The Children are Free - Matthew 17:26

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 when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Does not your master pay tribute? He said, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What do you think, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?”, and in chapter seventeen and verse twenty-five of his book, Matthew shares how Jesus told Peter, “then are the children free” where we read:

Peter said unto him, Of strangers. Jesus said unto him, Then are the children free.

The verse reads, “Peter said unto him, Of strangers.”. Matthew began with the word, “Peter” or “one of Jesus' disciples whose name means a rock or stone”, “said” which means “uttered, declared and proclaimed”“unto him” or “to Jesus”, “of strangers” which means “from foreigners, aliens and those not within one's own family”. Matthew shared how Peter answered Jesus by declaring “foreigners and non-family” members were to pay the “tribute money”.

The verse continues, “Jesus said unto him, Then are the children free.”. Matthew added the word “Jesus” or “the Son of God, the Savior of mankind and God incarnate whose name means Jehovah is Salvation” “said” which means “uttered, declared and proclaimed” “unto him” which refers to “Simon Peter”, “then” which means “therefore” “are the children” which refers to “are the offspring, progeny and descendants” “free” which means “freeborn, exempt and not bound by obligation”. Matthew shared how Jesus told Peter the “offspring and progeny” are “exempt and not bound by obligation” to the “temple tax”.

When we meditate upon Matthew's words in this verse, we see how Jesus reasoned against the “family” paying the “tribute tax”. They should have been “free” from having to pay the “tax”, however, that is where governmental control steps in. God desires every person to know that He has already paid the “tax” or “price” for their salvation from sin through His Son Jesus, and those who yield their lives to Him shall never have to “pay a tribute” for what He has already paid - “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13)

Next time Matthew shares how Jesus tells Peter to, “go fishing” to pay their “tribute”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.