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WisconsinChristianNews.com
Volume 26, Issue 1
Why Did Jesus Pay Taxes with a Coin from the Mouth of a Fish?
By Carey Kinsolving April 2025
Peter’s faith was tested because Jesus told him how to fish, which was his area of expertise. It’s often our strengths rather than our weaknesses that keep us from depending on the Lord. Even land lovers know fish don’t swim around with coins in their
over which many stumbled. Under the Old Testament law, any- one who hung on a tree was cursed. Jesus committed no sin, yet He hung on a cross, or tree, to bear the curse of sin for us.
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.
Jesus paid the temple tax so that even the hated tax collectors would have the opportunity to accept Him as their Rock of salvation. As Jesus told John the Baptist, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” Wise generals pick their battles. Sometimes, we need to give up our rights in order to avoid unnecessary offense. As ambassadors for Christ, our mindset should be about advancing God’s kingdom rather than exercising our rights. God is concerned about justice, but it’s often through the sufferings from injustice that people see His grace in action. Remember, Jesus al- lowed Himself to be crucified by evil people when He suffered on our behalf to pay the price for our sins.
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 king- dom. 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.”
Think about this: All your rights belong to God.
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 Testament Greek word. Under Jewish law, any fish without scales could not be eaten. Kendall, 12, says Jesus told Peter to go fishing “because He wanted to pay His temple tax and Peter’s. Peter had to have faith, and so do we.”
mouths.
Memorize this truth: “I have made myself a servant to all that I might win the more.” (I Corinthians 9:19).
Sam, 7, gets to the heart of the matter: “Jesus didn’t want to hurt the feelings of the tax collectors.”
Ask this question: Is God asking you to give up rights on a small issue so that you can share the good news that eternal life is a gift received by faith alone in Christ alone? KidsTalkAboutGod.org
Kings’ sons are exempt from paying taxes, so Jesus was not obligated to pay a tax to a temple belonging to His Father. But Jesus paid it anyway. By paying the tax with money delivered by a catfish, Jesus avoided one reason someone might have used to reject Him.
As the Scripture predicted, Jesus became a rock of offense
A Wake-Up Call For The Church
By Sarah Holliday, Washington Stand April 2025
survey as many people as Pew did in as many countries as they did, “and it shows that Christians in those 36 countries are one of the top religions that lose the next generation.” As Christians, he explained, “we should be aware of this trend, and
mindset, which he said “helps explain why the vast majority of young adults in this country, even those who grew up in the church, have not retained a consistent biblical worldview.”
urged to be “doers” of the Word, not just hearers, letting its truth shape our hearts and lives. A survey showing Christianity with the highest rates of dis- affiliation among religions shouldn’t weigh us down with despair. Instead, it should act as 1) a wake- up call and 2) a reminder. It’s a wake-up call to the fact that our call is not to “go share the gospel as long as people are re- sponding well to it.” No, our call is, come rain or come shine, to share the gospel. Period. We share it despite opposition, hostility, and persecution, be- cause we know it is the only truth that saves. No one is beyond redemption; no one lacks the need for it. Recognizing this, we press forward. Thus, studies like Pew’s serve as a reminder that, even when the outlook seems bleak or efforts feel futile, we serve a sovereign God. Jesus declared in Matthew 16:18, “I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” We don’t bow to surveys signaling Christianity’s decline or warnings that it’s “going out of style.” We heed God’s promise that nothing can derail His plan, no force can snatch His children from His hand, and no power can thwart His Almighty decrees. He will build His Kingdom, and it will endure forever. Closson is right. Christians should be aware of research that reveals the state of the church and Christianity. Not so we can be discouraged from its seemingly gloomy results, but so we can be en- couraged to continue marching forth, just as He has called us to do. So, parents: preach the gospel to your children. Teachers: shine as witnesses to your students. Politicians: uphold Scripture in the public square. Doctors: point to Christ as the ulti- mate source of life and healing. Christian: share the truth, be a light, and stand firm — no matter the circumstances, no matter the cost.
Have you ever heard of “religious switching?” The Pew Research Center describes it as a grow- ing “phenomenon” where individuals shift their re- ligious identities from childhood to adulthood. This doesn’t refer to changes within the same faith, but rather to those who either adopt a new religion or disaffiliate religious practice altogether. Pew’s latest report highlights a surge in this trend in recent years. Drawing from data on approxi- mately 80,000 individuals across 36 countries, the study revealed that “a fifth or more of all adults have left the religious group in which they were raised,” with Christianity and Buddhism taking the hardest hits. The countries seeing these “religious switching” trends most commonly are East Asia, Western Eu- rope, North America, and South America. And per- haps the real surprise is that the spotlight really isn’t on religious “switching” so much as a complete abandonment of religion altogether. “In other words,” Pew wrote, “most of the switch- ing is disaffiliation — people leaving the religion of their childhood and no longer identifying with any religion.” It turns out that “many of these people were raised as Christians,” with “29% of adults in Sweden alone that say they were raised Christian but now describe themselves religiously as athe- ists, agnostics or ‘nothing in particular.’” Pew fur- ther emphasized, “In most of the countries surveyed, Christianity has the highest ratios of peo- ple leaving to people joining — the largest net losses.” According to David Closson, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview, “This is a major study.” On his “Washington Watch,” he explained that it’s no small matter to
this should cause us ... to redouble our efforts of discipleship.” Closson elaborated with The Washington Stand: “The Pew study is significant for a number of rea- sons,” he said. “First, it shows that, worldwide, churches and Christian parents are having a diffi- cult time retaining their children when it comes to passing down the faith.” But this study also reflects what FRC’s research has found in a 2021 survey, which “showed only 6% of Americans have what you could call a bibli- cal worldview.” Naturally, Closson added, this raises the question: “What do the other 94% of Americans believe when it comes to their world- view?” The answer, Closson explained, is syncretism — a worldview that blends “various beliefs and con- victions, even if those beliefs are internally contra- dictory.” About 88% of Americans subscribe to this
This raises another pressing question, he noted: Have Christians, “parents, and church leaders even attempted to pass down a consistent Chris- tian worldview?” Closson found the results unsur- prising, especially given FRC’s corroborative research since launching its Center for Biblical Worldview in May 2021. Still, he stressed that it un- derscores the urgent need for Christians to re- assess their approach to evangelism and discipleship. As Christians, we understand that when it comes to sharing the Good News and planting seeds, God is ultimately in control of the increase. And yet, if you flip through the pages of Scripture, you’ll see a command repeated time and again: “Go.” What you won’t see in Scripture is a command to be complacent or stagnant. We’re called to proclaim the gospel, to make dis- ciples of all nations, tongues, and tribes. We’re
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