An Exercise in Humility

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
Matthew 17 (click the link)


REFLECTIONS:
Funny story: I spent hours and hours on the devotional for today. I researched and summarized and applied all the topics addressed in Matthew 16 and just as I was about to email it off to Tres, I realized that I had done the wrong chapter. After some pouting and trying to get out of more study time, I gave up and read the correct chapter, Matthew 17. My very first Companion study back in February was about Mark 9.  Imagine my surprise when I realized that Matthew 17 was Matthew’s telling of the scenes found in Mark 9: the transfiguration, healing of a demon-possessed boy and Jesus preparing the disciples for His coming trials and death. Because of this, I’ll hit one quick highlight and move on to a fish story found uniquely in Matthew 17.

Verses 1-2 - After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.

This fascinates me because it wasn’t a new miracle, but the temporary suspension of an ongoing one. The real miracle was that most of the time Jesus could keep from displaying His glory.  2 Corinthians 8:9 says it like this: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."

Verses 24-27 - After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”  

This wasn’t a trap; it was a fair question to ask. Though some religious groups made it compulsory for adult males, the Temple tax wasn’t mandatory, and rabbis were exempt from it. Jesus had an obvious out since he was the son of the God worshipped in the Temple (see verse 5) so the humility and sense of humor Jesus displays when he agrees to pay the tax really stands out to me, but the most notable part is how He chose to pay it.  Peter was a career fisherman. He used big nets to catch lots of fish, yet Jesus was offering Peter yet another chance to be humble and throw out a line to catch one.single.fish. My active imagination sees Peter sitting on a pier with a Snoopy fishing pole and worm, whistling, and hoping his fisherman buddies didn’t walk by to see this.  The Maker of the fish, the Son of the God of the Temple pays tax to a human out of the treasury of the Kingdom of Heaven… and hey, He’s got you covered too, Peter.

PERSONAL APPLICATION:

Peter, opinionated, always one to shoot his mouth off, had big ideas about how to impress Jesus that usually were rebuffed by Jesus Himself in favor of humility… I’m a little like that. This is the second time God and Tres have asked me to look at these same stories. What else do you want to say to me about this God? You have my attention.

WHO AM I?

I am Leigh Anne Bland and I’m feeling nostalgic. Today, May 25th, is my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. They will both become octogenarians this summer but I still see them as young because they refuse to act old. My dad is a reader, always curious to learn new things, and my mom can make friends with anybody. I’m pretty proud of the example they have set for me and the way they love me. Happy Anniversary, Mama and Daddy!