John’s tweets for today:

• When we got to Capernaum, the tax men asked Peter if our teacher pays temple taxes. Peter told them “Of course”.
• As soon as we went in the house, Jesus said to Peter “When a king collects tax, who do they get it from? Their sons or others?”
• “The children don’t have to pay the tax, right? But so we don’t upset them, go down to the lake. Pull in the 1st fish that bites…”
• “It will have a coin in its mouth. Use that to pay both my tax and yours”

I love this story.  It’s so funny to me.  Peter is outside and gets asked if Jesus has paid the temple tax.  We learn later in the story that Peter hasn’t paid his own temple tax, but he answers that of course Jesus has paid.  He stand there and lies like a dog!

Jesus takes care of it in the end with a cool miracle of a fish with a coin in its mouth.  Not just any coin, but one of the right amount.

But I just love to think of Peter answering the Jewish rulers, knowing he hadn’t paid his own tax.  Wonder if he was embarrassed when he did go to pay the tax with that coin?

I also think it’s interesting that this story is only found in Matthew.  He was a tax collector before he met Jesus, so I bet he saw the humor in it too.

Bible reference: Matthew 17:24-27

I just finished reading Donald Miller’s new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. It’s a fantastic book about writing a good story with your life.  And how God always has the best story planned for us.  Miller talks about characters and settings and scenes in our lives and intentionally using them to write a good life story.

This Bible story of Jesus feeding 5000 people with a few loaves of bread and a couple fish makes me think of the props in our lives.  Sometimes in a story, a seemingly insignificant object can turn a whole story.  Like a pair of ruby slippers or a wardrobe in an unused room, or a single penny found on a sidewalk that’s being turned into a million dollars of food for the hungry.  Or a few loaves of bread and a couple fish.

Pay attention!  God may use one of the props in your life to write a good story.

Bible Reference: Matthew 14:15-21, Mark 6:35-44, Luke 9: 12-17, John 6:4-13

photo credit: hoyasmeg