JUNE 30 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#21 “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

 

JUNE 30  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#21  

“What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, 

forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, another day You have given me breath and life, 

I pray that everything I do and say will be a reflection of the Grace

 so freely bestowed by the Loving Father on a sinner such as I. 

Lord there are so few things that we can do that really 

Honor and Glorify You so I pray that I will Trust and Obey You 

today and do that which You have planned and 

YOU HAVE WILLED ALREADY FOR MY LIFE! 

I lift my family up to You now in humble prayer, 

You know the needs in the depths of our heart and soul 

and so I place them in Your Healing Hands. 

Lord Jesus, You have told us that if we believe on You 

that we will become “One” with You, just as You and the Father are “One”. 

Grant it Lord that we see the Heavenly Prize of Belief, 

the Daily Comfort of Faith, and the 

Joy and Peace of Your Forgiveness.           

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is the “Way” and He certainly has a “Way” of Teaching 

that makes the Lesson stick with us and with this “fishy” Lesson 

Jesus Teaches us some valuable 

Truths of God about “Faith” 

using a “fish” and a single “piece of money”. 

The scene is set when Peter is approached by the temple tax collectors

 from the Capernaum synagogue and they in effect inform Peter 

that Jesus is delinquent on His “taxes” and they are wondering if and when 

Jesus is going to pay the temple tax? (Matthew 17:24) 

Peter told them “Yes” and then went to tell Jesus. 

When Peter entered into the house where Jesus was staying, 

and even before Peter could ask Jesus if He was going to

 “pay the temple tax”, Matthew records that 

Jesus “anticipated” 

that Peter was going to ask Him about taxes. 

(Matthew 17:25) 

This simple word “anticipated” tells us volumes about God 

and we should pull over at this point and examine all the connotations

 surrounding the meaning and reality of the fact that even before Peter

 could say a word, that 

Jesus KNEW what Peter was going to ask.

 The popular translation for the word used for “anticipated” 

in Matthew 17:25 is “prevented” and is used in the sense that 

when Peter started to speak that Jesus in effect said 

“I know what you’re going to ask Me so let Me ask you a Question first” 

which further identified and 

confirmed the deity of Jesus Christ because only the 

Divine Omniscient God knows everything that happens

 without having to depend on reports from outside sources. 

Only Jesus demonstrates that He is God 

and has all the Powers of God, 

and only Jesus reveals the Omniscient character of God 

to us as another Truth of God!!! 

The fact that God knows everything about us is considered 

by some to be an invasion of privacy but to those that have nothing to hide, 

it is a comfort to know that 

not only does God KNOW everything that happens to us, 

that God CARES about how those events affect our eternal soul 

and uses each circumstance to prove that He is a Loving and Caring God

 and that He only wants the best for our future.  

God uses every circumstance in our chaotic lives to point us

 to the Truth of God that He will “Teach” us 

through the Holy Spirit how to “learn” kingdom wisdom 

from everything if we will Trust God to decide 

what is “Right” and “Wrong” in our daily lives. 

Therefore when we read that Jesus “anticipated” what Peter was going to ask, 

we should understand that 

“Divine Anticipation” 

as God telling us 

“I Got This!” 

and Trust and Obey Him when He tells us how to handle the situation 

— even if the solution seems as “far-fetched” 

as “going fishing” 

in order to “pay taxes” ——— 

and add to that the fact that all Peter had to do was 

take the first fish he caught, look in the mouth of the fish 

and find in a single coin with the exact amount to pay taxes for two,

 not just one! 

This is the

 Truth of the Economy of God: 

God always provides the simple solution 

and that when we depend on His Provisions 

that we always have “enough” 

— regardless of the size or quantity needed, 

GOD ALWAYS PROVIDES “ENOUGH” !!! 

God never solves a problem without putting His Signature on it and that 

“Signature of God” is that the only possible explanation 

to the “solution” is the unexplainable “Mystery” of God. 

Who was the last person that could tell you your problem before 

you spoke a word and then solved your problem by some outrageous solution

 like getting the exact amount needed to pay your taxes 

in a single coin from the mouth of the first fish you caught 

when you went fishing instead of paying your taxes? 

I know, I know, it doesn’t make any sense at all, 

and I think that is just exactly the point, 

if we can make sense of it then we will take credit for it 

but I can just imagine Peter laughing while 

dropping the coin into the tax collectors hand 

along with several fish scales and then going home

 and having himself a big fish fry wondering — 

who’s going to make the tartar sauce?!?!?