Having studied and pondered the book of Matthew since November of 2020, I have reached Chapter 17:24. So soon? Seriously, I have studied and pondered the book of Matthew several times before, yet this time has been more meditative. Also many other short term studies have been interspersed during the time. I do emphasize that going slow and being meditative is the way I learn best.
This grand study has been expressed here within Scripture Love Blog over these two and a half years. We will continue.
Continuing on, let us start by recalling the very first verse of the book: Matthew 1:1 “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:”
I made the following statement in my first blog piece for this current study back in November of 2020: “The literary nature is established from the start: historical. Yes the content of what is to come is going to involve the supernatural, however the author is tactfully stating from the start that this is no fantasy story.”
That is a great reminder as we look at this passage where an unusual supernatural event takes place.
Even if there was a rare natural occurrence that a fish swallowed a four-drachma coin, it was supernatural that Jesus would know this had happened, and supernatural that the first fish Peter caught after being instructed by Jesus to do so was that particular fish. Probably for the sake of saving precious ink and papyrus, there is no record of Peter obeying Christ. We trust the tax collectors were the ones to get that down on papyrus. It was a miracle, a quite unique miracle compared to others in the Bible.
A crucial contextual point is the fact the temple tax was not a standard Roman Empire tax. King Herod began a grandiose expansion of the area surrounding the temple in Jerusalem in 19 B.C., and much of it was completed in ten years. However, even though the tyrant King Herod died in 5 or 4 B.C., (our calendar is off due to leap years), his plan for temple expansion galore was not fully completed until around 64 A.D. Herod’s project probably even involved some renovations on the temple itself, yet the temple was a basic structure from the start. The dimensions for the temple are given in 2 Chronicles 3:3-4. “The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide (using the cubit of the old standard). The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits long across the width of the building and twenty cubits high.” But Herod’s temple and temple grounds renovations and expansion became an ongoing endeavor.
What started as an apparent act to please the Israelites ended up being yet another tax burden on the Israelites, in addition to the Roman Empire’s giant tax requirement on people who were subjects but not citizens.
Note the coin used to pay the temple tax, the drachma, was a Greek silver coin. This detail is important, because using a Roman coin was not permissible for temple purposes. The Roman denarius, a silver coin of a similar value, honored the emperor.
Understanding this context, we can know the teaching of Jesus here has nothing to do with paying taxes to a country or state. All Christians are first and foremost citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Secondly, most Christians are citizens of some country or state. As citizens of a country or state, we Christians have no special privilege over our fellow citizens of our country or state. Thus to not pay taxes to a country or state is a sin.
Keeping that fact in mind, we can gain the intended message of this passage from Jesus. Jesus, who started His teaching in a Socratic method mode, emphasized His point: “Then the children are exempt…” Thus Jesus was gently stating that children of God are exempt from religious fees.
Once again, Jesus teaches a radical lesson, and that lesson here is that a follower of Jesus is a child of the King of kings, and the relationship with the King involves love, not money. Love is the foundation for citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
To fully examine this passage, we must get into the controversial issue of the tithe, which was a standard or mandate under the Mosaic covenant, first of all, to support the Levites. (First, see Numbers 18:21-22, and second, see Deuteronomy 26:12-15 along with Deuteronomy 14:28-29.) There was also a tithe involved when going to the three feasts, yet that tithe of an entire crop of food and olive oil was to be eaten and enjoyed by the family at a given feast in the presence of the LORD. It was not given away. (See Deuteronomy 14:22-26.)
Yet under the New Covenant we go by the commands of Jesus, the One who fulfilled the Mosaic Law. And frankly, Jesus is teaching here that Christians are not under a mandate to give a “tithe.”
A number of Christians disagree. When worshiping at a church in 2014, one of the pastors gave a sermon in which he rebuked those in the congregation who did not tithe to their church. He stated a tithe was mandatory for a Christian. I disagreed, and I still do, with all due respect.
Yet since the reality of Christian community ministry work usually involves plenty of expenses, how can a variety of needs be supported? By realizing God wants us to give from our heart.
Our heavenly Father provides blessings for us, not needing anything in return. Yet our heavenly Father also wants us to give in love that we may carry out the mission of the Gospel and bless people. For the offering of spiritual gifts and finances, a tithe might be a suggestion for some communities, yet it is not a biblical mandate. The root mandate is to love God and love people. A person who loves God and loves people will give, in a variety of personal manners, in love!
And remember a final subtle point of this passage, which is that our triune God sometimes provides for His children in unexpected ways.
Hunter
