Gentle Evangelism

Do you take the direct path or something different?

When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?’ He said, ‘Yes, he does.’ And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?’ When Peter said, ‘From others’,  Jesus said to him, ‘Then the children are free. However, so that we do not give offense to them, go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.’ - Matthew 17:24-27

Sometimes Jesus has a bizarre solution to the problem.

In today's Gospel reading, he pays the temple tax with a coin found in a fish.  Who thinks that way?

The point he makes is that the children do not have to pay the tax.  He is talking about kings and their children.  Kings don't collect taxes form family.  So, in drawing that comparison, Jesus is saying he is exempt because he is God's son. 

But he doesn't want to stir up controversy, for most would not understand who he really is.

So, he comes up with a solution that gets the money from the mouth of a fish.

One of the commentaries I read on this praises Jesus for being creative.  The author feels that the miracle of the fish and the coin tells us that God draws us in gently to belief, not wanting to hit us over the head.

We do tend to be like that, not wanting to offend others, so we take an alternate path to solve the problem. 

I guess Jesus wants us to know that is OK.  We can ease people into believing without being overly aggressive. 

Of course, we can't be as creative as Jesus.  But we can get the message across that we know who he is and understand if others don't yet believe.

More to come...