A Fish's Four-Drachma Coin

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma 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 sons or from others?" "From others," Peter answered. "Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. "But so that we may not offend them, 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

What's the point Jesus was making? When he asked Peter who the kings collect taxes from, and when he replied that the sons are exempt, he was saying that it was not necessary for them to pay the temple tax. The temple is representative of his Father's kingdom on earth, and so Jesus and his disciples were exempt from paying any taxes to the king, his Father. However, it was not Jesus' custom to disrespect the authorities unless he had good reason to. So he had Peter fish out a four-drachma coin as if its no big deal.

That brings us to another interesting point about this passage. Jesus was never concerned about having enough money or food or clothing, etc. The only thing Jesus concerned himself with was his mission, his message, and pleasing his Father. And he told his followers not to be concerned about material things either (Mat 6:25-34). I imagine Jesus as someone who walked around with a supreme knowledge of what he was doing, and not even giving a single thought to the trivial things of the world. When there were thousands of hungry people to feed he fed them with 5 loaves and 2 fish. When he wanted to get across the sea he told the disciples to go ahead on boat and he came walking across the water. And here, when he wants to pay the temple tax he gathers the coin from a fish's mouth. It also reminds me of the fig tree (Mat 21:18-19). And Jesus' disciples picking heads of grain (Mk 2:23). Everywhere that Jesus and his disciples went they would gather from the area around them. Sometimes they would live off of the provision of women that accompanied them. But either way, they were not planning their next meal or where they would sleep. These things were not important to Jesus.

Finally I want to make mention of just how cool this is. In order to get the tax money he has Peter catch a fish which has a four-drachma coin in its mouth. How bizarre. I'm sure there were plenty of ways Jesus could have obtained a four-drachma coin, but he chose to do it that way. I guess that's just God being creative. Maybe you have an idea for why he chose to do it that way?