Does The Bible Say You Can Catch Fish With Coins in Their Mouths?

“When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?” He said, “Yes, he does.” And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?” When Peter said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the children are free. However, so that we do not give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.” Matthew 17:24-27

Recently I attended a fishing trip with a couple of friends. We flew into a small fishing camp close to rural Nestor Falls, Canada for six days of fishing, fishing, and more fishing. The fish we were after were not small fish — we were looking to catch some Northern Pike, Walleye, Small Mouth Bass, Lake Trout, and the elusive Muskellunge (Muskie). Catching many of these fish takes some real knowledge of their habits and their appetites. You usually have to spend some time and investigating if you plan to catch a fish that is worthy of a picture to show to your friends back home. But just imagine if you boated a fish — took it back to the local cleaning station — cut it open and found a roll of one hundred dollar bills in its stomach. I believe this would really catch your attention.

Consider the power of Christ in obtaining the money from the fish’s mouth. Either He put it there (which is a miracle in and of itself) or Jesus knew it was there because, well, Jesus knows everything. In either case, this is evidence that Jesus is Lord of all. He chose to take the money out of a fish’s mouth, even though he could have received it from any of a multitude of sources — and fishermen from all over the world envy his luck. Even though the coins amounted to just enough to pay the tax for Jesus and Peter, don’t you think commanding a bag of money in the mouth of a large fish would have made a more significant impact?

Perhaps there is a lesson in this odd story. Perhaps Jesus is teaching us to be content to have just enough for our current needs — and not to constantly strive for too much. We are to trust G-d, even if we have to live from hand-to-mouth. If we have enough for today, “let tomorrow take thought for the things of itself.”

Look, if I happen to catch a fish whose stomach contains a roll of bills (American, not Canadian) I will certainly thank the Lord for the bounty given to me. But I am constantly reminded that striving for an abundance of money or goods or property is no where comparable to the abundance of love, mercy and Grace that G-d gives to me every day through Jesus Christ. And my friends, that is no “fish story”.

Pastor Dave

Does The Bible Say “Prophet, You Shall Spend a Year on Your Side”?

“And you, son of man, take a brick and set it in front of you. Inscribe a city on it – Jerusalem. Lay siege to it! Build siege works against it. Erect a siege ramp against it! Post soldiers outside it and station battering rams around it. Then for your part take an iron frying pan and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it. It is to be under siege; you are to besiege it. This is a sign for the house of Israel. Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment of the house of Israel upon it; you shall bear their punishment for the number of the days that you lie there. For I assign to you a number of days, three hundred ninety days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment; and so you shall bear the punishment of the house of Israel. When you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah; forty days I assign you, one day for each year. You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and with your arm bared you shall prophesy against it. See, I am putting cords on you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege. And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them into one vessel, and make bread for yourself. During the number of days that you lie on your side, three hundred ninety days, you shall eat it. The food that you eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight; at fixed times you shall eat it.” Ezekiel 4:1-10

Ezekiel is directed to act out what one of my seminary professors called a “Prophetic Sign-act”. When performing such an act, the prophet was told to do something (wear stocks, walk naked for three years, or lay on their side for 390 days). In this case, Ezekiel is told to perform a mock siege against Jerusalem. He was told to be mute so the prophet’s strange actions would communicate G-d’s message. This was to be a sign to the people of Judah living in captivity — and there was no doubt that word of Ezekiel’s actions would spread.

As part of his “Sign-act”, Ezekiel is told to lay on one side for 390 days, figuratively bearing the iniquity of the house of Israel, and then for 40 days on the other side, bearing Judah’s iniquity. Each day of lying down is said to represent a year. G-d then tells Ezekiel what he is to eat for the next 390 days—a mixed-grain bread. G-d first told him to bake it in a defiled way, cooking it over dried human waste, in order to symbolize the defiled state of Israel and Judah. But after Ezekiel expressed his revulsion at this, G-d allowed him to instead cook the food over cow manure, “a common fuel then as now”.

Today, people will do “stunts” to raise money for certain causes — they might live atop a billboard for several weeks, participate in a dance marathon for forty-eight hours, or walk across a tight-rope strung across a gorge. But these are different kinds of acts than the ones performed by the prophets of G-d. If the people would not listen to the words of the prophets, perhaps their acts might get them to think twice about their obedience to G-d. It makes me think about my own actions — and the choices I make in my relationship with G-d. Do I believe that my faithful acts are just stunts to make G-d think I am paying attention, or are they truly acts of worship and praise? It should make us all think…G-d is not interested in stunts — G-d is interested in deeds of praise and acts of love.

Pastor Dave