LESSON FIVE
JESUS–MASTER OF THE SEA
Matthew 17:24-27 and Mark 4:35-41
When Jesus first found Peter, Peter was catching fish. Jesus told Peter, “Follow me and you will catch men.” But one day Jesus helped Peter to “catch money.”
One day some men came to Peter to collect the temple tax. Every year they collected this tax to support the temple. They asked Peter, “Does your teacher, Jesus, pay the temple tax?”
“Yes, he does,” Peter said.
Peter found Jesus. Jesus knew what Peter wanted before Peter said anything. Jesus asked, “Do kings collect taxes from their own family or from other people?”
“From other people,” Peter said.
“People in the king’s family never have to pay taxes,” Jesus said. Jesus was God’s Son. The temple was God’s house. Jesus should not have to pay to support the temple. “I should not have to pay the temple tax,” Jesus said, “but I do not want to offend these people. So go out to the lake and throw a fishing line into the water. Take the first fish you catch. Open it’s mouth and you will find a coin. Use the coin to pay the temple tax for you and me.”
Peter did what Jesus told him to do. He found a coin in the fish’s mouth. The coin was enough money to pay taxes for him and Jesus.
Another time Jesus and his disciples were crossing a lake in a boat. Jesus fell asleep in the boat. Suddenly a very bad storm came up. Waves of water came into the boat. The disciples were afraid that they would drown. But Jesus kept on sleeping.
The disciples woke Jesus up. They said to Jesus, “Save us! We are going to drown.”
Jesus said, “Why are you afraid? Don’t you know I will take care of you?” Then he spoke to the waves of water. “Be quiet! Be still!” he said.
Suddenly the wind quit blowing and the lake was very calm.
The disciples were amazed. They said, “What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
VOCABULARY
collect (v)
tax (n)
support (v)
offend (v)
fishing line (n)
coin (n)
storm (n)
wave (n)
drown (v)
quiet (adj)
still (adj)
blow (v)
calm (adj)
IRREGULAR VERBS
Present Past Past Participle Future
throw threw has thrown will throw
drown drowned has drowned will drown
keep kept has kept will keep
wake woke or waked has waked or has woken will wake
blow blew has blown will blow
QUESTIONS
- What three kinds of things did Peter “catch?”
- Do kings collect taxes from their family or from other people?
- Did Jesus think he should have to pay the temple tax? Why did he pay it?
- Where did Peter find the money to pay the temple tax?
- What was Jesus doing when the bad storm came up?
- What did Jesus say to the waves?
- What happened after Jesus talked to the waves?