Well, we return after some time to Matthew, our study in the Gospel of Matthew, and if you remember, we looked last time at Jesus healing a little boy with a demon and the call to faith there. Today we're taking up the end of Matthew chapter 17. You'll find that on page 978. We'll begin at verse 22. That isn't noted in your bulletin, but the text is really 22 through 27 today of Matthew 17 to close out this great chapter. Let's give our attention this morning to the holy Word of the Lord.
"As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and he will be raised on the third day And they were greatly distressed. When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two drachma attacks went up to Peter and said, does your teacher not pay the tax 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 And when he said, from others Jesus said to him, then the sons are free. 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
And there will end today the reading of God's Word.
Well, as you know, what pretty much animates us in this life especially with all sort of civil engagement and all the politicization of everything in our society right now is the concept of freedom. People want to be free, don't they? People want to understand and live a free life. That is really the drive of so many people in a long struggle throughout this age. But it is a difficult task and a difficult struggle to achieve freedom, important as it is in this life, isn't it? And in what context often and sort of solely do we speak of freedom? Well, the freedom that we're focused on has to do it within the context of the treatment of civil authorities and the governments of this world. That's our real, sole concept of freedom. I mean, just if you like the Braveheart movie, you'll remember the most powerful part of the movie is freedom from oppressive government. Nothing charges us up more than governments who take away our freedom, because especially we're Americans, and Americans have tasted a good amount of freedom. One of those areas that works us up the most is taxation, isn't it? Taxation. So you want a sermon today on taxation and all its evils, don't you? That's what you really want from me. Well, I'm going to tell you right now, you are overtaxed. And I'm a hero now to many of you, aren't I?
What's the difference, said one author, between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist only takes your skin.
Well, we are overtaxed. We talk about this all the time on everything. You know what's going to happen this week is the gas tax, right? I don't know what to believe about it. Is it really 62 cents? I mean, don't move if that happens, please. I don't think that's true. I think that's a I could be wrong i think it's like two cents. But we'll see, we'll see. I read these reports.
What if I told you today that the freedom that really matters is something you do not value the way you should? Your heart is caught up in a secondary freedom, and a freedom that really amounts to not much in the big picture. I'm about to talk to you about what makes you the freest people in the whole world and makes you the happiest people in this life.
Jesus, before us, is illustrating something so beautiful, and he is teaching something so profound in these short few verses here that what it means to be set free by him the one to whom it matters. And he illustrates this for us today. He shows us this. He captures this in the paying of a certain kind of tax that was levied in Israel so that you don't have to pay it. You don't have to pay. I guess I could say, in the title, the heaviest tax, if you will, and Jesus is showcasing today that freedom that he won for us.
So what I want to do with you in the few minutes that we have in the time we have is consider this really important, legitimate question that was asked of Peter and the remarkable and freeing response given by our Lord, and then the gracious provision that follows to teach us something very important about what is known here as the temple tax.
Now, here we are. We are after the transfiguration event. Jesus has now been with his disciples. He has returned to Capernaum. This is sort of home base. It's where Peter lived. Everyone knows Jesus and Peter and many of the disciples. And this passage is set up in a certain way by the second prediction that Matthew gives of the death of Christ. You'll notice in verse 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 and they will kill him and he will be raised on the third day. And they were greatly distressed."
So still no understanding. Now, at the end of the transfiguration, the Father had said, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." This is what the Father was saying. He's telling you about his death. Listen carefully to what he's come to do for you. It's still not clicking.
Well, we read in verse 24: "They came to Capernaum, and when they had come, these collectors, these tax collectors of the two drachma tax, went up to Peter and said, does your teacher not pay the tax? And without batting an eye, you'll notice here, you really get a sense of this in the text. Without batting an eye, he says, of course he does. Yes.
It's interesting, isn't it? Now, what if the Roman tax collectors had come up and said, "Does your teacher pay the taxes to Caesar?" You think he would have been as quick and optimistic?
Well, it's interesting. "How does your teacher think? What does he think about your teacher? Really, there is a little bit of a dig: "Not our teacher." Your teacher. They're curious. They want to know about this teacher and his followers. And it's important to notice here that Romans had tax collectors who were hated. Zacchaeus, you could think of. This is what typically the tax collectors in the Bible are talked about, were the Roman tax collectors. But not these guys. What we have here is a certain kind of tax collector that was sent to maintain the temple. So, as far as I see, this is the only unique treatment of this in the Gospels. All the other treatments, and in Matthew 2, in chapter 22, we'll deal with the question, "Should we pay taxes to Caesar? This is an entirely different thing here, isn't it?
The Jews were proud of this tax. I don't know if anyone's ever proud of a tax. They were proud of this tax because it was supporting the temple. It was their identity. This was the great thing that stood out as what was against all of this Roman oppression: the temple, the temple, the temple. So they've come up to Peter. Jesus has been moving around the regions. They had not witnessed them pay this tax, and they want to know: "Does Jesus pay this tax? Does your teacher pay this tax?"
Now, I want to make clear just really important this has nothing to do with the taxes collected by Rome. It's not a civil tax in the sense of what will happen in chapter 22: "Do you pay taxes to Caesar?" This is this unique event that I think we only have recorded in Matthew where the collectors of the double drachma tax came and want to know, "Do you pay it? Does your teacher pay it?"
The drachma was a silver coin, and it was equal to a denarius a day's wage. The double drachma was the weight of silver worth two days wages. Now, it's an interesting question. It's an interesting question. Uh, maybe because of what happened at john 2 records jesus no you know? Do you know that all the silver that was collected for from them, and this two drachma tax, is what formed the foundation of the temple? So, so you think of Jesus in John 2 when he walked in and he saw that they had made the house of the lord intended to be a house of prayer they had made it a den of thieves. And the Jewish officials would make profits by exchanging the Roman denarius into Jewish currency, currency so that it was the only holy money accepted for the temple tax. Jesus overturned the tables for what they did in abusing the house of God and making it a house of merchandise.
But I kind of want to know: Did Jesus pay this tax? We kind of want to get into the character of our Lord here for a minute. Did He pay taxes like this? What kind of person was He? This is what's on their minds. Is He a rebel? Is He an insurrectionist? Mainly in the religious context, is He against Judaism? Is he against Judaism?
Now, what was the tax? What was this tax? Well, it was a tax commanded in the Old Testament ceremonial law. It was called, now ready? You guys all remember this from my Exodus series, don't you? Of course. It's called the ransom tax. Listen to Exodus 30:
"Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord when you number them that there may be no plague among you when you number them. So this is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: A half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary. So only those who are numbered who were males 20 years older and above you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting that it may be now listen a memorial to the children of Israel before the Lord to make atonement for yourselves
Now, what did Jesus just say was going to happen before this? "I'm going to go die." Okay, see the connection. The whole foundation is made of silver of the temple. And the purpose was in the ceremonial law to institute the ransom tax was to provide a memorial for Israel. And what was that memorial? The Lord wanted always remembered that there was a great cost to redeem them. There was a great cost to redeem them. And that's why he attached plague to those who didn't pay it. Because plague struck the Egyptians. But Israel and her sons were redeemed. They were always to be reminded that their freedom came at a cost.
Now, as anyone, think about this. It seems to me every year this tax was collected in Israel, once a year, probably once a year, there was a great anticipation to pay the tax, maybe. But it seems to me there's a great problem in the collecting of this tax as I thought about it. There seems to be no understanding of what it meant. What a problem Matthew's exposed, right? Of doing all the duties and the rituals of religion with no understanding. "Oh, this is great. We'll just pay the tax to maintain our identity. How dare anyone not pay it?" It was required, though. This was a required tax. You couldn't get away from not paying it. But they didn't fight that. And that's why Peter quickly says, "Of course we pay that. We love that tax." Nobody is proud to pay a tax in the U.S. It's like one person said, "I'm proud to pay taxes in the U.S., but I could be just as proud to pay half." They didn't think like that with this. Did anyone think of the meaning of what was being done? Did they understand the tax? Was it just about maintaining the temple? That was what it was used for. But was that the meaning of the tax? And the answer is no. It was a tax that explained freedom to them.
Now, that's the background of the tax. "Hey, don't you pay that?" "Of course, of course. Yeah, move on." Well, you notice something happens kind of shocking here in the next section of verse 25. When Peter had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, "What do you think, Simon?" Interesting. Jesus doesn't seem to share the same optimism, or is mainly concerned that Peter answered so quickly without himself understanding. Peter was quick, but clearly Jesus's divinity is on display. He wasn't even there when this happened. He knows the whole thing, right? He makes a big moment of it. He, he here's the question of Jesus. Now follow me for a minute.
When he came to 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?" And don't be confused by that. He's not speaking of civil taxation. He's just using it as an illustration for this tax to make a point. It's a great question. It's a great question. He wants understanding of the meaning of the tax in the law, in the ceremonial law, and he presses Peter by asking where does the source of such a requirement of taxation come? It's kind of a good question, isn't it? How laws come and how they originate, and and and it may be a little different in our societies from the kind of common consent of the people. But But in monarchies and in kingdoms and kings, it's a little different how it operates, doesn't it?
Who enacts attacks? The king. Which means he does it by act and decree. And because of that, he has the ability and he has the freedom to exempt and release whomever he wants from it. It was known throughout history: kings don't tax their own family. It was the king's right and his prerogative. I mean, just think about it. Okay, we have taxes and we pay taxes on I pay this outrageous, outrageous tax on property in California. I just don't even want to think about it, you know. But do I, though, as the kind of sovereign of my house, do I then turn around and start taxing my kids to help pay that? That's kind of a good idea. But no, we don't do that. They're royalty in our house. We love our kids. We're not going to do that to our kids. You get Jesus' question: "Do kings tax? Who do they tax? Do they tax their sons or do they tax strangers? Or even other subdued kingdoms, because at times kings could exempt their subjects from paying taxes if they had a great amount of revenue from subdued kingdoms."
And Peter rightly answers, doesn't he? "Of course, strangers."
And here's the heart of the text today. Here's the heart of the text. Jesus, most powerful words. I mean, you could read right over this. Don't do that. "Then the sons are free."
What does that mean? Jesus would say things like this: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." But this may be one of the most profound, unique in this context statements to understand freedom in the whole Bible. You think, I think, freedom has to do with the oppression of governments and heavy taxation of governments, and we get worked up about that. You know, Jesus never said with regard to Caesar, in paying taxes, "You're free." Whoa, think about that. Many people have read this passage and say, "Oh, well, you know, maybe we don't have to pay taxes then. Which tax? Which tax?"
What is Jesus saying to us? The king exacts taxes from sons or strangers strangers Then you're free. "Great, I never have to pay taxes again, and I'll come visit you in jail."
I have known people in my my ministry who've tried this on this verse. And we had to go sit down with them and say, "You need to pay your taxes to the government." Well, what tax are we talking about? The ransom tax.
Did Jesus need that? Did he need to be ransomed? This particular tax in the law said something strong. Listen to this. Listen, this is the heart of this, I think. A payment has to be made to teach you about ransom. Meaning to buy back lives. Israel had blood put on their doorposts to teach them this. As it passed over them and judgment and the plague fell on the Egyptians. My question is this. This is the question I couldn't get out of my head. I submit it to you: Did anyone in Israel ever stop and ask the question, "Why are we paying this tax? Are we paying what sets us free?"
Ceremonial law has purposes that is designed to come to an end in fulfillment, to show us something, and someone needs to pay it. Well, listen, this problem is dispersed throughout the Old Testament. Psalm 49:
"Truly, no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life. For the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice that he should live on forever and not see Sheol, the pit, hell."
Uh-oh. Well, that's a huge problem. Here's the problem: you owe to God. I owe to God payment for sin, and we're more worried about the the freedom that we get from the burden of civil governments that we have to pay taxes. But this problem doesn't worry us very much. It's just remarkable. This problem doesn't worry us very much. We're like Peter: "Of course we pay that tax. Of course we pay our tithes. Of course we come to church. Of course we do this and of course we do that." Why? You ever thought every little sin every careless lustful look every theft in the heart every covetous desire every little idolatry requires payment from you. And that the debt accumulated before god romans 2 is amassed and keeps amassing and keeps amassing that you can never pay back.
If there were somebody you knew in this life somebody in the church who just kept charging and charging and charging and charging and amassed a debt that they could never pay back, what would you think of that person? You think they're a fool. That's you. That's me. And you don't have enough to pay it.
But in the law was embedded a gospel showcase. A temple was there. All that silver formed the foundation. What this tax should have caused Israel to ask was: "Does a double drachma buy back our lives?" That was a half a shekel required by the ransom tax. A double drachma is the half a shekel. Put this together.
He's a king. If you've come to him, he's the king. If you've come to him and you've believed in him, hear me, hear me, here's the gospel: you're not paying that tax. You're not paying the ransom. What just came before this? "I've got to go die," and they're all troubled. "You are my children," says the Lord. "You're free. You understand freedom? He's God. The temple's his father's house. He's the greater than the temple."
Notice carefully Jesus' response: "From others, Jesus said to him, then the sons are free. Why would he say that? They were greatly distressed because the Son of Man is about to go and die at Jerusalem. To pay the ransom. You don't owe a penny. Why isn't this place just jam-packed today? That's the best news. Uncle Sam has never said that to you. "You're loved, forgiven by faith, faith alone. Let that set into your hearts. What have you done? What are you doing?"
See, the sad part of the text is the nation of Israel won't come to him. "Your teacher," they are intent on paying the tax, which captures they're very fine in themselves. But many people do not receive the gospel. And they live thinking that if they just do the law or the tradition of the elders, as we've been studying, it's a theology of the enough. Theology of the enough. Psalm 49: Read it.
What good news drove the apostles? You know, when they understand this, do you know what they said? You know what they said? Now listen, this is the heart of this. "You were not redeemed, Peter," who said this? Peter. "You were not redeemed with corruptible things like what? Silver." Now we know where that came from. "Silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. But you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. You were purchased. The price was paid by his blood, not silver. That's how you're redeemed. That's what we celebrate."
Now, I close this out. Something marvelous at this point: Jesus gives a gracious provision. It's a surprising moment, for we get a careful look into the character of our Lord. I'm amazed by this. It's remarkable how our Lord conducts himself.
You understand, when the little widow and her two mites went in to put it in the temple treasury, Jesus said, "You see that right there? That's what I'm after, by the way. She gave in more than everyone else." But in the next verse, he says, "All this is coming down. This is abuse, this temple system."
As soon as he says, technically, you don't owe a thing, you're free. nevertheless, nevertheless, 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'll find a shekel. That's the Hebrew equivalent. That's the amount equivalent to this double drachma. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself."
Whoa, he just paid it. "Let's not give offense right now. Not the time yet, is it? Temple's still here. Greater the temple when the resurrection happens will be established. That temple will come down."
A private miracle though, notice this. No, I always thought: Why didn't Jesus say, "Peter, close your hand. Open it"? No. No, we're not going to draw a big display on this. "Go out there. Go out to the, you're a fisherman. You don't have to cast a net. Just drop a hook." That's an amazing fishing opportunity. I would love to do that. And then pull up money? I mean, look how sovereign he is over everything. It's all His. And He opens up the mouth of the fish, and there's a double drachma, the weight of two. Think about that. Two people's requirement for the temple tax. And Jesus just illustrates the gospel for a minute to us: that He pays the debt for His people. But to not give offense, He hands it for Him.
And it's a study to me in the character of our Lord. I, I couldn't get away from it. You know, you look at all the brazen Christians today and the way they act and the way they respond even to government. You know, um, one pastor said, "We see his consciousness of his sonship, his considerateness, his authority even over the sea and its creatures, and his generosity."
I just think there's something about the behavior that shouldn't be missed. It wasn't the time. Temple will come down. These people don't understand this. That concerned him. What shouldn't be missed is this: tax, indeed, from the law, was a divinely appointed tax not a human one. To avoid or reject it would have just done terrible damage to the entire message as he was bringing in fulfillment. Christ didn't want the message lost by the easy assumption that he and his followers are just a bunch of rebel anarchists who refuse all custom.
I think he's illustrating in some ways the very heart of the Sermon on the Mount: "Give to him who asks." We have a greater aim with people who slander us, who don't understand us. How easy it is to be written off. There's something about him, there's something about him.
Look at his calm, collected approach. Maybe it's why when he did paul did speak of giving in different tax scenarios, he said, "Render to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor." Oh no, one anything except to love one another, for he who loves one another has fulfilled the law.
His greater aim for Israel and to the ends of the earth was to show his love. It wasn't the time.
Now, I was talking to somebody in the community. Let's close this. I know we're getting tired. I didn't get to preach for a few weeks, and I got a lot more left, you know. I was talking to somebody in the community the other day. He says, "Yeah, yeah, what's your homily about this this uh this week, you know, Pastor?" I explained it to him. He goes, "Ah, so the main point is you really don't have to pay the taxes, but do it anyway?"
No, no, that's not the point. That's not the point. If you were here, I would have said, "I have the most amazing message ever to give you: You paid your ransom. What's that worth to you? You're under no obligation to pay him back. You can't. It's an offense. Don't do it. Receive it by faith and joy. You're free."
That's freedom. When you look at Christ and you trust him by faith, look at what showcased he handed them the double drachma to them, but it says so much more. He's willing, and he's desirous that you would know your freedom as sons and daughters of the King with his blood. He wants you to know that. He wants you to know you're accepted and received, that you are sons and you're not being treated like strangers and subjects. You are sons and daughters. That's what he's saying. "You're free. The atonement's been paid."
So we give to him who asks, right? Who would never want to stand in the way of this freedom that other people need. May we who have been redeemed by him be the first to model in this life the payment of earthly taxes. It shows you're free. It's a testimony to others you're free. And may you also show that you never have to pay back anything to God for this great ransom that he has paid it all, and you trust him for that and you believe him for that, and you are in joy set free by that. That's what people need to see.
Amen. Let's pray.
Gracious Lord, thank you for your Word to us today, and thank you for helping us to understand this freedom. And may, oh Lord, we live in response to understand where true freedom is and what you've said to us so that lest we get so worked up this week about a gas tax, we remember who we are. The greatest, heaviest tax has been paid. Thank you for the gift of your Son and the ransom. We give you our praise for so great a salvation by the blood not silver or gold by the blood of the Lamb. jesus name we pray. Amen.