Lessons from the Mouth of a Fish

A couple days ago during my devotions I came across one interesting account in Jesus’ life. It was when Peter encountered some of tax collectors who asked him if Jesus paid His taxes. Afterward Jesus gave Peter some strange instructions: Go down to the river, catch a fish and look for loose change in its mouth.

It’s a very short and strange account, but as I looked at it I found that there are lots of things that can be taught from it. In this short story you can see God’s providence, our responsibility to respect authority, and foreshadowing what was ahead for Jesus.

The first thing that I noticed was how Jesus lived near poverty levelThis is the one who preached a sermon on not worrying about anything, instructing His disciples to travel without gold or silver. He had no permanent home, and was often an outcast in society. What we see is an example of the faith that Jesus challenged us to have: to live without worrying where our next meal will come from or what we will wear because God has all of that in mind and will take care of it. He is always providing what you need when you need it, and sometimes that comes in the form of money.

Of course, it also proves his sovereignty over nature. There are dozens of ways that those coins could have gotten in the fish’s mouth in the first place, but no matter how it happened, God made it happen and made it so that Peter would catch that one fish to pay both for his tax and Jesus.

When Peter went to Jesus to talk about the tax Jesus asked him, “From whom do the kings of the earth receive their taxes? From their children or from others?” I think Jesus was reminding Peter that He is God and does not owe anyone anything, but still wanted to lead an example of how we are to treat those in authority. Today I see and hear a lot of complaints about how much we have to pay to our government and highly criticize our politics. If you think American politics are bad, let me remind you that Jesus and his disciples lived in the Roman Empire. Caesar, the Roman Emperor, and Herod, the king of Judea, were tyrants, the soldiers and tax collectors were corrupt, and still Jesus said to give what was due to Caesar to Caesar. Paul expounded on this point as well in Romans13:1-7, teaching the church to respect the authorities because they are meant to be God’s agents of justice and they are established by Him for that reason. I may not like the ordeals of our politics any more than the next person, but how can I expect to do less than what Jesus commanded when He called His followers to submit to the authorities? So it challenges us to respect our leaders and give them what is due.

And finally, this small passage of scripture can be used to bear witness to the sacrifice that Jesus would make on the cross. Even though Jesus is God and does not owe anything to anyone, He still showed us His love by coming down to earth as a man and living a sinless life for the purpose of being the sacrifice we need to pay for our sins. Back then, people would go to the temple to bring a sacrifice to temporarily cover their sins in accordance to the Law of Moses, but when Jesus died on the cross, He became the permanent sacrifice and paid our debts once and for all.

God’s Amazing Providence

During the last few weeks it’s been back to the drawing board for me as far as looking for jobs. I went around to some businesses in town to ask the manager of each one if there was any work I could apply for and I filled out a few applications for them. Most of where I applied gave me the application for the sake of it, but there were no promises of a job.

Yesterday I went through the campus of UNA to see if there were any postings on a bulletin board or something, and there were a few leads, but again nothing promising. As I finished my walk, I stopped by the lion cage to visit my two friends Leo and Una. I watched as they lounged lazily and looked around as people passed them by. I thought about how these lions’ needs were met daily as people fed them and gave them shelter at night and safety during the day. Then I looked at Una and told her, “Aren’t you glad that you have all your needs provided for you?” In that moment, I felt that I heard God say, “Aren’t you glad that I do the same for you?” It was then that I was reminded of Jesus’s promise when He said not to worry about food or clothing, saying that just as God takes care of the birds and the flowers He will most certainly take care of humanity.

Additionally I had a Bible study with my friends and we talked about Leviticus 25:1-7, a passage describing the regulations of a Sabbath year. While the Israelites were preparing to go to the Promised Land God gave them laws to follow, and various laws described the significance of allowing one day of rest every seventh day. But this passage talked about an entire year out of seven. People were to go a whole year without working. That meant no going out to attend to their own crops, but simply living off of whatever fruit, vegetable or animal happened to be available.

Something like this may seem too hard for us to imagine in such a fast-paced generation where jobs basically have us working a straight twenty-four hours a day for seven days a week. How can one expect to keep himself clothed or fed if not by the sweat of his brow? I think that is exactly God’s point in giving this instruction. He does not expect us to clothe or feed ourselves. That was always His job from the beginning. As His children He cares for us as a Father would His own son or daughter. This one year would give God the opportunity for Him to demonstrate that.

Being a college graduate without a job can seem unnerving when where are many concerns that I have to face. No job means no income, and so it will be harder to support myself. But I am not alarmed by these problems because I know that God is taking care of my every need already. It can be tempting to be discouraged by the things that I do not have, but before I pray that God will give me what I desire I want to first thank Him for the things that He has already blessed me with. I may not have my own place to live, but I still have a roof over my head thanks to my family. I may not have a job to make income, but I still am able to get my daily necessities. And most of all I still have friends and family in town who love and support me.