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The coin in the fish's mouth

Matt 17:24–27 · Journey to Jerusalem

Scripture

Matthew 17:24–27

nd when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? 25He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? 26Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. 27Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

King James Version · public domain

Mateu 17:24–27

dhe kur erthnë ndë Kapernaum, erthnë përanë Pjetrit ata që merninë pagesën’ e të dy dhrahmivet, edhe i thanë, A nukë paguan mëso-njësi juaj të dy dhrahmitë? 25Ay thotë, Po. Edhe kur hyri ndë shtëpit, Jisuj e priti, dyke thënë, Si të duketë, Simon? nga cilëtë marrënë pagesa a të-dhëna mbretërit’ e dheut, nga bijt’ e tyre, apo nga të-huajtë. 26Pjetri i thot’ ati, Nga të huajtë. Jisuj i tha ati, Bijtë pra janë të-liruarë. 27Po që të mos skandhalisim’ ata, shko ndë dett, e hith një grep, edhe ngre peshkun’ e-parë që të dalë, edhe si t’i hapç gojënë, dotë gjenjç një statir; merr-e, e ep-u’a atyre për mua edhe për ty.

Kristoforidhi, Dhiata e Re Toskërisht 1879 · zotërim publik

Summary

Christ, the free Son, is not bound to the temple tax. The Fathers note how carefully He establishes this before paying: by asking whether kings take tribute from their own sons or from strangers, He first proves Himself exempt as the true Son of the King, and only then pays. He does not decline the tax, nor simply command it, but yields it "lest we should offend them." From this the tradition draws a steady lesson on avoiding needless scandal even when one is in the right, while observing that the same Lord elsewhere disregards the offense of others when a higher truth is at stake. The wisdom lies in discerning when to defer to the weak and when not.

The coin found in the first fish's mouth shows His foreknowledge and His lordship over creation: not only the land but the sea obey Him, yielding up at His word the very thing required. So humility and divinity are joined in a single small wonder, His self-emptying shown in the payment, His Godhead in the manner of it. The Fathers also mark the honor given to Peter, who is sent to draw the coin and to pay for both himself and the Lord, the one tribute sufficing for two.

In the allegorical reading, the coin is found not in Christ's house but outside, in the sea and in the fish's mouth, a sign that He owes nothing of the world's tribute and has no part in its claims. The fish drawn up from the depths is read as the soul lifted out of the world's troubled waters by the apostolic word, the coin of worldly care taken from its mouth and turned to the service of God.

The Coin in the Fish's Mouth (Matthew 17:24–27)

Public-Domain Patristic Commentary

At Capernaum the collectors of the temple tax ask Peter, "Doth not your master pay tribute?" When Peter comes into the house, Christ anticipates him: "Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?" Peter answers, "Of strangers," and Christ says, "Then are the children free." Yet rather than give offence, He sends Peter to the sea: "Cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee." The coin is a stater, worth exactly the double tax for two.

This episode is found only in Matthew. Chrysostom's homily is the primary voice below, joined by Origen, Hilary, Jerome, Blessed Augustine, and Gregory the Great as gathered in the Catena Aurea on Matthew (St. Thomas Aquinas, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841). All texts are quoted verbatim from public-domain translations.

St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 58 (on Matthew 17:22–27) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10. Public domain. Full text: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200158.htm

On what the tribute was, and why they came to Peter:

And what is this "didrachma?" When God had slain the firstborn of the Egyptians, then He took the tribe of Levi in their stead... and moreover a custom came thereby in force, that the firstborn should pay this tribute. Because then Christ was a firstborn child, and Peter seemed to be first of the disciples, to him they come.

On "the sons are free," and the Son of the King of Heaven:

And what He says is like this, "I am indeed free from paying tribute. For if the kings of the earth take it not of their sons, but of their subjects; much more ought I to be freed from this demand, I who am Son, not of an earthly king, but of the King of Heaven, and myself a King."

On why He paid what He did not owe:

See how He neither declines the tribute, nor simply commands to pay it, but having first proved Himself not liable to it, then He gives it: the one to save the people, the other, those around Him, from offense. For He gives it not at all as a debt, but as doing the best for their weakness.

On the manner of payment, which discloses His Godhead:

And indeed by the very mode of giving He discloses Himself again. For wherefore does He not command him to give of what they have laid up? That... herein also He might signify Himself to be God of all, and the sea also to be under His rule... For neither was it a small thing, to foretell that the first, who out of those depths should come in his way, would be the fish that would pay the tribute; and having cast forth His commandment like a net into that abyss, to bring up the one that bore the piece of money; but it was of a divine and unutterable power, thus to make even the sea bear gifts.

On Peter's faith, rewarded by being joined to Christ in the payment:

Now as you are amazed at Christ's power, so I bid you admire also the disciple's faith, that to a thing beyond possibility he so gave ear. For indeed it was very far beyond possibility by nature. Wherefore also in requital for his faith, He joined him to Himself in the payment of the tribute.

Origen (c. 185–254)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the twofold meaning of "then are the children free":

This speech has a twofold meaning. First, that the children of the kings of the earth are free with the kings of the earth; but strangers, foreigners in the land, are not free, because of those that oppress them, as the Egyptians did the children of Israel. The second sense is; forasmuch as there be some who are strangers to the sons of the kings of the earth, and are yet sons of God, therefore it is they that abide in the words of Jesus; these are free, for they have known the truth, and the truth has set them free from the service of sin: but the sons of the kings of the earth are not free; for "whoso doth sin, he is the servant of sin."

On giving no offence even to those who justly claim earthly dues:

We may hence gather as a consequence of this, that when any come with justice demanding our earthly goods, it is the kings of the earth that send them, to claim of us what is their own; and by His own example the Lord forbids any offence to be given even to these, whether that they should sin no more, or that they should be saved. For the Son of God, who did no servile work, yet as having the form of a slave, which He took on Him for man's sake, gave custom and tribute.

Mystically, on Capernaum as the field of comfort:

In the field of comfort, (for so is Capernaum expounded,) He comforts each one of His disciples, and pronounces him to be a son and free, and gives him the power of taking the first fish, that after His ascension Peter may have comfort over that which he has caught.

On the miser drawn up from the sea of covetousness:

And when you see any miser rebuked by some Peter who takes the speech of his money out of his mouth, you may say that he is risen out of the sea of covetousness to the hook of reason, and is caught and saved by some Peter, who has taught him the truth, that he should change his stater for the image of God, that is for the oracles of God.

St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 310–367)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xvii.html

Reading the first-caught fish as the first to confess in martyrdom:

When Peter is instructed to take the first fish, it is shewn therein that he shall catch more than one. The blessed first martyr Stephen was the first that came up, having in his mouth a stater, which contained the didrachma of the new preaching, divided as two denarii, for he preached as he beheld in his passion the glory of God, and Christ the Lord.

St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841. Public domain.

On what to admire most in the miracle:

I am at a loss what first to admire in this passage; whether the foreknowledge, or the mighty power of the Saviour. His foreknowledge, in that He knew that a fish had a stater in its mouth, and that that fish should be the first taken; His mighty power, if the stater were created in the fish's mouth at His word, and if by His command that which was to happen was ordered.

Reading the fish typologically as the first Adam:

That fish which was first taken is the first Adam, who is set free by the second Adam; and that which is found in his mouth, that is, in his confession, is given for Peter and for the Lord.

Blessed Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

Questions on the Gospels, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841. Public domain.

On the freedom of the children of the kingdom over all kingdoms:

For, saith He, in every kingdom the children are free, that is, not under tax. Much more therefore should they be free in any earthly kingdom, who are children of that very kingdom under which are all the kingdoms of the earth.

St. Gregory the Great (c. 540–604)

From his Homilies on Ezekiel, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On avoiding scandal, yet not at the cost of truth:

For we must cast about how, as far as we may without sin, to avoid giving scandal to our neighbours. But if offence is taken from truth, it is better that offence should come, though truth be forsaken.

Note on sources and other Fathers

The Fathers find two things woven together in this small scene: the freedom of the Son and His voluntary lowliness. Chrysostom presses the logic of sonship, "I who am Son, not of an earthly king, but of the King of Heaven, and myself a King," and notes that Christ "neither declines the tribute, nor simply commands to pay it," but gives it "not at all as a debt" so as not to give offence. The manner of payment is itself a sign: drawing the coin from the sea shows Him "God of all, and the sea also to be under His rule," while Peter's faith is rewarded by being "joined to Himself in the payment." Augustine states the principle plainly: those who are "children of that very kingdom under which are all the kingdoms of the earth" are free. Origen unfolds the "twofold meaning" of the saying, distinguishing the sons of earthly kings from the sons of God who "abide in the words of Jesus" and whom "the truth has set free from the service of sin"; he also draws the example that the Lord "forbids any offence to be given even" to those who justly claim what is theirs. Hilary and Jerome add the figurative reading, Hilary seeing Stephen, "the blessed first martyr," in the first-caught fish, and Jerome reading the fish as "the first Adam, who is set free by the second Adam." Jerome also marks the wonder at the heart of the miracle, the Lord's "foreknowledge" of the coin and His "mighty power" in commanding it. Gregory the Great gives the pastoral measure of the whole: we must "avoid giving scandal to our neighbours," yet "if offence is taken from truth, it is better that offence should come, though truth be forsaken."

Jerome draws the devotional point home elsewhere in the same place: that Christ "for His eminent love, endured the cross, and paid tribute," while we who bear His name "pay no tribute, but are exempt from tax as the King's sons." Origen too reads Capernaum mystically as "the field of comfort," and likens the miser who repents to the fish "risen out of the sea of covetousness to the hook of reason." The Catena also preserves brief remarks by the Gloss, Anselm, and Remigius, which are not quoted here.

Patristic sources