The Curious Incident of the Silver Fish
Matthew 17:24-27
Our economy has taken a battering. First, there was Brexit, then the Global Pandemic, and now war in Ukraine. Prices have gone up: food, utilities, fuel…. Even a McDonald’s cheeseburger. And we all seem to be paying more in taxes. Some wages have gone up, others not. But few have kept pace with inflation. In real terms, we feel less well-off. It’s bad here, but in Chad, and other developing nations, it’s catastrophic.
2,000 years ago, another war meant they were living under military occupation, the economy was ‘tanked’ and people were balking at taxes.
Only Matthew includes this story: The Curious Incident of the Silver Fish. Maybe it was because he was a tax collector (Mt.9:9-12) and Peter a fisherman (Mt.4:18-22). It starts with a controversial tax and demands to release Jesus’s Tax Statement, and ends with Jesus telling peter to Go, Fish! And pay the tax with a silver coin he’d find inside the first fish he caught.
Peter was starting to be seen by others as the senior disciple, the official spokesperson. Maybe this is why the next Chapter starts with the disciples debating who will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. (The answer? Those who learn from, and become like, a little child.)
So, when asked ‘Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?’, hot-head Peter automatically defended Jesus, even when he didn’t know for sure. So, what was the temple tax?
In Exodus 30:11-16, Moses and Aaron were organising the Tabernacle, The Tent of Meeting (it was a tent that they met in, The Tent of Meeting just sounded cooler!), and its schedule of sacrifices and services. From an annual census, every male aged 20 or above was to contribute half a shekel towards the upkeep of the Tabernacle - the TabTax.Back then, it was six grams of silver. At today’s prices, approximately £3.50. Not a lot. All were to contribute, whether rich or poor. It was a token “I’m in” that everyone could chip in with. Following the return from Exile to Jerusalem, when the economy was ‘tanked’, Nehemiah had temporarily reduced it to a third of a shekel.
It was less a commandment or God-given Law; more a practical response. It’s the difference between the law of paying and grace of giving. Paul said, “Since you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” (2 Corinthians 8:7)
But religion is like Japanese Knott Weed. It spreads, smothers, and kills-off God’s grace, liberty and joy. Tradition and appreciating our spiritual roots is helpful (hence Rejoice!, our traditional service; Breathe!, our Contemplative Celtic Communion service; our use of the Northumbria Community Daily Office etc etc), but religion that squeezes out God-given life in the Spirit is dead. Left unchecked, pioneers become settlers, grace becomes law. The Religious Elite were using the TabTax to pay for their monument – the Temple. They renamed half a shekel as two drachma, equivalent of two days pay:
•	National Minimum Wage 	= £142.50
•	Real Living Wage 		= £163.50
•	Average pay 			= £252
So, when he was asked if Jesus paid the TabTax, Simon (Peter) jumped in to “protect” Jesus; he gave the answer he thought would save Jesus. To Peter’s surprise, “When he came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak.” Even though He hadn’t be present, all-knowing omniscient Jesus knew all about the conversation. Peter might not have known about Jesus, but Jesus sure knew everything about Peter. Jesus knows you: every hair on your head. If someone knew everything about me (every thought, motivation, action), I might feel exposed, vulnerable, even, at times, shamed. But when that Someone is so full of total grace, compassion, love, instead, I fee safe, secure.
Jesus asks Simon (not yet Peter), “What do you think?” In Chapter 16, Jesus had again asked, “Who do people think I am? Who do you think I am? Jesus asks you the same! It’s not just what are you supposed to believe, what others think. Jesus frequently encouraged people to think for themselves. As you read the Scriptures and pray, what do you think the Holy Spirit is saying?
Jesus asked Simon, “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes – from their own children or from others?” The King doesn’t pay their own taxes, neither do the King’s children. It is the rest of us, humble subjects of the king, who pay the taxes. Jesus was stating a claim: Yahweh is THE KING of kings, LORD of lords.
Jesus was saying, I’m the Son of God, the Son of THE KING of kings, LORD of lords. I don’t have to pay. What’s more, Jesus says, “Then the children are exempt.” In Christ, you and I are also children of God. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1) It’s not just Jesus who has a direct and beautiful relationship with God; everyone who is a follower of Christ, all those who are ‘in Christ’, have the same direct access to relationship with God. Hence, why we pray, “Our Father, who is in Heaven…”
Eighteen months ago, we were upgrading our church kitchen in preparation for the launch of our Crossroads Café. To be more environmentally-friendly, we’d decided to go all-electric, so we need induction hobs. But, it turned out, commercial-grade induction hobs were hugely expensive. Then, through the wonders of eBay, I found someone selling three brand new induction hobs at half the usual price. I bought them straight away, and then discovered they were in central London – in Piccadilly’s (in)famous Trocadero. So, a road trip. I arrived to find the exact address was a Chinese Restaurant. Inside, for twenty minutes, the staff said they knew nothing about any induction hobs. I was starting to feel I’d be conned out of a lot of a four-figure sum, when in walked a bloke with a heavy Eastern European accent. He took me through a back door, down some steep steps, into the bowels of the Trocadero. We walked through a series of tunnels, up some steep steps, and emerged into.. a strip club. I kid you not! We walked across the floor and through another door into a stock room which, sure enough, had the three induction hobs. So, next time you have lunch at our church café, know that your delicious meal was cooked on hobs from a strip club in London’s West End. Why tell you this? The induction hobs look the same now, as they did before; but the moment they were purchased, they were given a new identity with a new purpose. They no longer serve a strip club, now they’re in a church café growing community. In the same way, whatever your back story, your past, the moment you chose to follow Christ in his radical sacrificial life, death and resurrection, ‘in Christ’ you were given a new identity with a new purpose – as a child of God. Doesn’t this change everything? I can face tomorrow because I am a child of God, I am a child of THE KING of King.
What’s more, the TabTax was to fund the Temple – the system of dead religious rules and regulations that Jesus had come to replace. Jesus hadn’t come to reform the temple system, He’d come to overthrow it. Why? Because Jesus was what the Temple could never be. The stone Temple was fixed in one location, accessible only to those who could travel, and was based on man-made sacrifices supposedly to appease God. Instead, Jesus – through His sacrificial life, death and resurrection - would become the once-and-for-all sacrifice, available to all people, at all times, in all locations. So, for sure, Jesus wated to destroy the whole Temple system. And yet he was being asked to help pay for its upkeep.
But, here’s where it starts to get a tad.. curious. Jesus then said, “But so that we may not cause offence, Go, fish!” “Offence” in Greek was skandalizo: ‘to not cause to stumble’. Jesus didn’t want to reveal his hand too soon. He couldn’t risk being dismissed as an irreligious figure; after all, His time had not yet come. So, for now, He’d pay the TabTax. “But so that we may not cause offence, Go, fish! 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.”
Maybe, after a tense encounter with the Religious Elite, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knew that Peter needed some time out, to clear his head. What better way than to Go, Fish! Jesus knows your needs; He doesn’t just ‘task’ you, He cares for you too. Listen to Him.
On following Jesus, Simon and his fishing colleagues, had been given a new purpose; they would fish for people - lots of them. In most of their fishing encounters, they used nets. It’s the way to catch a large quantity of fish. Last week, we heard they caught so many, their nets were starting to break and their boat begun to sink. But, on this occasion, Simon Peter wasn’t to use a net; he was to fish with a line, a rod. Now, it’s about catching ONE specific fish: the one with silver in its mouth. All-powerful Jesus has already met the financial need, it’s waiting for Peter’s response. Maybe there’s something also about co-working with Jesus. This miracle required both Jesus and Simon: Simon faithfully using his skills/ experience/ time, and Jesus miraculously multiplying its impact. It was a miracle that Simon Peter had to work for. Go, fish! for your miracle.
The Curious Incident ends with the silver fish paying for both Jesus’ and Simon’s TabTax. Jesus wated Simon to know for sure, he too was included in the blessing. 

07840 046020   DannyBrierley@ChesterRoadBaptist.org.uk