Scripture Daily

Context No. 4210 of 4322 · Matthew

Context · Reflection

Matthew 17:22-27: in context

22While they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered up into the hands of men, 23and they will kill him, and the third day he will be raised up.” They were exceedingly sorry. 24When they had come to Capernaum, those who collected the didrachma coins came to Peter, and said, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the didrachma?” 25He said, “Yes.” When he came into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive toll or tribute? From their children, or from strangers?” 26Peter said to him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to him, “Therefore the children are exempt. 27But, lest we cause them to stumble, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take up the first fish that comes up. When you have opened its mouth, you will find a stater coin. Take that, and give it to them for me and you.”

When the collectors of the temple tax ask whether Jesus pays it, a small scene unfolds that reveals something of his heart. Jesus points out to Peter that kings collect taxes from strangers, not from their own children; as the Son of God, he is rightly exempt from the tax for his Father's house. Yet he chooses to pay it anyway, providing the coin in a fish, so that, as he says, we may not give offense.

What stands out is that Jesus, though genuinely free and exempt, willingly set aside his right rather than cause needless offense. He had every reason not to pay, yet he paid, choosing to yield his freedom for the sake of not putting a stumbling block in others' way. His liberty was real, but he did not insist on it when insisting would give unnecessary offense.

We may be genuinely within our rights in some matter, yet the loving course is sometimes to yield those rights rather than cause needless offense or put a stumbling block before others. Jesus, though exempt, paid the tax so as not to give offense. To follow him is to hold our freedoms loosely, willing to set them aside for the sake of others, rather than always insisting on what we are entitled to.

Am I willing, like Jesus who paid the tax though exempt, to set aside my own rights and freedoms for the sake of not giving needless offense to others, or do I insist on what I am entitled to even when yielding would be the more loving course?

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