Does Your Master Pay Tribute? - Matthew 17:24

Matthew the apostle wrote while Jesus and His disciples, “abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men. And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry”, and in chapter seventeen and verse twenty-four of his book, Matthew shares how men asked Peter, “does not your master pay tribute?” where we read:

And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter,

and said, Does not your master pay tribute?

The verse reads, “And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, ...”. Matthew began with the words, “and when” or “and at the time and moment” “they were come” which means “the disciples and Jesus arrived and came forth” “to Capernaum” or “to the flourishing city of Galilee situated on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee or Lake of Gennesaret, near the place where the Jordan flows into the lake whose name means village of comfort”, “they that received” which means “the people who collected, took, procured and laid hold of the” “tribute money” or “temple tax” “came to Peter” which means “approached and came forth to one of Jesus' disciples whose name means a rock or stone”. Matthew shared how the “temple tax collectors” approached Peter to ask him the following question.

The verse continues, “and said, Does not your master pay tribute?” Matthew added the words, “and said” or “uttered, declared, proclaimed, asked and questioned”, “does not your master” which means “does your teacher not” “pay tribute” or “execute and fulfill the sum equal to two Attic drachmas, and corresponding to the Jewish "half-shekel," which was payable towards the maintenance of the temple and its services by every male Jew of twenty years old and upward”? Matthew shared how the “temple tax collectors” asked Peter whether or not Jesus paid the “temple tax” which was required by their law.

When we think through Matthew's words in this verse, we see another confrontation by those who were the “religious” authorities during Jesus' time on earth. This time it was the “temple tax collectors”, and rather than approach Jesus Himself, they questioned Peter. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and this example manifests the truth of that statement. Can we imagine requiring a “tax or tribute” from the God who Created all things including the “temple” materials by which it was built? Still, God loves people so much that He came to deliver them from their “sinful” way though His Son Jesus, and those who “pay tribute” to that idea by “believing and trusting” in Jesus shall receive everlasting life.

Next time Matthew shares how Jesus asks Peter, “of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute?”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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