“THEN THE SONS ARE FREE!”

Matthew 17:24-27                                       (ESV)

The Temple Tax

“[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?” [25] 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?” [26] And when he said, “From others,” JESUS said to him, “”THEN THE SONS ARE FREE”.  [27] 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.””

JESUS (GOD IN THE FLESH) was walking with some of HIS disciples.  In the first portion of Matthew 17, Peter, James and John were with JESUS as HE was TRANSFIGURED, which means “To change the form or appearance of; transform, or to exalt or glorify”!  Peter, James and John were BLESSED to SEE this happened, but don’t we have just as many BLESSINGS?

Later on in Matthew 17, they came to Capernaum and the “tax collectors” inquired whether JESUS paid “the tax”.  Peter replied “Yes”.  Peter’s swift response was typical, for he customarily “spoke without thinking”, something that I have seemingly ALWAYS been guilty of.  JESUS asked Peter a thought provoking question, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?”, to which Peter responded “From others”.  JESUS then ENLIGHTENED Peter with a statement that should TRANSFIGURE us!  

“THEN THE SONS ARE FREE” means that we, THE CHOSEN, are free from the PENALTY for sin!  JESUS followed that up by saying “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.” 

The WORDS of JESUS are sometimes not given the opportunity to CHANGE my life because I don’t DWELL on them long enough!  “THEN THE SONS ARE FREE” says that WE (Believers) have our sin debt PAID by JESUS, but sometimes we need to pay like everyone else to not offend those who aren’t CHOSEN!  We need to ALWAYS remember however that JESUS paid the PRICE for us to be TRANSFIGURED and be declared “THEN THE SONS ARE FREE”!!!