiss the Son. Thank You that He humbled Himself even unto the death of the cross. For His sake, make us to be those blessed who put our trust in Him, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP2 “Why Do Gentile Nations Rage” or TPH280 “Wondrous King, All Glorious”
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