Matthew 17:24-27
A Sermon Prepared for the Hollywood Presbyterian Church
October 16, 2011
Rev. Stephen A. Herring
Introduction
The following story blends interpretations of the works of Josephus, the New Testament, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. These historical/critical observations are mixed with a healthy dose of imagination to create a work of historic fiction. I believe that history is only useful to us if we bring it to life by imagining ourselves as witnesses. Learning history is something we do in order that we may use history to help ourselves to better understand the world we live in today. Inspiration for this story came from reflecting on Matthew 17:24-27 and asking how on earth a coin could come to rest in the mouth of a fish. An inquiry into images of fish and paying tribute money led to the Habakkuk Pesher, an ancient Jewish commentary on the Book of Habakkuk found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Jewish War by Josephus. The work of Robert Eisenman helped me to see the connection between all these diverse texts. The rest is pure imagination. My hope is that this story will help us to understand the Gospel in the context of the historic events of the First Century. By this understanding I hope we can gain a sense of spiritual perspective as we enter our own period of fear and historic difficulty.
We possess little if any reliable factual information about St. Matthew, the author/editor of the First Gospel. We know little of the city of Taricheae
Rev. Stephen Herring
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Once upon a time there was a boy named Matt. Matt’s father was a fisherman. One day, when he was just old enough to accompany his father and to really help him haul nets, they brought in a wonderful catch of fish. There was a festival, and the market was good for fish that day, so his father received a good price for everything. His father was unusually generous and he gave Matt a whole Shekel coin. Matt was thrilled to have received a real man’s pay for a real day’s work. The Shekel was so bright and shiny, and it represented all his pride in being big enough and strong enough to earn money fishing. Matt kept that Shekel in his hand. He opened his hand and gazed upon it thinking how happy he was to finally be part of his father’s crew. He practiced flipping it up and catching it, tossing it and watching it shine in the sun. It became his habit to flip and toss the coin to show it off wherever he went. It was his first real pay for his first real day’s work. Matt’s father warned him to put the coin away as they headed out onto the Sea of Galilee to fish. Matt knew better though. He was quick with his hands. He was good at tossing that coin and catching it again. He never missed, or, almost never. That is when it happened. The boat shifted and the coin just barely missed his hand. He grabbed for it but it bounced off his hand and struck the side of the boat. For one sickening moment it flew up in the air, just within his reach, if he had been fast enough he could have caught it, but he was not fast enough and it fell into the water. Matt saw it disappear beneath the waves and he felt the very depths of darkness fall in upon his soul. His wage was gone. His father made it even worse. His father said that he would go back to laboring as a boy without pay from now on because he was so cocky he had thrown his wage overboard.
What Matt did not see was that the coin made a bright flash as it fell to the bottom. The flash was bright enough that it attracted a bunch of fish. Like any bunch of fish, the rule of size applied, and the largest fish shoved the others out of the way and quickly gobbled up the coin. He was a big, old fish, and like many big old fish his mouth had been torn by the hooks of different fishermen from whom he had escaped. The result was that the coin did not go down his gullet, but it lodged just inside his mouth alongside a rusted hook.
Years went by and Matt grew up. He inherited his father’s boat. He worked as a fisherman along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Gennesaret , or the Sea of Tiberius Taricheae Galilee had been a follower of a Teacher of Righteousness named Yeshua, the one the Greeks called Jesus. Matt was a little young to remember Yeshua very well, but his father had actually known Rabbi Yeshua. His father had made Matt memorize every one of the Teacher’s sayings. He had also made him memorize the teacher’s genealogy and a bunch of parables. They belonged to a community of Faith known by various names. To some they were called “the Innovators,” to others they were the followers of the “New Covenant in the Land of Damascus
One day when Matt was grown, another special Teacher of Righteousness came to visit their community. His name was Cephas, but he was also known as Shimon Petros. (In English his name is written as Simon Peter.) He had been a friend of Matt’s father from the old days when they were all fishermen of Galilee . This teacher brought home the teachings of Yeshua with special power and special life. He helped them to understand that they were all the beloved children of God and that every moment of their lives they were in the presence of God. Simon Peter taught them that everything unfolded in the mercy of God and that they must always seek to live as righteous friends of God. Simon Peter was a miracle worker in his own right. He was a real man of God. It seemed as if some of the magic of Yeshua had rubbed off on him. Simon called it “Ruach ha kodesh,”or the Holy Spirit. One day, Matt and Simon Peter were speaking about the way he had memorized the sayings and teachings of Yeshua. Simon listened patiently. He made a correction here and there, but he was pleased that Matt, the son of his old friend had memorized it all so well. Before he got up to leave, almost as an afterthought, he reached into his pocket and said to Matt; “I want you to have something to remind you of the presence, power, and the wisdom of our Lord Yeshua.” He then produced a simple Shekel coin. Matt wondered what this could all be about until Simon Peter explained. He told Matt the story of how Yeshua had told them that as Sons of the Father they were free from the worldly burdens of the temple tax, but that they should not cause a scandal by refusing payment. Yeshua told Simon Peter to go down to the Sea of Galilee and cast a hook. Yeshua told him that the first fish he caught would have a coin stuck in his mouth. Peter said; “You know, I was so amazed to have found the coin exactly as the Master had said that I just could not bear to put it into that temple treasury. I borrowed the money from Judas to pay our taxes, but I kept this coin all these years. I want you to have it now as proof positive of the saving power of our Lord Yeshua” Simon Peter handed him the coin, winked his old man wink, and headed out along his way.
Matt’s soul was blessed beyond words when he recognized the Shekel he had lost so many years before. He was astounded to have regained it after all those years. He kept it with him always, and seldom if ever took it out of the folds of his robe. It was a personal symbol of the astounding love God would always show to him. He devoted himself even more to gathering all the sayings and teachings of Yeshua and memorizing them. He also made certain that he taught them carefully to his own son. In those days, teachers of the Way had even suggested that others besides the Judeans would have the privilege of learning the salvation teachings of Yeshua. This meant his son would also learn the letters of the Greeks as well as those of the Hebrews. Matt was inspired and he taught his son well. He spent every spare bit of money he could get to make certain his son learned his letters. He wanted his son to be able to communicate with all the people of Galilee , Hebrews and Greeks.
In later years, things got rough. The hated Romans increased their taxes and tributes due from the people. Some followers of the Way, and other Judeans began to organize for a revolt. Everyone was talking about politics and taking sides. It soon became evident that a full scale revolt against the Romans was coming. The general, Vaspasian had begun to move increasing numbers of troops into the cities of Capernaum , Tiberias, and Taricheae all along the shore of the Sea of Galilee .
This was when Matt took his only son, whose name was also Matt aside and made him recite the whole group of the sayings and teachings of Yeshua. “The genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah Judah
The historian Josephus tells us what happened the next day on the Sea of Galilee next to the city of Taricheae Sea of Galilee was so full of the dead that the water was red. He writes of how their bodies washed up onto the shore, swelling and rotting and filling the air with the stench of death. None of the fighting men of Taricheae survived. The other citizens of the city were marched up the road to Tiberius. The old people, the women and the children carried their possessions with them. They were refugees hoping to find a safe place to survive the war. Young Matt walked along with his grandmother, his mother, and sisters. He tried to carry as much of their possessions as he could. It was hot and the road was hard with rocks. Dust hung in the air along with smoke from the burning city. As they followed the road north, toward Tiberius, more and more angry looking Roman soldiers lined the road, preventing any from escaping inland into the hills. Matt knew something bad, something terrible was about to happen. He remembered the discussions the old men had been having around the fires at night, discussions about how this was the end of the age. “This is the last generation. Soon, the Day of God will be upon us. All will be destroyed, and the LORD will make everything right once more by destroying the enemies of God’s chosen people. Messiah will come then to deliver us” There had been various, heated arguments about new teachers and preachers, some of whom claimed that they were the Messiah, the one who would lead the people to victory. Many of these imposters had simply fired everyone up just enough to take their money before fleeing into the hills. Believers in the Way were as confused as anyone. They wondered out loud if this would be that great and terrible day when Yeshua Himself would return to establish his kingdom on earth and redeem his people. It was all so dreadfully confusing.
To keep his mind from dwelling on the loss of his father, Matt put his mind on the Good News of the teachings he had memorized. He began at the beginning. “The genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah
Matt stopped so suddenly that he dropped his burden and the old man behind him ran into him. There were curses, and the nearest Roman soldier moved in with his whip to get them moving again. Matt hardly noticed. Something amazing had just dawned on him. Matt realized that this was not the end. This was only the beginning. Before lifting his burden again, and before the Roman could bring the whip down, he reached down to check that the Shekel was still in its place within his robe. It was there, the Shekel his father had given him, the one his father had received from Simon Peter, the one his father had lost when he was a child. It was there alright, safe in its place within his robe.
Later, according to Josephus, They were all marched into the stadium. It was there, in that stadium at Tiberius, in 67 A.D., that the soon-to-be Emperor Vaspasian committed the worst atrocity of his life. Because his soldiers did not know who was friend and who was enemy, he had all the old people, all the women and all the young children put to the sword. Only some of the boys were left alive to be sold as slaves. Everyone died or was sold into slavery.
Many followers of the Way would hear of this slaughter and they would see this terrible event as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Habakkuk where he wrote; “You make humanity like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. The enemy brings them up with a hook, he drags them out with his net, he gathers them in his nets, and so he rejoices and exults. … Is he then to keep on emptying his nets, and mercilessly slaying nations forever?” (Habakkuk 1:14-17) A commentary on Habakkuk found with the Dead Sea Scrolls matches Josephus’ description of the slaughter following the battle of Taricheae.
“This (prophecy) refers to the Romans, (Kittim), who destroy many people with the sword, including boys, the weak, old men, women, and children. Even on the child in the womb they have no mercy.” (Habakkuk Pesher, 1QpHab Col. 6, v.11. Translation of Wise, Abegg, and Cook)
Matt had heard different interpretations of the end times. He had heard this message preached by the white robed Essenes. He knew that the prophet Habakkuk had seen humanity being slain as a net full of fish by the sea. He shook and wept as he remembered seeing all those bodies wash up by the shores of the Sea of Galilee . He could not even find his father’s body, but he knew he was there, somewhere. He witnessed his own people being put to the sword, human beings slain just like fishermen cleaning fish after a good day’s catch. Death had such a grip over so many. You could smell it everywhere, like cleaning fish before market. “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you; “VIOLENCE!” but you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongs and look upon trouble? Destruction and violence are before me, strife and contention arise.” (Habakkuk 1:2-3) The Essenes had searched for an earthly Messiah who would lead them to an earthly victory against the Romans. Matt knew though that salvation was spiritual, not just physical. This is what Simon Peter had meant by teaching them so much about the Holy Spirit.
When thinking about the people being slaughtered like fish in a net, Matt remembered another, completely different image. He remembered how Simon Peter had shown them that the Greek word for “fish,” ICQUS was a secret code for all the followers of the Way. It stood for words forming the phrase; “JESUS Christ, of God the Son, Savior.” He remembered stories of how Yeshua, Jesus, had directed men of his grandfather’s generation to a miraculous catch of fish. Once, by the Sea of Galilee after he had risen from the dead, it was told that his disciples had brought in 153 large fish all at one time. (John 21:11) He had told them that they would be fishers of men, but not in the cruel sense of power exercised by the Romans. They would become fishers of men by being able to lead people from one world to the next, showing people how to live forever in the heavenly kingdom. He remembered a story of how a great multitude had been fed with a few loaves and a few fish. He remembered how Simon Peter had found a Shekel within the mouth of a fish. He remembered the Shekel in his own robe. He remembered, and he knew he was saved.
Matt would be sold as a slave and would be moved up into Syria
What about the Shekel? It is out there somewhere to this day, waiting for some child to pick it up and to remember how God loves us and God saves us from all evil and all destruction. Sometimes evil seems to win out for a time on this earth. When this happens we need to struggle against it as best we can. We need to fight as bravely and as hard as the family of Matt did against the Romans. Most of all though, we need to keep our faith in a saving God who will show us the way to eternal life. We might live and we die on this earth as fish in a net, but we need only hold on to our faith that Jesus will lift us up into a new life in the world of Spirit. As God views the world, every detail matters, and it is all sacred. Amen.
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