“It’s a Miracle: a coin from a fish”
Matthew 17:24-27
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
We like to hear fish stories. Some are true and some, not so true.
Think of a man who was seen walking from a dock, carrying a bucket with two brown trout. And, sure enough, a DNR warden stopped him and asked to see his fishing license.
The man replied, “Actually, officer, I wasn’t fishing, so I didn’t catch these brown trout. They’re my pets! You see, every day I come down to the dock and put these fish into the water and take them for a walk to the end of the dock and back. When I’m ready to go, I whistle, and they jump back into the bucket and we go home.”
Obviously, the officer didn’t believe him and reminded him that it was illegal to fish without a license.
The man turned to the warden and said, “If you don’t believe me, then watch.” Then he threw the trout back into the water.
The warden said, “Now whistle to your fish and show me that they’ll jump out of the water and into the bucket.”
The fisherman turned to the officer and said, “What fish?”
Then there’s the day Ole went ice fishing. He had read several books on the subject and finally, when he got all the necessary equipment together, he made his way out onto the ice. He set his chair in place, then started to cut a hole in the ice.
When all of a sudden, from up above, a voice boomed. “There are no fish under the ice,” it said. Startled, Ole moved farther down the ice, poured himself a big cup of coffee, and began to cut another hole. Again, the voice bellowed, “There are no fish under the ice.”
Poor Ole was so concerned, he moved down to the opposite end of the ice, set up his chair and began to cut the ice.
Again, the voice rang out, “There are no fish under the ice.”
He stopped, looked upwards and said, “Is that You, Lord?”
“No,” answered the voice. “It’s the ice rink manager.”
We love to hear fishing stories. Some are true and some, not so true.
Our text for today is also a fish story, a miraculous fish story. But wonder of wonders, it’s true after all.
If you would, please turn with me in your Bibles to page 1046 as I read the words of our text, from the book of Matthew chapter 17. We’ll begin at verse 24: “When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher not pay the tax?’ He said, ‘Yes,’ And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?’ And when he said, ‘From others,’ Jesus said to him, ‘Then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for Me and for yourself.”
Now, if you would, please turn back with me one page to page 1045, and there you’ll see, in Matthew chapter 17, verse 1, that Jesus was transfigured. As He stood on top of that mountain with Peter, James and John, His appearance suddenly changed. His face shone like the sun. And as Moses and Elijah stood with Him in glory, even the Father called out from heaven to say, “This is My Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”
And just as soon as He came down from that mountain, He healed a boy possessed by a demon. In verse 15, his father said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not heal him.” Then, in verse 18, the Bible says Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him.
Now on page 1046, in verse 24, He’s once again in Capernaum, and tax collectors come to collect a tax.
Now this tax isn’t necessarily what you think. The money wasn’t meant for Pontius Pilate, for Caesar or for Rome. This was the temple tax.
You see, some 1400 years before, when the people of Israel were still in the wilderness, Moses commanded that each and every male, over the age of twenty, should pay a temple tax. That’s what it says in Exodus chapter 30: “This is what each one registered shall give…half a shekel as an offering to the Lord.”
It wasn’t a large tax, but it wasn’t a small one either. Think of how much you make in two days—that’s the temple tax.
And why was there was temple tax? Worship wasn’t free, you know. Actually, it cost money, a lot of money. There were morning and evening sacrifices, as well as gifts of wine and flour and oil. Every day, some of the world’s finest incense was bought and burned.
Besides, there were quite a few people on the payroll, like priests and rabbis, sacrifice inspectors, bread bakers, and linen washers.
And speaking of linens—the temple itself was filled with costly tapestries of all kinds, not to mention gold, silver, and bronze vessels—not out of vanity, but a way to say, “God, this is how much we love You.”
So each year, each male Jew, over the age of twenty, was asked to pay the temple tax.
And so it would appear, Jesus paid it too. For when those tax collectors asked Peter, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” he answered, “Yes! Yes, He does.”
And as it says in verse 25, just as Peter walked into the house, Jesus was ready and waiting for him. He said, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?”
And when Peter replied, “From others,” Jesus said, “Then the sons are free.”
Then, not to cause any offense, He sent Peter on a mission. Listen to what He said in verse 27: “Go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for Me and for yourself.”
If there’s any doubt as to who Jesus really was, consider this miracle of a coin in a fish’s mouth. For at the very moment those tax collectors stood at Peter’s door, somewhere on the Sea of Galilee, there was a fisherman casting his net into the sea. And as he leaned back and threw his net, with all his might, a coin slipped from his pocket and plunked down into the water below. And there it went, whirling and twirling, glistening and flashing, into the sea.
And at that very moment, a fish came swimming by. And when he saw it, he couldn’t help but open his big fish mouth and snag it, only to be surprised, (as much as a fish can be surprised), that it was hard and cold. He did his best to spit it out, but somehow it got stuck in his gullet and he couldn’t get it out. So off he swam, not knowing quite what to do, but to try and find something bigger and better to eat.
And notice, Jesus didn’t tell Peter to throw a net into the water, and pull up a bunch of fish. Instead, He sent him off to cast a single hook into the water. And neither did he tell him to keep on casting, time after time, until he found the right one. He didn’t even tell him exactly where to fish. He simply said, “Cast a hook and take the first fish that comes out.”
And out of all the thousands upon thousands of fish swimming in that Sea of Galilee, it was that one, that very one, that got hooked on Peter’s line. What a incredible display of the power and majesty of Jesus Christ!
It was a miracle.
Is it any surprise? It shouldn’t be. After all, this is the same God who sent ravens to feed a prophet named Elijah hungry in the wilderness, who never let a widow’s flour or oil run out, who fed His people manna every day for forty years, and who filled crowds, numbering in the thousands, with a couple of fish and five loaves of bread.
What an amazing, unfathomable, incomprehensible God we serve!
Imagine for a moment that you’re standing on a beach and you’re watching the ocean’s waves roll in, one after another. And as you watch, you see them pick up speed and surge toward the shoreline—cresting, curling and collapsing into white froth on the sandy shore. And as one wave breaks and falls, another follows right behind, rushing in to take its place. One after another they come, rising, breaking and falling on the shore in a ceaseless, never-ending cycle, one wave after another after another, fueled by the ocean’s endless wind and waves.
When we think of that endless ocean and its ceaseless waves, we think of the words of John chapter 1: “And out of His fullness, we have all received grace upon grace.”
Sometimes we think that when the first wave of God’s grace came in, when He sent His Son to save us, that’s all there was. What more could we possibly need?
But God wasn’t through. Not in the least. For when we needed strength or wisdom or healing, wave upon wave of God’s grace poured in, bringing His supply to more than meet our needs, time after time, again and again.
And can He do it, will He do it, for the rest of our lives? Out of the vast ocean of His grace, wave upon wave, grace upon grace, is headed our way.
Did we do something to deserve His relentless, unfailing grace? Not a chance. It’s all because our Lord Jesus went to the cross to pay the full price for our sins. Wave upon wave of God’s judgment fell on Him until every dot of sin was removed. And when He cried out, “It is finished!” a flood of God’s grace was poured out on us, more than we can ever know, more than we can ever imagine.
Maybe you’re siting outside your doctor’s office, terrified by what the test results might bring. You wonder how you’ll afford the treatment or if it’ll even work. Maybe you’re waiting for an interview and afraid you’ll be turned down for the umpteenth time in favor of someone else. How will you pay your bills without a job?
Close your eyes for just a moment and think of the waves on the sea, because that’s how God’s grace is coming into your life—one after another after another after another.
Just think! One morning, Peter cast his line into the sea and pulled a coin from a fish’s mouth. There’s nothing our God cannot do.
We thank You, Father, for this amazing, astounding miracle on the Sea of Galilee. Help us to know that, by Your grace, You are able to supply our each and every need. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen