Why Did Jesus Pay Taxes with a Coin from the Mouth of a Fish?
Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught. This is a story of a fish everyone would like to catch, but there’s more to it than paying a tax bill. When Jesus called Peter to be his disciple, Peter was busy fishing with his brother Andrew. “Follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” Peter knew how to catch fish, but Jesus would teach him how to bring people into his kingdom. I wonder whether Jesus’ eyes twinkled when he told Peter to cast a hook without bait into the sea, catch a fish, take money out of its mouth and pay the temple tax (Matthew 17:24-27). “I don’t know why Jesus told Peter to find the coin in the mouth of a fish,” says Barrett, age 12. “Maybe he likes fish.” Barrett, I think Jesus liked eating fish because he multiplied a little boy’s two fish and five loaves to feed 5,000 people. But I don’t think Jesus ate the fish that Peter caught. All true Southerners will be glad to know the coin-bearing fish was a catfish, according to the New Testame
