Fishes . . . Serpents and Doves

Matthew 17:24-27

When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel 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.”

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 2)

[T]he tone of the whole story implies that for Jesus this was a way of making light of the whole system, maybe even making fun of it. “Oh, they want Temple money, do they? Well, why don’t you go fishing . . . I’m sure you’ll find something good enough for them.” It was a way of not saying, on the one hand, “Oh, yes, of course, we’ll certainly pay—here, take a coin from my purse!”, or, on the other hand, “No, certainly not, the whole system is corrupt—go and give him a punch in the nose!” It was a way of biding time.

The point of the story, then, isn’t that Jesus had the power to make a coin appear in the mouth of a fish—though that is certainly implied. Nor is it that Jesus is simply a good citizen, finding ways of paying the necessary taxes. The point is that he was a master strategist. He was himself, as he told his disciples to be, as wise as a serpent while remaining as innocent as a dove (10.16). There is perhaps a model there for all his followers as they pray and wait and plan how to confront the powers of this world with the subversive message of the kingdom of God (25-6).

A. Orendorff

Two opposing principles seem to be at work in this odd and perplexing story. First, there is justice—“Then the sons are free” Jesus tells Peter, implying that the temple tax is unjust. Second, there is prudence—“However, not to give offense.” As with so much in Scripture, it is by keeping these two principles—justice and prudence—in their proper tension that the way of wisdom emerges. Jesus will, of course, eventually go full-tilt the way of justice when he descends upon the Temple in Jerusalem with a whip in his hand and fire on his tongue. But for now, as Wright points out, it is time to “pray and wait and plan.” Much pointless (and bloody) conflict would be avoided if we, like Jesus, sough to be both serpents and doves.