After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27 “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

Matthew 17:24-27

Dear God, it’s so interesting to come back and focus on Peter and John in these stories and think about the role each played. In this case, it’s apparently Peter who stood out to the temple tax collectors as the point person among the disciples.

I’ve never noticed this before, but I think he B.S.’d them when he answered their question. They put him on the spot and he found the easy way out. “Does you teacher pay the temple tax?” “Oh, yeah. You bet he does.”

Two things make me think this. Matthew refers to Peter as Peter, but when Jesus addresses him, Matthew is careful to show that Jesus called him Simon. Now maybe Jesus called him Simon a lot. I’ll look for that as I finish Mathew.

The other thing is that Jesus takes the time to talk through the paying of the tax with him. This is apparently something they haven’t done before. Jesus doesn’t rebuke Peter, per se, but he calls him Simon and he sends him out to find the money in the fish. And Jesus’ miracle covers both of their tax (I wonder how the other 11 paid theirs).

Father, give me wisdom and discernment when I come upon traps and tricks. And it doesn’t need to be something done with bad intent. It might just be a tricky situation. Please help me to be wise, deliberate, and to think carefully so that the words of my mouth and the desires of my heart might build your kingdom and the hearts around me.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen