"What do you think, Simon? 

From whom do earthly kings collect tariffs or taxes?

From their sons or from strangers?"

"From strangers," he said. 

"Then the sons are free," Jesus told him.

"But, so we won't offend them, go to the sea, cast in a fishhook, and take the first fish that you catch. When you open its mouth you'll find a coin. Take it and give it to them for me and you."

Matthew 17:25-27 CSB

The miracle of the money in the mouth of the fish is not the thing, paying the temple tax is not the thing.

The key thing is that we are free.

Jesus sets us free from the constraints of culture, of Empire, of the expectations of others. 

Free. 

And at the same time, we don't use that freedom to benefit ourselves, offend others, or make ourselves out to be better than. 

Our society isn't governed by the same rules, the same expectations, that Peter's was, but there are rules and expectations all the same. Last year I had a lecturer who wore bright yellow shoes. 

Bright yellow. 

What stops me wearing bright yellow shoes?

Some inner rule, some expectation of others, these things are everywhere and shape and manage us and our choices.

Jesus says you're free. 

Not free to offend or make ourselves out to be superior in some way, but free. 

Free.

How can we live a bit more in that freedom today?

#wordsofJesus 

#redletterBible 

#free