From the desk of Pastor Ben

A Lesson on Government and Taxes – Part 1

“Go to the sea and throw in 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 you and Me.”         (Matthew 17:27b)

This was the only time we know of that Jesus supplied tax money miraculously. He told Peter “to go to the sea,” apparently to any place along the Sea of Galilee that he chose. There the Lord would provide a fish with the necessary coin in its mouth.

Usually two Jewish men paid the temple tax together since there was no two-drachma coin. They would use a shekel, equal to a pair of two-drachmas, to pay the tax for each man. The coin in the fish’s mouth was that exact amount which Peter and Jesus needed to meet the tax obligation.

Although the tax was primarily for support of the temple, the Jews no doubt misappropriated a large portion of the total for other purposes. Some of the money Jesus and Peter paid also went to support Rome, its army, rulers, and pagan religions.

Even with the negative aspects involved, we can derive a positive principle from this account. Jesus wants us to be good citizens of this world. Even though all human governments are to varying extents corrupt and believers are ultimately citizens of heaven, we must obey the governing authorities while we are in this life. The only exception we can claim is when government edict would cause us to directly disobey God and His Word.

Ask Yourself:
Have you ever come up against an issue where strict obedience to an order challenged your conscience, forcing you to choose between God’s directives and the present authority? How did you handle this situation? What might have happened if you’d handled it differently?