Matthew Chapter 17 Verses 24-27

“On their arrival in Capernaum, the collectors of the Temple tax came to Peter and asked him, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the Temple tax?” Matthew‬ ‭17‬:‭24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

First off we need to know who is asking for the temple tax. This temple tax was not the civil tax that the Romans collected each year for the government. The people who were collecting this temple tax was Jews and the reason is because they need to maintain upkeep and service for the temple or tent of the meetings

It tells us that here in Exodus Chapter 30 verses 12-16 

12 “When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them. 13 Each one who crosses over to those already counted is to give a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the Lord. 14 All who cross over, those twenty years old or more, are to give an offering to the Lord. 15 The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives. 16 Receive the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting It will be a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord, making atonement for your lives.”

So this is why they asked Peter if his teacher  who is Jesus was going to pay the temple tax .  

““Yes, he does,” Peter replied. Then he went into the house. But before he had a chance to speak, Jesus asked him, “What do you think, Peter? Do kings tax their own people or the people they have conquered?” Matthew‬ ‭17‬:‭25‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus asks peter a question but what does he mean by this? I’ll break it down as simple as I can . If you own a business would you charge your family and friends entry fees? Or would you charge the people whom you know not of? The answer is pretty simple you wouldn’t charge the people you know but you would charge strangers . 

““They tax the people they have conquered,” Peter replied. “Well, then,” Jesus said, “the citizens are free!” Matthew‬ ‭17‬:‭26‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Here is a simple verse Peter answers Jesus saying they tax the people they have conquered and Jesus says “the citizens are free” If we go back to my anecdote  the answer is you would charge the strangers and the friends and family would be free. 

“However, we don’t want to offend them, so go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us.” Matthew‬ ‭17‬:‭27‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Although there is no reason for Jesus to pay these fees since he is the Son of God ,he still pays this fee because he does not want to offend anyone. At this time and through out all of Jesus’s ministry people was looking for anything he did wrong so they can have something against him so they can arrest him , if he offended them by not paying the temple tax that would give them the perfect reason to arrest him and Jesus couldn’t let this happen he had a path paved for him to fulfill the purpose God had made for him and being arrested would have prevented the other things Jesus needed to do before he was crucified. 

The temple tax was half a Shekel or 2 drachma coins this is why there was 1 shekel in the fish’s mouth. But why was it in the fishes mouth? Now nowhere are we told that Jesus or Peter couldn’t afford it but Jesus shows Peter that once again God will provide for them and that God can provide everything we need. 

There’s a few things that I got from these verses 

 No matter what God is always there he always knows what we need before we even say it and he always blesses us with what we need before we even begin to worry and search for it he shows us this in 2 sections of these verses 

First when Peter walks into the house and before he says anything Jesus begins to talk. But how did Jesus know what to say? 

It’s because God already knew what Peter needed before asking Jesus so before he even needed to ask God gave him his answer 

And second  is when Jesus tells peter to throw a line , catch the fish and open its mouth and their peter found the silver coin to pay for the taxes. 

God shows us that before peter went to look and search and worry how he was gonna pay is Jesus told him where to go and how to do it. No matter what we go through God will provide he knows our problems he knows our worries and he knows our hearts.

no matter what we need to trust that God knows what’s best for us , we need to trust that he knows what we need and what we don’t need because God is all knowing . That means he knows all, he knows the thought we have before we think them.