Why did Jesus give us counterintuitive image management advice?
Text: Matthew 17:24-18:4
Hosts:
J. Kent Edwards
Vicki Hitzges
Nathan Norman
Narrator: Brian French
The CrossTalk Podcast is a production of CrossTalk Global, equipping biblical communicators, so every culture hears God’s voice. To find out more, or to support the work of this ministry please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org
Produced by Nathan James Norman/Untold Podcast Production
© 2024 CrossTalk Global
Brian: Image management is a multi billion dollar industry. If you do a Google search, you will find any number of consultants and companies eager to make you appear as successful as you wish you were. What is image management? As one website described the industry, it is the ongoing, proactive process of evaluating and enhancing the impact of a client's appearance to others. Image consultants promise to put their clients in the best possible light to influence the opinions and actions of others so they can achieve personal and professional success. From job seekers to established professionals, homemakers to retirees, people in every stage of life want to manage their public image and project a winsome and powerful Persona. This is why I find Jesus image management approach so counterintuitive. In fact, if you look closely At Matthew chapter 17, verse 24 to chapter 18, verse 4, you can understand why some could have concluded that even our Savior could have benefited from an image Management Professionals Council join Vicki Hitchkiss, Kent Edwards and Nathan Norman as they try to understand Jesus unique image management strategy. Welcome to crosstalk, a Christian podcast whose goal is for us to encourage each other to not only increase our knowledge of the Bible, but to take the next step beyond information into transformation. Our goal is to bring the Bible to life, into all our lives. I'm Brian French. Today, Dr. Kent Edwards, Vicki Hitchkiss and Nathan Norman continue their discussion through the Gospel of Matthew. If you have a Bible handy, turn to Matthew, chapter 17, verse 24, to chapter 18, verse 4, as we join their discussion.
Kent: Vicki, Nathan, have you ever been around people who invested much time and energy into cultivating their public image?
Vicki: Oh, I'm a motivational speaker. You sell yourself online. That's what you do.
Kent: How do you do that?
Vicki: Well, you take good pictures, you make them better. You write a terrific piece about yourself and put it in the third person so it doesn't sound like you wrote it about yourself. Talk about all your achievements. Yeah.
Kent: It reminds me, your comment reminds me of when I was applying for a faculty position at Biola University. We're sitting in a large room with everyone staring at the resume that I had provided and wow, you've done this. You've done this. You seem perfect. And I said, well, I didn't write down what I did wrong.
Vicki: Yes, exactly. Exactly.
Kent: That broke everybody up. But I was just honest. I'm like, don't get the wrong impression.
Nathan: Yeah, it's like at the job interview, what are some of your weaknesses? Well, I work too hard and I'm too loyal to the companies that I'm working for.
Vicki: Yeah, yeah.
Kent: No, people are very concerned about their image, aren't they?
Nathan: Oh, absolutely.
Kent: That affects your future, right?
Nathan: It does. Especially in the online age where somebody can go back five years to some stupid tweet that you made and you can lose business over that when it resurfaces. Yep.
Kent: I guess that's why I find Jesus actions in Matthew 17 in 1-1-18. So. Well, as Brian said, counterintuitive.
Vicki: Well, let's read it. It says, after Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax? Yes, he does. He replied.
Kent: Okay, this sounds like a boring start to a boring story.
Vicki: I'm with you there.
Kent: Chances are good that most people have not heard emotionally powerful sermons from this passage. Right. There may be a reason why only Matthew, the tax collector turned disciple, mentions this tax story. It's not found in any of the other gospels. Maybe it's because Matthew was uniquely qualified to understand the significance of this tax.
Vicki: Because he was a tax collector.
Kent: That's right. Let's follow Matthew's lead back up and consider tax payment in general. Guys, do you pay taxes?
Vicki: Oh, yes, yes.
Kent: Oh, you sound very enthused. Why do you pay your taxes?
Nathan: Because I don't want to get in trouble.
Vicki: Well, to keep out of jail. Yeah.
Kent: So you pay your taxes to whom?
Nathan: The man. The government.
Kent: The government. And the reason that we pay our taxes to the government? Well, it's because tax payments are a tangible recognition of a citizen's subservient position to their government. We pay our taxes to the government because they are over us.
Vicki: Right, Right.
Kent: We are beneath them. So therefore we owe them our taxes. It's a recognition of their authority over us. Okay, Keeping that in mind, in Matthew 17, these collectors of the temple tax come to Peter and he appears to be ambushed. He seems to be alone. They find him alone. And they didn't want to come to Jesus, I don't think. But they approached Peter. I think he, as I read this passage, seems a bit off guard.
Nathan: Look, when hyenas go after the water buffalo, they get the weak one, right? They pick the right one. And Peter, they're like, ah, we've got the sick, gangly one right here.
Kent: I say that because when they asked him, how did Peter answer?
Nathan: Yeah, of course.
Kent: Yeah, of course. But the reality is he hadn't. Jesus had not paid the temple tax. So I think he was ambushed. So why is this confusing little segment here in the Gospel of Matthew? Well, I think the answer is found in the kind of tax that they were collecting. Did you notice what it was?
Vicki: Temple tax, Is that what you mean?
Kent: Yeah. They weren't collecting tax for general coffers. They were collecting a temple tax. The temple tax began with Moses way back in Exodus 30, 11, 16. And I think it's helpful to understand what the temple tax was all about.
Vicki: Well, I'll read that. It's Exodus 30, 11, 16. It says, Once a year, Aaron shall make atonement for the people on the horns of the altar. An annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering. It is most holy to the Lord. When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life. All who crossover those 20 years old or more are to give an offering to the Lord. The rich are not to give more than a half shekel, and the poor are not to give less. When you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives, receive the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will memorialize the Israelites before the Lord. Making atonement for your lives, huh?
Kent: So this temple tax was more than just to pay for the upkeep of the temple, Right? Or the tabernacle in this case. Correct.
Vicki: It sounds like a serious tax. You're giving it to the Lord to atone for your lives. Is this something God told him to do?
Kent: Yeah, through Moses. Yeah. And it wasn't just a one time thing. Way back in the dark ages, Nehemiah, when he rebuilt the temple. Nehemiah in Book of his own name, chapter 10. At the re establishment of the temple, had the religious leaders of Israel make formal vows regarding collecting the temple tax?
Nathan: Yeah, it says we assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God, for sin offerings, to make atonement for Israel and for all the duties of the house of our God.
Kent: So again, just as Moses had said, yes, they paid this temple tax to keep the temple going, but it was a payment also for the atoning sacrifice for their sins. So why did the temple tax collectors ambush Peter in Matthew 17 with a question? Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?
Nathan: Yeah, they were trying to find out if Jesus had passively admitted to being a sinner.
Kent: Right.
Nathan: Doesn't your teacher also need to atone for his sins?
Kent: So it was a passive aggressive attack on who Jesus was.
Nathan: Oh, those are the worst.
Kent: Did he pay the temple tax? This isn't about taxes. This is about does he see himself as necessary to be forgiven by God? They were attacking his identity. Jesus has already well established who he is. Do you remember what happened in Matthew 2?
Vicki: Matthew 2 says he was born of a virgin and Gabriel called him Emmanuel. God with us.
Kent: Well, that's pretty clear. In Matthew 9 he healed the paralytic. Do you remember that? The Pharisees and the teachers of the law who were present there, they didn't really care so much that he healed the paralytic. But when he said that the paralytic sins were forgiven, then they got upset because who can forgive sins?
Nathan: Only God.
Kent: Only God. So he was declaring himself as God. In Matthew 13, his explanation of the parable of the weeds, Jesus says at the end of the age, the Son of man will what?
Vicki: Will send out his angels and they will weed out his kingdom. Everything that causes sin. And all who do evil, they will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Kent: Jesus called himself the Son of man. And he's saying, this is what I am. I'm the judge of the whole world. And the time is coming when you will see it. And in just the last chapter, Peter confessed that Jesus is the son of the living God. And Peter and the disciples saw him transfigured and up on the mountain and chatting with Moses and Elijah. I don't think there's much debate that Jesus claimed to be God. Right, right. But how does Peter answer the tax collector's question?
Nathan: Yes, he does.
Vicki: Yeah, they said, doesn't he pay temple tax? And he said yes. And I bet you he said that just to short circuit the hassle.
Kent: I think he did too. I think he was ambushed. I think, what can I do that will cause the least amount of stir? Well, I guess yes. But then the story takes a twist. I don't know how, but somehow Jesus knew about Peter's conversation with these guys. And notice how he responds.
Nathan: I imagine Peter spoke very loudly in everything he did. He's a guy who's just voice carried, you know, even when he's whispering. Guys, come on over here. Everybody heard him.
Vicki: Do you not think he would have kind of kept it down since Jesus was right there? Or maybe not. Maybe he was trying to protect Jesus.
Kent: I think he was trying to do his best to protect Jesus reputation. I think his motives were good, but his actions, not so much. Well, just listen to what Jesus says to him.
Vicki: Well, he goes, when Peter came Into the house. Jesus was the first to speak. 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 others? From others, Peter answered, then the children are exempt. Jesus said to him.
Nathan: He'S like, oh, shoot, he knows. Peter, what have you been up to? Nothing, Lord.
Kent: Yeah, Jesus here is. He's clearly not a fool. He knows the true intention of what that question the tax collectors getting at. He says, in effect to Peter, look, I am the king of kings, and kings don't pay taxes to themselves. The castle is their house. They don't have to pay taxes to maintain it. It's theirs. I have no debt to pay. And you, Peter, you're a child of the king. As forgiven followers, you don't need to have to pay an atonement tax either, because you are part of the family. You are a child of God. No, Jesus is saying, I am not in need of atonement, and you should not pay any tax as well. The tax collector's question was a gross insult to both Jesus and Peter. Yeah, how would. If most people were insulted as deeply as these tax collectors insulted Jesus and Peter, by inference, how would we be tempted to respond?
Nathan: Oh, I'm calling them out. I'm yelling at them. I'm going to point out their hypocrisy and their. Well, even I would just talk about how. How sneaky they're trying to be. And, you know, why don't you come at me straight? Why don't you just ask a question? Why do you got to be. Be like this and work behind the scenes? Right. I'm going to call them out for what they're doing, and then I'm probably going to insult their mothers.
Kent: Yeah, I mean, I think sometimes, you know, we hear of celebrities being pulled over by the police for speeding or something, and what is often the first thing they say to the poor policeman who pulled him over?
Vicki: You know who I am.
Kent: Yeah. If you knew who I was.
Nathan: Imagine that happened to Justin Timberlake recently. He was pulled over.
Kent: That's true.
Nathan: And he was arrested because the arresting officer didn't know who Justin Timberlake was. Great story.
Kent: The idea that. The idea being that if the police officer maybe understood his significance, maybe he wouldn't have arrested him for drunk driving.
Nathan: Right.
Kent: Yeah, I think you're right. I think the offense we have when our image is challenged can be visceral. It can be angry, it can be hurtful, even at times. But it's fascinating to me how Jesus chooses to respond what does he say to Peter?
Vicki: This is. I don't know why I think this is. Maybe this isn't a good word to use, but this is the way I think of it. This is more like a magic story. Even though he's done all these amazing things in the past, but he goes, so that we may not cause offense. Go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch, open its mouth, and you will find a four drachma coin, take it out and give it to them for my tax and yours. I know, I know.
Kent: He doesn't fight back. He doesn't attack them. He doesn't demean them. He says, I don't want to cause offense. That doesn't look like good image management to me, but that's what he does.
Vicki: Why do you say that it doesn't look like good image management?
Kent: Because he's allowing someone to have some credible reason to diminish him, to say he's not really God like he claims to be. He just paid the temple tax.
Vicki: Oh, I can see that. But he's letting them make him pay a tax he shouldn't have to pay.
Kent: Right?
Vicki: Yeah, I see that.
Kent: And they can use that as a reason to say he's not really God.
Vicki: But it would be cool if he said it to Peter and they heard him and they went with him and went, holy cow, there's a coin in this fish's mouth.
Kent: I'd love to have that rewrite in the story. It's not quite there, but think of the impact Jesus is really saying. I realize their disbelief, the refusal to acknowledge the obvious, that I am the son of God. But I see the insult behind their question. And even though I do, I don't want to offend them. I don't want to be an offense. I don't want to be a stumbling block to their potential spiritual progress. So in an act of immense humility, Jesus miraculously provides the coins necessary for Peter to pay the personally offensive and unnecessary tax. Jesus swallows his pride, but he does not attack his attackers. Vicki Nathan, have you known people who have had their faith attacked, demeaned, insulted?
Nathan: I have a friend, his name is Dan, and he works in France. He has worked there for, I think, just about longer than I've been alive. And he works specifically in France with Muslims. And as he has, you know, I read his newsletter on a regular basis. And as he pretty much shares the gospel with these individuals and people come to faith in Christ, he's almost always attacked whether people follow him to his house and demean him or wait for him outside of the ministry headquarters to mock him and ridicule him. There have been times where they will follow him to his house and physically assault him for sharing the gospel with people who are Muslim and being successful at it. So I think of Dan all the time. And Dan, he's a disabled person to begin with. So it's like the man has no means to defend himself. And yet he continues to persist in this ministry. And truthfully, the way he responded, you know, he. Anytime it's happened, you know, so he'd come to our church growing up and he'd say, oh, and these guys, you know, this is what they did. Pray for them and pray for their salvation. He was one of the most gentlest men ever, had an incredibly dry wit where he made an incredibly funny joke, but you didn't realize it until about five minutes afterwards because he was smarter than you and it took you that long to process it. It just always, always impressed me that someone who had so much skin in the game had had so much emotional, financial and physical harm happen to him, how he could turn around and just have one of the best attitudes and a desire that his attackers and haters and detractors would still come to faith in Christ.
Kent: I think it is very hard to respond with grace to people who take the focus on the faith that we have that we know is true. It is found in the most historically accurate book in the world called the Bible. It has had the effect of transforming lives for centuries. We know that it is true and we are confident because of what it does in our life and the lives of others. And to have someone demean and insult that, it's easy to respond with indignation.
Nathan: It's like if someone insulted your kid or your spouse.
Kent: Exactly. But Jesus doesn't respond that way. He doesn't want to offend. He doesn't want to put a stumbling block in front of them. That's not easy. But that's what Jesus does because he doesn't want to stop their potential spiritual growth in the future. This seems just like what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, doesn't it? When he said, well, In Matthew, chapter five, starting at verse 43, he said.
Vicki: You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father.
Kent: Is perfect, putting into practice what Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, when our Lord is offended, that takes real humility. That's why Jesus told his disciples what he did in chapter 181 4.
Vicki: He says, @ that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
Kent: Now, that's image management.
Vicki: Well, he called a little child to him and he placed the child among them. And he said, truly, I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Kent: To be a child of God is to have a humble heart, even to those who offend us. Image management. I think what Jesus is telling us through his example is don't worry about your image, worry about God's image. Because when people see your humility, they will see Jesus. By the way, as an aside, how did God provide the coins that he paid the unjust tax with?
Vicki: Miraculously, he put it in the mouth of a fish and said, go out there, put your line in there, pull up a fish first fish, it's going to have a coin in its mouth.
Kent: So the miracles of the Bible could have been done any number of ways. And the way that they're done communicates a meaning. Not just the result, but the method that he uses communicates. Why would he have Peter go cast a line, catch a fish and find the coins in its mouth?
Vicki: To demonstrate to Peter again who Christ was.
Kent: Yes, it certainly did.
Nathan: Well, and so that he is not submitting to the temple tax, but it's still getting paid, right?
Kent: Yeah. And there's no question that this is God's money, right?
Brian: Right.
Kent: It wasn't theirs. It came miraculously. He gave God. Peter was, took that money and gave God's money to people who were rejecting God's son. Wow. God's coins were going to ungodly people. That's turning the other cheek. That's saying, I recognize your offense, but I still have hope for you to respond and enter the kingdom. When we're in those situations, may we also be careful not to give offense to those who are offensive to our Lord.
Brian: If we are ridiculed because of our faith, it's easy to want to respond defensively in anger or hostility, but our goal should be to respond with humility, to respond with love. Now, that's not easy, but it's important because when that's our response, we demonstrate Christ's character to those who have rejected Christ. When people see our humility, they see Jesus. I trust that today's discussion of God's Word has been helpful and served as an encouragement to not just be hearers of the Word, but doers together. Let's bring God's Word to life, to our lives. This week, the crosstalk Podcast is a production of crosstalk Global, equipping biblical communicators so every culture hears God's voice. To find out more or to support the work of this ministry, please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org. we have a new cohort beginning in Salina, Kansas in 2025. If you want to be a part of this revolutionary educational experience, check the Show Notes for more information. Students can participate in the program to receive Biblical Communication skills, and there's also an option to earn an MA Degree in Biblical Communication. You can also support this show by sharing it on social media and telling your friends. Tune in next Friday as we take a look at some of our favorite Christmas songs. Be sure to join us.
Vicki: Foreign.
Nathan: Image consultants promise to put their clients in the best possible light to influence the no.
Vicki: Before that, it's the ongoing, proactive process of evaluating and enhancing the impact of a client's appearance to others.
Nathan: Okay, that's like a Canadian grammar thing, image consultants promise, but.