no offense

The next time I’m tempted to stand on my rights, I hope I remember this story from Matthew 17:23-27:

“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.
“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.’But 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 and give it to them for my tax and yours.’”

Jesus didn’t have to pay the temple tax, because the temple tax was collected for God’s work - it was collected for him. But he did anyway, and the reason is one we all need to see and take to heart: he didn’t want to cause offense.

Take a minute and think about that. Even though Jesus was right, he refused to stand on his rights because he didn’t want to offend. That seems almost un-American. We not only insist on every bit of each and every one of our rights, but we also don’t typically care who we offend. In fact, we sometimes seem to take great glee in watching our tribe poke everyone else.

“So that we may not cause offense . . . .” This is a good thing to remember the next time we want to ask, “What would Jesus do?”