The miracles of Jesus - Classical Christian Literature by Athleo.net

THE COIN IN THE FISH'S MOUTH 345
direct rebuke should have shown the disciples how
vain and wrong their own selfish pretensions were.
How could there be any talk of greatest or least in
a kingdom, the rule of whose Head was that He
" came not to be ministered unto, but to minister
(Matthew xx. 28).
And yet in the very act of submission, as Bengel
finely remarks, Christ's majesty gleams forth. For
in paying the tax He pays it in such a way that the
disciples' sense of His power and glory is heightened
rather than diminished. There is no need of making
the miracle more difficult than it is already by supposing
that the shekel, or stater, was actually created for
the occasion.
As a matter of fact Christ seems never
to have absolutely created anything, least of all for
His own benefit, and many instances can be adduced
of fish swallowing coins or other glittering objects
accidentally dropped into the water. The miraculous
element in the occurrence lay rather in the foreknowledge
on the Lord's part that the first fish that
came to Peter's hook would carry this coin in its
mouth.
But, as has already been remarked, it is this part of
the story that bulks least in the Evangelist's thoughts.
He never even tells us that the miracle actually
happened, but leaves us to take it for granted, while
he recounts the conversation out of which it grew,
and implies in consequence the lessons it was so well
fitted to teach.
It is
unnecessary to draw out these lessons at length
again. But if our exposition has been correct, we
may sum them up by saying that we are brought
here into the presence of a Redeemer wholly divine