We’re talking about the Temple tax, not the Roman tax. When Jesus was asked about the Roman tax, people were trying to trap him. But here…the tax collectors are right outside, doing their job, trying to take up the tax. The question hangs in the air: “Does your teacher pay the temple tax?” Is it right or wrong? What should Jesus’s followers do?
Maybe these tax collectors are the “good guys.” They’ve dedicated their lives to the Temple, travelling far and wide to get whatever support they can for it. It’s not like there’s an up-to-date list of everyone who could pay. They have to go out and find people who care about the Temple. Also, the tax collectors recognize Jesus as a religious teacher. They don’t barge in and demand money from him. They show great respect in asking his disciple whether he pays the tax or not. Peter says that Jesus pays the tax. He doesn’t have a job, but he’s made sure to pay up to this point. Jesus leads Peter to find a miraculous coin in a fish. He doesn’t just pay the tax, he pays it for his followers, too. If Jesus pays it, we should, too. We’re on the hook, right?
Well, some would tell a different story. They would say that the Temple was the center of a domination system: one that plundered people, destroyed widows, demanded burdensome rituals, rejected outcasts, and sowed divisiveness. It was no longer there to serve God or the people, but the wealthy elite. The high priests were so corrupt in their relationship with Roman ruling authorities that to oppose one was to oppose another. They compromised the Temple’s sacredness.1 Some might say that Jesus paid this tax because he was forced to. They might point to Jesus’s comments about kings and taxes. If Jesus is the Son of God and we have been baptized into the body of Christ, doesn’t that mean we don’t need to pay the tax? Jesus says, “the children are free.” Does this mean we’re off the hook?
The thing is, though, this is not how the Temple operated. It didn’t drain people of their money or care more about rules than what is right. The Roman Empire had the power. The Temple was a center for Jewish leaders. If those leaders openly rebelled against Rome, they would be destroyed along with their people. They made some compromises in order to survive. This is hardly a betrayal of all righteousness. Still, some of their choices were worth protesting.
The origin of this tax is Exodus 30:11-16. It was an offering that was taken up to build the tent of meeting. That means it was a one-time tax. What’s more, the metal wasn’t collected to be used as money. It was melted down to form pedestals to hold up the tent of meeting. The people’s own offering was the foundation of their holiest place.2 This “tax” doesn’t reappear until hundreds of years later, in the 5th century. Nehemiah was leading the Hebrew people in rebuilding Jerusalem after the Babylonian Exile. In Nehemiah 10, he says that they choose to impose the ordinance on themselves to make an annual offering to the house of God. Then and in Jesus’ day, the Temple tax was voluntary.3 So… on the hook or off the hook?
There’s one more detail…in the Exodus passage. The Lord tells Moses that the people will need to, “give a ransom for their lives to the Lord, so that no plague may come upon them for being registered.” In the wilderness and in the time of monarchy, it was…let’s say concerning when your leaders did a head count of males twenty years and older. They were either coming for money or looking for soldiers to go to war. Unless God asked for the count, the consequences of taking a census were grave. So, making this offering became a way to state publicly that your life was in God’s hands. It was a mark of faith and belonging.4
Right after Jesus says that the children don’t have to pay, he tells Peter how to pay the tax for both of them. But the reason he does his is because: “we don’t want to offend them.” Since when is Jesus worried about offending anyone? The word he uses here is skandalizo. Literally, it means to set a snare in someone’s way, to make them stumble. It’s also where the word “scandalize” comes from. If you trip someone up, if you needlessly shock or offend them, then you may well be leading them to sin or pushing them down the wrong path.5 Paying the Temple tax was a simple mark of faith and belonging. Choosing to pay it was an easy way for Jesus and Peter to connect with the tax collectors and show them that they were honoring God.
I suppose if you ask Jesus, “does this mean we’re on the hook or off the hook?” he would say, “Yes.” It matters that we support the worship of God and the work of the church, even if pastors aren’t perfect or the presbytery makes questionable decisions or the General Assembly lets things fall through the cracks. It matters that we respect what is important to the people around us, that we speak the word of God with gentleness and reverence even if we don’t have to.
[1] https://archive.org/stream/TheMisunderstoodJewTheChurchAndTheScandalOfTheJewishJesus/The%20Misunderstood%20JewThe%20Church%20and%20the%20Scandal%20of%20the%20Jewish%20Jesus_djvu.txt & https://www.aportraitofjesus.org/social.shtml & https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Lent-3.pdf & https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3e6d/ae4195227f32222c4b19ae7900534ce03a4f.pdf
[2] Sarna, Nahum M. 1991. JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus. Jewish Society: Jewish Society. Jewish Society, 195.
[3] Witherington, Ben. 2006. Matthew: Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary. Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 331.
[4] Sarna, 195-196.
[5] https://biblehub.com/greek/4624.htm