Jesus Never Performed the Coin in the Fish’s Mouth Miracle! Dr. Chapman Chen

According to Matthew 17:24-27, Jesus commands Peter to go hook a fish and dig a coin from her/his mouth in order to pay a temple tax which the tax collectors has asked Peter whether Jesus has paid or not. Some animal-eating Christians have seized upon this story as proof that Jesus was not a vegan. But this weird "miracle" could not be real because of the following reasons.

1. Seven Reasons Why the Coin in the Fish's Mouth Miracle Could Not Be Real

Firstly, it’s never fulfilled. Secondly, it’s unlikely that merely for the sake of getting a small coin for paying the temple tax, Jesus actually goes into the trouble of performing a complex miracle, which involves Peter going to the sea, throwing in a hook, catching a fish, and prying open her/his mouth to look for the coin. Thirdly, Jesus never performed a miracle for personal gain or relief for his own needs. Fourthly, it's unique with no close canonical parallel; it is only recorded in Matthew. Fifthly, it was Jesus Himself who had asked Peter to catch men instead of fish (Matt. 4:18-22). How come He now commands Peter to catch a fish? Sixthly, "I desire compassion, not sacrifice!" famously declared Jesus (Matt. 9:13, 12:7). As aforementioned, He even died for the cause of animal liberation (Mark 11:15-18; Akers 2000, 113-134). How could He, a dedicated animal rights activist, have had the heart to command someone to cruelly hook up an innocent fish, and pry open her/his mouth in order to obtain a coin for paying His own tax? Seventhly, as His disciple, Peter must know that his teacher was a vegan. How come in this story, he was never astonished by his teacher's bizarre command?

2. A Sarcasm Made by Jesus

This "miracle" is probably a sarcasm made by Jesus to cleverly deal with the tax collectors bent on forcing him to reveal whether He is an establishment man or a tax rebel.

The tribute concerned was not a civil tax, but a religious contribution, which every Jew was required to pay annually for the support of the temple. A refusal on Jesus’ part to pay the tribute would be represented as disloyalty to the temple; while, on the other hand, the payment of it would be taken as justifying their rejection of Him as a prophet, for the chief priests, Levites and prophets were exempted from this payment (White 1898).

4. A Catch-22

Just like the Pharisees who, subsequently, in order to trap Jesus, ask Him, "Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?" (Matthew 22:17 NIV), the tax collectors are here asking Jesus a tricky, political question. Instead of asking whether Jesus’ current tax bill is paid up, they are asking “whether he is an establishment man or a tax rebel, a part of the mainstream Judaism or on the fringe” (Long 1997).  To borrow the words of Vinson (2013), "Jesus is in a Catch-22" and his reply could lead to a rift in his ministry.

Jesus thus cleverly responds to them with the strange command to Peter in the same way that Jesus later tactfully answered the Pharisees, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God” (Matthew 22:21 NLT), which, in Liu's (2013) interpretation, means "everything belongs to God". This kind of tactfulness reminds us of "as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents" (Matt. 10:16 KJV).

In my interpretation, Jesus' awkward command to Peter is a sarcasm, which effectively says, "Ok, I will pay the temple tax if only my disciple Peter could find a shekel in the first fish caught by him today." But of course, Peter, familiar with his master's character, never actually goes catch a fish and opens her/his mouth in an attempt to find the coin for paying the temple tax.

4. A Jewish Legend

Alternatively, Albright and Mann (1995) contend that the narrative may be the remnant of a Jewish legend, "much on the lines of folk tales found in the rabbinic tradition of the lost-and-found-again variety." There are actually similar Jewish stories in Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 119a; Genesis Rabbah 11:4 (France 2007: 671).

5. Conclusion 

Thus, Jesus the Vegan Christ never meant for Peter to go hook a fish from the sea and dig a coin from her mouth in order to pay His own temple tax. For it’s never actually executed. And How could Jesus, a martyr for animal liberation, have performed such a cruel miracle just for paying His own tax? This ‘miracle’ is either a clever way Jesus devised to brush off the tax collectors who sought to trap Him in a catch-22 situation, or simply a Jewish legend. #VeganChrist #VeganGod #VeganChurch #VeganTheology

Full Text: https://www.vegantheology.net/post/jesus-never-performed-the-coin-in-the-fish-s-mouth-miracle-dr-chapman-chen