24 Jesus and his followers went and stayed in the town called Capernium. There were some men that worked in God’s ceremony house. Every year, all the Jewish people had to pay tax money to those men. They used that money to look after God’s ceremony house. Those men went to Peter and asked him, “Is your teacher going to pay the tax money for God’s ceremony house?”
24 When they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the half shekel [the temple tax] went up to Peter and said, Does not your Teacher pay the half shekel? [Exod. 30:13; 38:26.]
24 He said, "Yes." And when he had entered into the house, Jesus went before him, saying: "How does it seem to you, Simon? The kings of the earth, from whom do they receive tribute or the census tax: from their own sons or from foreigners?"
While they walked along the road, Jesus’s followers argued with each other about which one of them was the most important. Then, after they got to Capernium, they all went into a house, and Jesus asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” His followers didn’t answer him. They felt too much shame.
You see, if you only love the people that love you, that is nothing. Even bad people do that. God will not give you anything for only loving people that love you.