When Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw Peter's mother-in-law lying sick with a fever.

But Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get away from me, Satan; you are causing a hindrance to me because you are not thinking about God's things but about men's."

Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is so good for us to be here. If you wish, I will build three [small] shelters here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." [Note: Perhaps Peter wanted to provide quarters for the three to stay temporarily, thus prolonging the wonderful experience. In any event, he should not have done what suggested that Moses and Elijah were equal to Jesus].

He replied, "Yes, [He does]." And when Peter entered the house, Jesus spoke to him first, [i.e., without waiting for Peter to tell Him what he had said to the tax collectors], saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect custom duty and taxes? From their children or from strangers?"

And Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ [i.e., God's specially chosen one], the Son of the living God."

When Jesus and His disciples came to Capernaum, the collectors of the tax [Note: This was the annual tax used for meeting the expenses of the Temple service and consisted of two days' worth of a farm laborer's pay, or about $140 in 1994] came to Peter and said, "Does not your teacher [also] pay the [Temple] tax?"

Just then, one of those who were with Jesus [i.e., Peter. See John 18:10], reached out with his sword and struck the head priest's servant [with it], shearing off his ear.