Exploring My Strange Bible - Death and Taxes - Gospel of Matthew Part 24

Episode Date: October 15, 2018

At this point, we take a look at Matthew Chapter 17 about taxes and death. This isn't the most famous story about taxes in the Bible, but it is one of the first. It is about how Jesus relates to power and the Jewish institutions within religious people. This is an interesting story to show how Jesus related to these powers that he believed were corrupt but still submitted to them, and it also sheds light on what it means for Jesus and his followers to relate to the power structures that they happen to live under.

Tim Mackey, Jr. utterly amazing and worth following with everything that you have. On this podcast, I'm putting together the last 10 years worth of lectures and sermons where I've been exploring the strange and wonderful story of the Bible and how it invites us into the mission of Jesus and the journey of faith. And I hope this can be helpful for you too. I also help start this thing called The Bible Project. We make animated videos and podcasts about all kinds of topics in Bible and theology. You can find those resources at thebibleproject.com. With all that said, let's dive into the episode for this week. All right, well, in this episode, we're going to keep exploring the gospel according to Matthew. This is part of a long series.

These are teachings that I did years ago when I was a teaching pastor at Door of Hope Church in Portland, Oregon. At this point, we are in Matthew chapter 17, and we're looking at a fascinating story of when the Jewish leaders of the temple in Jerusalem approached Jesus, asking him about a tax that is paid to the temple. There's a more famous story about Jesus and taxes where the Jewish leaders approach Jesus, and it's the famous story of should we pay taxes to Caesar and to the Romans. That story will come later. But first is this story about how Jesus relates to the power and religious institutions within the Jewish people, the people of Israel, of which he was one. So this is an interesting story to understand how Jesus

related to these powers that he believed were corrupt, but still submitted to them. But it also raises the larger issue, begins to paint a portrait for what it means for Jesus and his followers to relate to the power structures that they happen to live within or under. Interesting story that opens up lots of implications for how Jesus' followers today think about their lives. So there you go. Let's open our minds. Let's keep our minds open and dive in and learn together. Now when they, that is Jesus and the disciples, when they came together in Galilee, he said to them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him. And on the third day, he will be raised to life. And the disciples were filled with grief.

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two drachma temple tax, you know that one, right, the temple tax, they came to Peter and they asked, hey, doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax? Oh yeah, he does, Peter replied. Now when Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first one to speak. What do you think, Simon? That's Peter's Jewish name, Simon. 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 other people? Oh, from other people, Peter answered. Then the children are free, or some of your translations have exempt, Jesus said to him. But so that we may not cause offense, why don't you go to the lake and throw out your line, and take the first fish that you catch,

And take the first fish that you catch, open its mouth, and you'll find surprise for Drachma coin. Why don't you take that and give it to them for my tax and yours. That's the story. Death and taxes in Matthew chapter 17. We have been going, taking the slow route through the gospel according to Matthew. And actually, Josh and I were just working on the calendar. And we're going to finish the gospel of Matthew, right? The Sunday after Easter.

Come on. Come on. I couldn't have timed it better. We've kind of been just doing it in chunks as we go along. And that's how it came out. Amazing. And as we go through Matthew, we're in this section. You may remember, you may not. It's totally fine if you don't.

Jesus, he's on a road trip right now. This is the road trip section of the gospel according to Matthew. So just, I threw this map up here, you know, a few weeks ago, but it's okay. We'll look at it again if you don't remember it. So something really significant just happened, and now Jesus is on this tour, and he just arrived at Capernaum from the place at the top, Caesarea Philippi. If you remember the story from a few weeks ago at Caesarea Philippi, it's where Jesus asks his disciples, who do people say that I am? And so they give their responses to that, and then Jesus sticks it to him, and he says, well, who do people say that I am? And so they give their responses to that, and then Jesus sticks it to him, and he says, well, who do you, my disciples, you've been with me for a while, who do you say that I am? And do you remember Peter, Simon Peter, he speaks up, and do you remember his response? He says, you're the Messiah, you're the son of the living God,

and gold star for Peter, right? He got it right. And then Jesus proceeded to tell them something that broke all of their categories. And that was, go to the next slide here, that was this. From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must This whole section from that moment all the way on through to the next chapters, chapter 20, Jesus is on this road trip to Jerusalem. And it's his march towards death. He knows it, right? And he's trying to tell them about what's coming. Now, if you, again, remember the story from here,

do you remember Simon Peter's response to Jesus after this? Do you remember? He gave Jesus a talking to after that, right? Do you remember? He took him aside and he's just like, no, no, no, no, no. Jesus, you haven't read your Bible, clearly, right? Go read Psalm 2. Go read Daniel chapter 7, right?

The Messiah comes with the kingdom. It's like a smashing stone. You know, you're supposed to rule the nations with the scepter of iron, this kind of thing. And Jesus says to Peter, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're the one who hasn't been reading your Bible. You clearly don't understand Isaiah chapter 53, where the kingdom of God comes through God's servant being exalted and executed. It's the upside-down kingdom where God's style of kingdom comes not through imposing its will through victory and power, but rather through giving up power through death and sacrificial love. It's the upside-down kingdom. And the disciples don't get

it. They just so do not get it that really, let's go back to the map here. Almost every story now, as they go on this road trip in these chapters, almost every story is going to be Jesus having to correct misunderstandings about the kingdom and about what it means to be the Messiah, addressing people's wrong assumptions about him. And this story is exactly one of those. The disciples don't get it. And so here Jesus, they get to Capernaum from Caesarea Philippi, and he tells them again.

Did you see it? He tells them again. He's like, you guys, we're going to Jerusalem, remember. We've been at Capernaum. This has been our home base for a while. But no, we're just stopping here, and on we go. And the Son of Man is going to Jerusalem. You know, they're going to kill me.

And I'm going to be raised to life. Now, let's just, so let's pause. He's going to Jerusalem. What? Why Jerusalem? What's in Jerusalem that makes it the center of everything for Jewish life and culture? What's in Jerusalem? It's the temple, right? And the temple, It's the temple, right? And the temple, it's both the political, religious capital, right? It's not just like a church. It's the center of everything. And who's in charge of the temple?

Who runs the temple? Let's go back to what Jesus said. Next slide. Who runs the temple? The elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law. It's the leadership of Israel. So Jesus, he's on a collision course with the leaders of Israel, and he's been in conflict with them already. Again, if you've been following through Matthew, he's had all of these run-ins, right? Jesus has this conviction that the leaders of Israel are leading Israel astray, Jesus has this conviction that the leaders of Israel are leading Israel astray, right?

They've compromised Israel's calling to be a light to the nations, and that the temple has become a place of moral and spiritual corruption. And so he even said, like publicly, you know, he could throw down the gauntlet. He said, someone greater than the temple is here, right? And he challenged the chief priests. And so they're going to kill him. And Jesus knows that as he gets to Jerusalem, he knows. No one else gets it.

When the disciples hear it, the first time Jesus says this, Peter gives him a talking to. What happens the second time? Jesus tells them, yeah, I'm going to Jerusalem to die. And what does it say? They're filled with what? They're filled with grief. They're like, no, this is all wrong. The messiahs don't die, right? They conquer people, right? That's what kings do. And Jesus is like, yes, yes, kings do conquer their enemies. But this is just, Jesus has a different story in his head. In Jesus' mind,

he's going to Jerusalem, and the chief priests, the elders, and the teachers of the law, they're going to use the Roman powers to get Jesus executed. And in Jesus' mind, their victory over him is actually their defeat. Because what are they doing?

Jesus, he's gaining momentum in this kingdom of God movement, and to walk around, you know, it's kind of like this. It's kind of, it's like, here we are, this presidential election, that's all that's in the air, you know, this kind of thing, 2016, and it's as if Jesus is launching his own movement to become president, but completely outside the system. He's just, he's doing it on the Oregon coast or something like that, you know, and he's got thousands of people, all these people coming to follow him and move around him, and it's gaining international attention now at this point, and he's, you know,

that's the gravity of what's happening here. And, you know, chief priests don't take kindly to prophets up in Nazareth, you know, announcing that the kingdom of God is here, right? And that Jesus is the center of it all. And so they have their target on Jesus. But Jesus, he knows and trusts that actually what seems like their victory over him will be their defeat. Because as they use the only weapon that they have to impose their will, which is the threat of violence and the threat of punishment and death, as they exhaust and use that weapon to its full, Jesus sees that as his moment of greatest victory. And actually his defeat on the cross will be the way that he

overcomes the power of evil and death. And his resurrection, right, his resurrection is what empowers him to resist and gives him the courage to move forward in announcing the kingdom. It's very powerful, very powerful. Jesus has a different story in his head, that he will give his life and serve to bring the kingdom. The disciples don't get it. And they're filled with grief because Jesus is talking about the leaders of the temple planning to kill him. You with me?

How you guys doing? What happens next? Well, some representatives of what building come to collect a tax. Are you with me? The disciples arrived in Capernaum, and the collectors of the two drachma temple tax

came to Peter. And they asked, hey, Jesus, you know, your teacher, he's got this whole kingdom of God movement, what does he do? The temple tax is due. Does he pay the temple tax? Just stop right here. So this is one of those great Bible moments we read on and so on.

Dude, this is such a charged moment. This moment is so politically charged. It's like asking Donald Trump about climate change right now or something like that. You know what I'm saying? It's just like this is a loaded question at a loaded moment. Because Jesus is marching to Jerusalem, right? He's going to pull the stunt in the temple. Remember, he turns the tables over and that whole kind of, like he's on a collision course

with the temple and its leaders who he knows are going to kill him. And they come and ask him, it's temple tax time, Jesus. It's the spring. Does your teacher pay the temple tax? Now, I've shown this picture once or twice before as we go through Matthew, but it's just to give us a concrete image in our minds. This is a scale model reconstruction of Jerusalem in the first century. This is the Jerusalem Jesus would have arrived at. And you can see it's a big walled city. You can see the walls there around. But clearly, like at the center of the city, the capital city, is this dominant structure right there. It's huge, absolutely huge, the Temple Mount. And here's what's interesting. So, you see right at the center there is the temple and the courtyards around it, but then you look off, then huge courtyards and so on. If you look off to the left, to the red-roofed building right there, that's the

pillared colonnade. That's sort of like the chief priests and the elders of Israel. That's their center zone. That's where all the money change takes place. That's where Jesus turns over the tables, right? Do you see over there on the right, there's like a fortress looking thing? So that's a courtesy of the Romans. So the Romans were so tired of this city becoming a stage for rebellions against Rome, they just built a fortress that just overlooked the temple. They had archers manning those towers 24-7 to maintain peace and security, and so on. So you got Israel's leaders on the left. You have the Roman governor and his fortress on the right, and in the center is the temple. Are you with me here? Who pays for this thing? Look how huge this is. Like, who pays for grounds

and maintenance? You know what I mean? Like, that itself is just a massive job. And then there's hundreds of people who staff this whole facility, right? And the priests, the priests are the one who run and oversee all of that staff. Who pays their salary? How do the priests get paid? Well, through tithes and offerings to the temple and so on. But here you go. It's the annual temple tax. How do the priests get paid? Taxes.

I mean, it's kind of like, how does City Hall get paid for in Portland? Who pays to clean it and pay the people? You and I do, whether you like it or not. You and I do. Are you with me? Here, this is just how it or not. You and I do. Are you with me? Here, this is just how it works. It's a temple tax. Jesus is on a collision course with the temple. He's on his way to Jerusalem. The leaders of the temple have already set a price on Jesus' head,

like they're going to set a price. They've already set a target on his head like this. And someone comes and asks Jesus, Jesus, why are you going to Jerusalem? Are you going to set a price. They've already set a target on his head like this. And someone comes and asks Jesus, Jesus, why are you going to Jerusalem? Are you going to pay the temple tax? Are you with me here? This is charged. So what is Jesus supposed to say? Let's just play the scenario out.

In Jesus' mind, this place that once was meant to recognize the holy presence of the God of Israel, this is where the God of Israel was to be worshipped and honored, he believes it's totally bankrupt and corrupt. It's distorted the worship of God. He believes Israel's leaders are leading the people astray. So from Jesus' point of view, should he pay the tax? So from Jesus' point of view, should he pay the tax?

Should Jesus pay into the system that he knows is set to murder him? Right? Okay, so that's from Jesus' point of view. But then think about from the tax collector's point of view, right? So they come up, and for them, this is a question of, is Jesus a loyal Jew? Is Jesus loyal to the history and the tradition of the people of Israel? Is Jesus against the temple? Why is he against the presence of the God of Israel?

Why is Jesus going to Jerusalem with all these people surrounding him? What's he going to Jerusalem to do? If he doesn't pay the temple tax, is this a statement of rebellion? Is he going to Jerusalem to start a war? I mean, he says he's the Messiah. Is he going to take over the place? Are you with? Here we go. This is great.

This is first century politics right here, leaping out of death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin had no clue how charged death and taxes are. But here you go. how charged the death and taxes are. But here you go. So Jesus finds Peter. Actually, it's not even Jesus being asked the question, is it? This is a bad day to be Simon Peter.

You know what I mean? Look, he's caught in the middle of this. He's caught in the middle. So what does Peter say in response? Yes? Yes? What is he supposed to say? You know? Now, it could be, and we just, there's different views here.

It could be that Jesus actually has, you know, he's been around Jesus for a few years now. So it could be that Jesus does pay the tax, you know, and he's seen that and he knows that. And so it's a straightforward answer. Yeah, yeah, I've seen him do it, you know, last year. He'll do it again this year. So it could be that. Would this be the last time that Peter would lie through his teeth to get out of trouble and to save his life?

We know he's not above that, because he's going to do that in just a couple more chapters. He's going to deny that he even knows Jesus. So we don't know. That's part of the beauty of the story, is that it draws you in and gets you wondering, like, why does Peter say yes? Is it just, is he a conflict avoider, like me? Right?

He's like, whatever it takes to get out of this situation, oh my gosh. Right? So yes, yes. So we don't know. Peter comes into the house jesus the first to speak up hey simon simon calls him by his jewish given name what do you think he asked from whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes from their own sons and daughters from their own children or from other people other people okay jesus right leave it so peter just had this really stressful moment as the pr spokesman you know what i mean for the movement and jesus starts talking

parables always talking parables, always these parables about kings or whatever. Just be straightforward, Jesus. And he is. He actually is. You just have to follow his storytelling logic. So Peter comes into the house, and Jesus says, Jesus, think about how do kingdoms run in their world?

Kings run governments, yes? Governments require money to operate, yes? From where do kings get this money? From the loyal subject of the kingdom, right? And so a king, right? I'm a king over my kingdom. Aren't you fortunate to be my subject? Kind of thing, right? So give me your money or else your kneecaps will be broken or something or whatever. Or you'll go to prison

or you'll be fined. This is how kingdoms and nation states work. Through the threat of violence or punishment, laws are imposed. And one of those laws is pay into the government because it takes money to run that's just how the kingdoms of this world work now this is this is a great moment to be an american reading the bible this is a little parable right here because when jesus says okay kings

but let's say this king is also a father and has sons and daughters. Do those sons and daughters pay taxes along with everybody else? And as Americans, Americans go, absolutely, they do, you know, right? Natasha and Malia get a job, right? The president's kids, they get their first job or whatever. And do they pay taxes? This is America, right? This is a democracy, right?

There's no special privileges or whatever. You know, we left that behind in theory kind of thing, and so there you go. There you go. Of course, of course they pay taxes. Whereas in Jesus' world, you see, it's precisely the opposite. He assumes the opposite answer, right? The Bible's not written to Americans, right? Clearly, right? Anyway, you get my point. You get my point. So in Jesus' world, and he's not endorsing it. He's just saying this is how, this is their reality. Do the children of a king have to pay taxes in their day?

king have to pay taxes in their day? No. The assumption is no. Why? Okay, well, so children of a king, they have a different, fundamentally different relationship to the king than other people who are not family do. So because that king is also their father, and the father shares all that he has with his sons and with his daughters. And the sons and daughters will share all they have with the father. And in fact, one day, you know, in his age, if he gets sick, age or whatever, they'll support him. There's this intimacy, right? That's what's assumed here. There's this intimacy and this connection.

There's a shared relationship, shared resources. There's a closeness. And that puts them in a different category. They don't get taxed. Like, a father doesn't have to coerce his children, shouldn't have to coerce his children, right? No broken kneecaps, that kind of thing, right? They're exempt. They're free. Are you following Jesus? Are you following his logic here? Are you following Jesus? Are you following his logic here? So, the children, he just says it right here.

The children are free. The children don't have to pay taxes. If you're a child of the king, you don't have to pay. Now, okay, why is he telling a story about kings and taxes and so on? The temple tax. Who's the king of the temple? Who's the king of the temple? Who's the king of the temple? Whose holy presence descended in cloud and fire, you know, and Solomon and this whole thing? The God of Israel. God of Israel. And actually, what's so interesting was all the empires that ruled,

the people of Israel, the Persians, the Greeks, the Syrians, the Romans, they all honored the traditions of the people of Israel to some degree. Sometimes, sometimes not. But they all recognized there was something that the Jews had for this space. And they allowed them a degree of independence and dignity to worship the God of Israel in the way that they wanted to through the centuries. The God of Israel, he's the king of the temple, right? Not Caesar. Caesar has allowed the Jews to worship the God of Israel here. What? The God is the king of the temple. And the children of the king are free from paying taxes to have to support the system.

So just stop. There's a million things being unspoken non-verbally right here through this parable. And that's what Jesus teaches. You've got to think about it. So who does Jesus think that he is in relationship to the God of Israel? What did he call himself? What does relationship to the God of Israel? What did he call himself? What does he call the God of Israel? Father.

What does he call himself in relationship to the God of Israel? And what happened at the key moments in Jesus' story, at the beginning of the kingdom of God movement, and then at a crucial turning point. Do you remember the stories? Matthew has given us two moments, right, where the God of Israel speaks who Jesus is. One at the beginning of the gospel, look over to the next slide, and one just a chapter ago. Matthew 3, as soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on him. A voice And Jesus hasn't done anything at this point in the story.

Matthew 3. He hasn't preached a sermon. He hasn't healed anybody. And just as a sheer gift, he receives this public announcement of the God of Israel about him. This is my son. And it's very clear that this was a foundational moment for Jesus, because the first thing he does is go into the wilderness for 40 days to sort out what happened here in the river, right? 40 days. He goes to pray and to discern about his vocation and his calling and his identity in the wilderness, and he's tested there. And then out of that comes Jesus' confidence in the kingdom of God movement. And just one chapter ago, right? Right after this,

Peter gives Jesus this talking to about how you're not going to die, Jesus. After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. They went up to the mountain by themselves. A bright cloud covered them and a voice said from the cloud, and look, it's the same. This is my son whom I love. With him, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him. Do you see the addition there? Listen. He knows that Peter is just not getting it. Listen to him, Peter. For goodness sake, he's trying to tell you something. So who is Jesus in relationship to the God of Israel? He's the Son. He's the Son. And this is, here we're invited into one of the most unique things about Jesus of Nazareth.

Other rabbis talked about God being the father of Israel. Nobody talked, no rabbi on the scene ever talked about the God of Israel in exactly the way that Jesus did. No rabbi that we know of claimed that the God of Israel was someone with whom he is one. Someone with whom he is so close that anything that the Son does is the Father's will. And whatever the Father wills, the Son brings into reality, right? I mean, that's the mystery of Jesus' understanding of who he was and what he was doing. And one of the powerful realities of Jesus' understanding of who he was and what he was doing. And one of the powerful realities of Jesus' announcement of the kingdom was he invited his disciples to call themselves sons and daughters of the God of Israel. When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray,

what's the prayer that he taught us? How does it begin? Our Father. Jesus invites his disciples into the relationship of love and closeness and connection that he experiences with the Father. That's part of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Jesus. And so this is all right in the background here. Jesus sees himself as the son of the king, and he's invited his disciples to view themselves as sons and daughters of the king. From whom do the kings of the earth collect their taxes? From their children or from others? Well, from others, of course. Then the children are free. Do you get it? Do you get it? The children are free.

Apparently, Jesus' understanding of God is not that God... You don't have to pay to be God's children. It's a gift. That's God's children. It's a gift. That's the whole point. It's free. God's not a king who is going to break your kneecaps. You don't have to pay. It's just a gift.

And we call this good news around here, the door of hope. It's remarkable. It's the idea that humanity, we've so lost our way and so lost our sense of who we are, and that plays itself out in now seven billion ways, right? Here on planet earth, all these different levels of broken relationships and insecure people doing screwed up things to each other, right? And so Jesus comes and he, as the son of God and as the son of man, and he is a human on our behalf as the kind of human

that we're all called to be and made to be but perpetually fail to be. And despite our deepest flaws and failures, just in Jesus, God offers this gift, despite our flaws and sins, to be brought into this loving, merciful, forgiving relationship with the God of Israel, who is the creator of all that is. That's the story. That's the story. It's free. Paying taxes, that's like you're missing the point, right? You don't get it. You don't get it. The children are free. Okay, now, so what if the story ended right here? What if the story ended with that? What would you do come April 15th? All right, so actually, okay, right. But that's not this tax. Right?

This is the temple tax. It's not a government, civil tax. Right? But you get... Anyway, bad joke. All right. So what if the story

ended right here? What would you conclude? Is Jesus going to pay the tax? The children are free. They don't have to pay. Right? The love of the Father, the sons and daughters, you don't have to pay. Right? The love of the father, the sons and daughters, you don't have to pay.

Would you pay your taxes if the story ended right there? Would you pay the temple tax? No, I don't think you would. No, we don't have to. We have to pay God. Right? He gives me himself and his love. And now I'm the person of Jesus.

Even better. You know, I don't have to pay a temple tax. But, verse 27, you know, we don't want to cause offense here. So, Peter, why don't you go to the lake, like you're really used to fishermen. If you go throw out your line, you're going to catch the first fish.

There'll be a coin in his mouth. Take the four drachma coin and go pay the tax. And that's the end of the story. Now, so that we don't offend anybody. Now, when has Jesus ever cared about offending people? You know, are you with me here? Really? Especially the leaders of Israel.

This is such a bizarre story. with me here? Really? Especially the leaders of Israel. This is such a bizarre story. When has Jesus ever cared about ticking off the religious leaders of Israel? Like, he's got a beef with them, right? Really, he does. And what does this mean? Somehow Jesus, he's in this place where he doesn't feel compelled at all to pay into this system that he knows is fundamentally broken, is actually led by people who are set to murder him. So he knows that he's totally free from doing that. But his reasons for doing not paying the tax, that is so complex. It takes a lot of like nuance and understanding. And not paying the tax, as he's marching towards Jerusalem, is going to send all the wrong signals.

People will misinterpret it. It's not worth it. Just pay the tax. Do you see this here? This is Jesus as the strategist. He's picking his battles. That's what he's doing. And a very odd way, you know, is that Jesus doesn't have the money.

He was homeless, you know, itinerant guy, so maybe he didn't have the money. Or maybe it's that he so trusts God, I know I don't have to pay into the system, and so the Father will provide what is needed to pay for the system. But you have to admit this is odd. Anybody? This is odd. This is very strange. There's lots of stories, modern and ancient, Anybody? This is very strange. There's lots of stories, modern and ancient, about people, you know, pulling up fish that have a ring or a coin or something. Really? I mean, this thing, fish swallow shiny thing, right? So it's not crazy that there would be a coin in the fish's mouth.

Of course, the fact that it'd be the first one. But even, it's a strange miracle, isn't it? Because it's one of the only miracles of Jesus that wasn't public and a sign of the kingdom. And notice there's also no report of Peter even doing it. This story is very odd. I'm just, all I'm trying to say, this story is very, very odd. But the point seems to be this. The point is that Jesus knows that he's not obligated to pay God to be his father. That's something Jesus accepts as a gift. And it's something that he invites his disciples to accept as a gift. And so if God provides his love as a sheer generous gift, then he will also provide the means out of this very charged moment and situation. That seems to be the point of the story. Now, how you guys doing? All week I've been looking at this story and just going, what on earth does this have to say to us?

What would you do if you were me right now? It's a story about death and taxes in Matthew 17. I think there's something very profound going on here. And it has to do with Jesus' sense of who he is and who he wants his disciples to see who they are. And it's this freedom that Jesus exudes in this moment right here. Jesus has this confidence here where he has allowed, clearly Jesus doesn't care what people think about him, right?

You can pick that much up, but why? Is it just he thinks he's awesome or something like that? Why doesn't Jesus care what people think about him? And I think Matthew has put together, he's given us the clues to understand that the bedrock of Jesus' whole kingdom mission is his acknowledgement, and who knows when Jesus woke up to who he was?

Was it when he was four or something or 12? We don't know, right? 12, at least he wasn't in the temple and he had a sense of who he was about. The point is with at some moment, Jesus woke up to who he was and he woke up to who God is to him, that he and the Father are one and that he has come to be the very embodiment of God's love and commitment to his world, that he is God's second self, so to speak, and that there's a union of love and closeness between the Father and the Son that is unbreakable and that's a sheer gift.

And Jesus is clearly rooted in that sense of his Father is generous and loving and caring and with him always. And that's the sense of the Father that Jesus is inviting his disciples into. And so Jesus can walk into a moment that's, I mean, I would melt in a moment like this. I am so, I'm such a conflict avoider. I wouldn't even know what to do if I was Peter. I would run away, right? Put something over my head. You know, this kind of thing.

La, la, la. I, you know, so this is a very charged moment. And Jesus just navigates it with complete calm and confidence. How does he do that? Jesus has a sense of who he is that's not determined by what anybody else thinks about him. Jesus sees who he is, his identity, his meaning, his vocation, his purpose, his value, on the basis of only what one person thinks about him, the Father. And what does he know the Father thinks about him?

I love him. I'm utterly committed to him. And Jesus invites his disciples into that same love. And into that same confidence. And clearly right here, the children are free. So let me just make this concrete, very concrete, like in this room right here. So an hour ago, we all came in here.

And what did you feel like when you came into the gathering today? There are many of us who we love. We love coming to church. We love coming to this church. When we come in, there's people that we recognize. There's people that we know that know us, right? There's history or whatever. And so there's a hug, there's a handshake, a smile. You know, we love it. And there's confidence and safety and trust here in this room. Is that everyone's experience in the room right now? No. No. And those who do feel safe and comfortable, we would do well to remember that, right? For some people, coming to church is so terrifying. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for you, because I know it took, you should receive

a medal for being here right now, right? And for some people, it's whatever. It's just large rooms with lots of people. That itself causes a lot of stress. There are a lot of people in the room right now who don't know a lot of people here. And when they came in the room, there wasn't somebody who like knows them and gave them a hug when they came in and you feel a little awkward being here i just met someone in the grocery stores one i love these moments right you meet someone in the grocery store they're new to door of hope they're new to following jesus in the last year and so they were sharing with me how they they love the people they're meeting and what's happening here but also it's all just a bit terrifying and intimidating

every single sunday right and it's there you go there you and intimidating every single Sunday, right? And it's, there you go. There you go. So what's happening? When we go into a room, what are we looking for? We're looking for validation. We're looking, am I known? Am I accepted here? Am I safe?

And that's because as humans, we're fundamentally relational. And because we gain our sense of value, our sense of identity, and purpose off of what other people think about us, right? Some of us came into the gathering today, and the first thing in our minds was, like, who's the important person that I talk to? Who's the influencer here? I need to go talk, I need to be seen talking to them, you know? I mean, that's where our minds go, where I wish I could talk to that person, but you guys know what I'm talking about here. This is what we do. We gain our sense of identity from others.

And in Jesus' mind, being a disciple of Jesus means remaking that, just reshaping all that altogether. And you can just see it in this story. Jesus sees his identity, his calling, who he is and what he's about based off of the estimation of only one person, the Father.

And that gives him this true north, and it gives him this calmness and this confidence to say what he needs to say no matter what anybody thinks about it. Are you with me here? And this is what Jesus invites us into. Jesus doesn't let anyone else determine who he is. He lets the Father's love for him determine who he is. And he invites the sons and daughters of the King into the same kind of thing.

the sons and daughters of the king into the same kind of thing. Now, how many of you have ever met a child who is so confident in their parents' love for them that it becomes arrogant? Anybody? We have a great English word for this kind of thing. It's called being a brat. Being a brat. And it Being a brat, right? And it's a child that so takes for granted, right,

their parents' love and commitment to them that they use it as license to go do whatever the heck they want. But that's not what Jesus is doing here, is it? Is Jesus being a brat, right? And so this is what's so remarkable. Jesus recognizes that he is free to not pay this tax, but he does it anyway. He doesn't flaunt his freedom. He doesn't use it for his own selfish

advantage. He's like, you know what? People are going to misunderstand. This is not a battle I need to fight here. There's more important things. I'll pay the tax. It's fine. Jesus is so confident in his identity and who he is, he's fine doing what people expect of him, even though he knows he doesn't have to do it. Do you see that there? It's this brilliant double revolution, right, of his sense of worth and value and identity. And so here you go. Let me kind of, let me land this. Death and taxes. What on earth does this have to do with anything? It has everything to do. Because underneath this is what it means to see yourself as a son or daughter of the king. There's some of us here who, and I'm going to invite us as we transition into worship and taking the bread and the cup, there's some of us here who this is like one of your main deals, right?

One of your main battles if you let yourself go there. Your sense of who you are and your worth and your purpose and maybe it's family of origins, it's stuff that's happened to you, it's a temperament thing, but you have a very difficult time actually understanding who you are. And you spend most of your life letting other people determine who you are. And so it seems to me being a disciple of Jesus

is about addressing that. And it's beginning this lifelong journey of letting the Father's total, unconditional, committed love to you in the person of Jesus, to let that remake your sense of value and worth and identity. And Lord willing, we can actually become the kinds of people who would respond with this calmness and confidence, this sense of rest in the Father's love for us,

no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in. And so some of us, as we come to worship Jesus and take the bread and the cup today, I just invite you, invite you, as you take the bread and the cup to recognize that you're eating, you're eating these symbols of Jesus' love and commitment to you.

You're eating the symbol of the Father's love for you. And it's the reason we do it every week, because we forget, right? And these kinds of processes are long and slow and take a long time. And so here we go. It's another Sunday where we're reminding ourselves of something that has the potential to remake your whole sense of who you are. And I invite you to pray the prayer as we take the bread and the cup, and to say to yourself, because of Jesus, I am a beloved daughter. I'm a beloved son of the King. What does it mean to live that this week? Or there might be some of us who are brats and actually you've really presumed upon the love of Jesus and the love of the Father. And you don't take Jesus very seriously because, you know, yeah, he's always going to be there

and always going to love me and that kind of thing, or whatever, and that's a dangerous game to play, too. And so maybe actually taking the bread and the cup needs to come as a prayer of repentance and a prayer of acknowledgement that you've taken Jesus for granted and you've taken the Father's love for granted and to receive it anew

and to allow it anew, and to allow it to challenge you and remake you. This is about receiving the Father's love for us through Jesus, and letting it teach us to embrace our freedom. And not a freedom that we flaunt for our own advantage, but a freedom to live this upside-down kingdom where the kingdom of God spreads not through the imposition of threat of violence, but through self-giving, sacrifice, and love. And how do you, man, how do you power a life of self-sacrifice and love? And it seems to me Jesus has paved the way for us. It's recognizing the Father's love for you.

Thank you for listening to Exploring My Strange Bible podcast. We'll continue on next week exploring more of the Gospel according to Matthew, so we'll see you then.