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The half-shekel tax was equivalent to about 2 days of wages. It was collected annually from every male Jew above the age of 20. This was required for the upkeep of the temple. It was a tradition that kings did not require their sons to pay taxes. In this sense, Jesus was technically exempt, because His Father, God, owned the temple.
This is a very strange story. Matthew records the irony of Jesus’ ownership of the temple, but also the willingness of Jesus to pay the tax so that the tax collectors would not stumble. The text reads “so that we do not offend them,” but that’s a tricky translation for the way our culture thinks about offending others. The literal meaning is ‘stumble’ or ‘scandalize.’ It’s more accurate that Jesus did not want to make a big deal out of something that would only cause division.
Jesus did scandalize and offend the Pharisees but His issues with them came over Kingdom matters that dealt with the heart. Here, it seems people are questioning His attitude within customary practices and, even though they are ignorant, Jesus decides it’s not worth the fight. This lesson alone is a hidden gem.
These days I hear a lot of Christians talking about their rights. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful that our nation has decided to allow churches and ministries to have rights. But just because we have a right does not mean God always gives us the green light to exercise that right. In our westernized culture, we are the exception to the rule. The early church didn’t have religious rights as we know them today. They risked their lives gathering together and preaching the Gospel. It takes more faith to forego your “rights” and trust that God will sustain you than to trust in the protection of state or federal laws.
In this specific case, Jesus decided that preserving the weak faith of others was more important than His own rights.
The most peculiar part of the story comes with the instructions given to Peter to throw out a hook and catch a fish which will contain the coin needed to pay the tax. Was it a faith test for Peter? Was it sending a message that Jesus would not pay from His own money since He was God’s Son? Was it illustrating that the disciples had no money, so they had to get it from God alone? We don’t know for sure, because Matthew doesn’t tell us. In fact, he doesn’t even record if Peter actually went and completed this task.
I believe he did. Peter was a professional fisherman who used nets to catch fish in large numbers. It would have been extremely humbling for him to have to use a hook and line, and he probably hoped none of his colleagues saw him out there trying to catch one fish at a time. There are many different applications we can take from this passage, but as is the case with many stories in Scripture, we should be in awe of the power and knowledge of Christ above all else. If we stick close to Him, we will always have what we need each day.