Miracles and Taxes
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Recap
Recap
trsnsfiguration
demon possessed boy
unbelief
Questioned About Taxes
Questioned About Taxes
Lets talk about Taxes for a minute! Who here loves talking about taxes?
They’ve been described as a necessary evil.
Mostly met with dread.
Usually thought to be too high, or used for bad purposes.
24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?”
Before we look at what Jesus is trying to teach Peter, I think it’s important to look at this “two-drachma” tax was and see what that really is first, then we can start to unpack what about this tax made this a teaching moment for Jesus and Peter.
11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. 13 Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the Lord’s offering to make atonement for your lives. 16 You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives.”
This tax was originally not intended to be an ongoing tax but one intended to be taken as the Israelites taking a census and were in the midst of building the tabernacle. This tax was also for the atonement of the soldiers, or men 20 yrs and up. Each man of Israel giving a half shekel to atone or cover himself. That was what was laid out in the OT. IT was taken in Jerusalem every year at Passover. Outside of this it was collected by local tax collectors in order to take to Jerusalem for those who couldn’t make it at Passover. The thing that had happened once again was that this tax had been made a tradition, so it wasn’t required but had become a matter of honor. Any honorable Jew would give the temple tax.
Two things from this passage in Exodus 30.
Census equals ownership. When God declared a census to be taken it was because Israel belonged to him. When David did a census, it was communicating that Israel belonged to David, not God.
Atonement means covering. “The Lord commanded that every male over twenty years of age should pay half a shekel as redemption money, confessing that he deserved to die, owning that he was in debt to God, and bringing the sum demanded as a type of a great redemption which would by-and-by be paid for the souls of the sons of men.” (Spurgeon)
In this sense, it is not a pattern for our giving under the New Covenant. New Covenant giving should be proportional, under the principle that we should give in proportion to our blessing and as the Lord leads us.
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
The picture of Exodus 30:15. Instead of a pattern of our own giving, this money was a picture of the cost of our own redemption. “The rich were not to give more, the poor not to give less; to signify that all souls were equally precious in the sight of God, and that no difference of outward circumstances could affect the state of the soul; all had sinned, and all must be redeemed by the same price.” (Clarke)
Sons Are Free
Sons Are Free
25 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?” 26 And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.
Now, before we all jump to the conclusion that as sons and daughters of God we don’t have to pay taxes, lets take as step back. There’s a bigger picture to this, and it doesn’t have anything to do with paying taxes necessarily.
Matthew (D. The Privileges and Responsibilities of Royal Sonship (17:24–27))
Jesus asked Peter to consider an analogy. Everyone knew that an earthly king’s family was exempt from the king’s taxes. This was part of the privilege of royalty. But all the commoners outside the royal family were obligated to pay taxes to the king. We must not become distracted from the main point of the passage concerning the payment of the temple tax.
Jesus was not teaching a lesson about civil taxes. Rather, he was paralleling the temple tax with the civil tax. The kings of the earth are parallel to God and the sons represent true believers and children of God. The customs or poll tax paralleled the temple tax. Jesus left the implications for members of God’s family unstated, but it is clearly implied: God’s royal children are free from old covenant obligations that have been nullified by the new covenant.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
No Stumbling Block
No Stumbling Block
Matthew 17:27 (ESV)
27 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.”
David Guzik
Jesus was not obligated to pay this tax under the principle He had just discussed with Peter; that as a son, not a servant, He did not have to pay this temple tax. Yet Jesus also recognized the importance of avoiding needless controversy, and so was willing to pay the tax so as to not offend those who questioned.
The use of the Greek word skandalizein leads Barclay to write: “Therefore Jesus is saying: ‘We must pay so as not to set a bad example to others. We must not only do our duty, we must go beyond duty, in order that we may show others what they ought to do.” We should not see our freedom as an excuse to unintentionally cause someone else to stumble.
This idea is where things start to give us a little more application into these 5 verses.
We shouldn’t look at our freedoms, or things that are lawful, as a license to do whatever we want in life.
12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.
TWO THINGS TO REALIZE:
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive. Jesus said that he came not to bring peace but a sword. Prayer, crosses, even sharing of our faith offends, causes to stumble.
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
2. We don’t need to needlessly cause another to stumble, whether its a fellow believer and especially not a non-believer.
13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
This may be taking this whole “stumbling block” thing further than this passage meant to, but as we think about how we live out our lives as believers, free from sin, free from the law and walking in Grace, we are also walking as witnesses of Jesus Christ, and our lives can either be a sweet fragrance to those around us that draws them to Jesus, or we can live in a way that tells them we really don’t care about them because we are going to do what we want. We are going to talk how ever we want. Say whatever we want, all the while, leading them to shut the door on the gospel because we can’t discern from the Lord what HE would have us say in order to keep the door open so he can welcome them in to the family of God.
The Miracle:
Ultimately, it’s Jesus who will pay the price as Peter and the other disciples will see. He will make the payment and atone for and cover us in His grace!
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Lastly, Jesus used this miracle, that almost gets overlooked, to continue to reveal to Peter just how He really can provide all that we need, even enough to pay a simple tax.
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Communion
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”