Matthew 17: Glory and the Grind (6)
Pray Psalm 147.12-14.
Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
For He has strengthened the bars of your gates;
He has blessed your children within you.
He makes peace in your borders,
And fills you with the finest wheat.
Sing Psalm 147.12-14.
St. Anne: Our God, Our Help in Ages Past
O praise your God, Jerusalem, O Zion, praise the Lord!
He strengthens those who trust in Him with blessings from His Word.
Around us He has spread His peace; our borders are secure.
His bounty daily shall increase; His grace to us is sure!
Read Matthew 17.1-27; meditate on verses 24-27.
How do you see that Jesus is sovereign over the details of our lives?
Prepare.
1. What question was Peter pondering?
2. How did Jesus demonstrate His sovereignty?
Meditate.
This is a charming story, and it demonstrates the sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ over all the details of life. The tax collectors asked Peter whether Jesus would pay the temple tax (v. 24). Peter answered without hesitation that He would (v. 25), assuming that Jesus would keep whatever the Law required (cf. Ex. 30.13).
Jesus saw this exchange without even being present, just as He saw Nathanael under the fig tree (Jn. 1.48), and just as He sees you and me at every moment of our lives. But what a strange way to arrange for the payment of the tax!
First, though, a lesson on the freedom of Christ and His followers (vv. 25, 26): Jesus intimates that He was exempt from the tax by virtue of being the Son of the high King of heaven. Thus He showed that He is above the Law, and greater than the temple. But by submitting to the Law He fulfilled all its requirements for righteousness. Jesus did not need to keep the Law for His own sake, but for Peter’s, and ours.
So Jesus sent the fisherman off to do what he did best, knowing full well that He had already arranged—by whatever means—both for the fish Peter would catch and the fact that that fish would have in its mouth just the right money to pay the tax for both Jesus and Peter.
Imagine Peter’s wonder and amazement when he opened the mouth of that fish! What wonders and amazement await us as we obey Jesus every step of every day?
Jesus is not bound by human regulations or limitations. He is sovereign in all the details of life. We can trust Him to provide whatever we need as we believe and obey.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
John, in his own writings, referred to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (Jn. 21.7).
We are happy to let him have that.
But Peter was the disciple in whom Jesus saw much potential for bringing the Kingdom and will of God—
to earth as it is in heaven—through action, growth, and revival. Peter the boisterous, blundering, bloviating disciple of great value and potential.
Jesus, at this juncture, was teaching Peter about:
the Kingdom of God on earth,
how God would meet his needs, and
how to comport himself without being an offense to others.
All three are lessons meant for Kingdom-dwellers now, as well as then.
God says: “Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness” (Ps. 50.10-12).
Peter was allowed to live these verses out to the full, when Jesus told him to:
Go to the sea.
Cast in a hook.
Take the fish that comes up first.
Open its mouth. And
Find a piece of money to pay the debt (Matt. 17.27).
(No animals were harmed during this miraculous exercise.)
Peter was daily learning how to follow Jesus. How to be like Jesus. How to fully trust God—for everything.
Peter lived out his faith in Jesus, wrote about his walk with Jesus, and died for Jesus.
He shared many thoughts and truths for us to learn and live by.
Perhaps, in the following passage, Peter wrote about what he learned during this particular experience with Jesus; and of the extraordinary care Jesus took with him to pay off the temple tax men:
“For this is the will of God,
that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—
as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice,
but as bondservants of God.
Honor all people.
Love the brotherhood.
Fear God.
Honor the king” (1 Pet. 2.15-17).
Living in the Kingdom here and now,
trusting God to meet our needs, and
trying not to be an offense are all topics we encounter daily.
Jesus didn’t just give Peter the money to pay the debt—Peter had to work for it.
Peter had to faithfully trust Jesus’ leading to get to the fish-mouth.
He had to peer into the fish-mouth and extract the payment.
We have much to learn from this written encounter of Peter and the tax men, and Jesus.
First, Jesus is sovereign in all the details of our lives; and second, some needs may be met in a fish-mouth.
Reflect.
1. How do you see Jesus providing for your needs each day? Do you thank Him? Specifically?
2. Jesus expects us to obey His every word. What happens when we do? When we don’t?
3. What are you trusting Jesus for that’s taking a while for Him to answer? Why do you think He wants you to wait?
What He says is something like this: “I am free from paying tribute. For if the kings of the earth do not take it from their sons but from their subjects, much more ought I to be free of this demand, being the Son not of an earthly king but of the king of heaven and myself a king as well.” Do you see how He has distinguished the sons from them that are not sons? John Chrysostom, (344-407), The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 58.2
Pray Psalm 147.1-11, 15-20.
Praise God for the many ways His sovereignty brings goodness and blessing to your life.
Sing Psalm 147.1-11, 15-20.
Psalm 147.1-11, 15-20 (St. Anne: Our God, Our Help in Ages Past)
Praise God, for it is good to sing loud praises to the LORD!
With joy our songs of praise we bring to God and to His Word.
The LORD builds up His Church and He His people gathers in.
The broken hearts He tenderly repairs and heals their sin.
He counts the stars, He knows the name of every chosen soul;
His pow’r is great, and great His fame Who understands us whole.
The humble God exalts above; the wicked He casts down.
Sing thanks to this great God of love; let songs of praise abound.
He brings refreshing rain to earth and feeds the beasts so dear.
He puts in man’s strength naught of worth, but loves those who God fear.
His Word to earth runs to and fro to carry out His will;
He brings the rain, He sends the snow, and none can keep Him still.
His Word He to His Church bestows—His promises and Law.
No other nation God thus knows: praise Him with songs of awe!
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest: This week: Our Read Moore podcast continues our readings from the book, The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart. Our Crosfigell teaching letter is pursuing a series on the spiritual poetry of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column is working through a study of the role of reason in the life of faith. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
