Matthew 17:14-20 - Moving mountains

17:14-20

The disciples are quickly brought back down to earth. When they get back down to the crowd a man approaches Jesus pleading with him to have mercy on his son. The boy was having seizures, but the disciples had been unable to heal him.Jesus is frustrated with them, it seems that He is frustrated with the crowd as much as the disciples, calling them an “unbelieving and perverse generation. The implication is that Jesus expects us to see more miracles than we do. Jesus rebuked the demon and the boy was healed at once.

The disciples ask Jesus why they could not drive it out. Jesus tells them it is because of their lack of faith. He then says if they have faith as small as a mustard seed they can move mountains. It is not that we need enormous amounts of faith, just a little.

Matthew 17:9-13 - Elijah

17:9

Jesus tells them not to tell anyone about what they had seen until He had been raised from the dead. Jesus only gave this vision to them after He had told them about his death and resurrection. We can only understand the glory of Christ after we understand the cross.

17:10-13

The disciples asked Jesus why the religious teachers said Elijah must come first. This was based on Malachi 4:5. This also explains why they were concerned about John the Baptist.  Jesus says they are right, but Elijah has already come, i.e. John the Baptist, but they did not recognise him. John suffered, Jesus would also suffer.

Matthew 17:1-8 Transfirgured

17:1-3

In John’s gospel chapter 17 we get Jesus’ prayer for himself, his disciples and for us. Here we have another personal insight into Jesus. He has just told His disciples about his suffering that is to come, now he gives more insight, this time into His glory, The suffering and the glory go together. He takes Peter, James and John up a high mountain, there Jesus was transfigured before them. His face shone and his clothes became white as light. Next, Moses and Elijah appeared with him. So there are two key elements here, one is His glory, the other is that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament stuff.

17:4-8

True to form, Peter blurts something out, offering to put up three shelters. He wanted to preserve the moment. God the Father then tells them what the most important thing is, namely to listen to Jesus. Jesus is the fulfilment of Deut 18:15. The disciples fell down at the presence of God. Jesus tells them to not be afraid and to get up. They did and Jesus was the only one present.

Matthew 16:21-28 - Get behind me Satan!

16:21-28

Jesus then starts to tell His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer much. Peter is appalled at the idea and tries to dissuade Jesus from this path. Note that one minute having received revelation from God, the next minute Peter is speaking the words of Satan. We must never get full of ourselves. Jesus knew it was Satan trying to get him. Jesus  then tells the disciples that not only must He suffer, but they too must be prepared to suffer. Currently they do not appreciate the enormity of what is happening and about to happen.

Mtthew 16:13-20 - Who do you say I am?

16:13-20

This is one of the most well known passages in Matthew, containing the key question “who do you say I am?”, and is often used as the basis for evangelistic talks. Jesus starts by asking the disciples “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”. The people had various ideas, some saying he was John the Baptist, others saying Elijah, and some Jeremiah or one of the prophets. All these were wrong, possibly based on a misunderstanding of  John the Baptist’s teaching.. \even though they were wrong, they recognised that Jesus was special. Jesus then turns the question directly at the disciples. Peter immediately replies “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”. Jesus replies that Peter was right and was blessed, also that this wisdom did not depend upon human wisdom, but on revelation from God the Father. “On this rock”, the church is built upon the truth of who Jesus is. If we try to build on any other foundation we will be building on sand. This includes things like Jesus was a good man and teachers, or the “foundation” of loving people. The church built upon the truth of who Jesus is will not be defeated, not even by death. The church will also have authority, because it will be walking in the will of God. Jesus does not want them to publicise this knowledge yet.

Matthew 16:1-12 - Not bread

16:1-4

The Pharisees and Sadducees again come and demand a sign. Jesus answers by pointing out the perverse they were. They had seen quite enough to provide all the proof that was needed. They could read the weather, but could not understand what was before their eyes. They were a "wicked and adulterous” generation. The issue they should have been concerned about was the state of their hearts. The sign to come would be the resurrection of Jesus, but even that would do them no good.

16:5-12

The disciples were not much brighter. Jesus warned them to beware of having the same mindset as the Pharisees and Sadducees, but they thought he was talking about bread. Jesus reminds them of the two feeding miracles, Jesus was concerned about something much more important. Then the disciples finally understood.

Matthew 15:1-39 - Faith

15:1-20

The Pharisees and teachers of the Law continued to try and catch Jesus out, using his disciples as the “weak” point. However, they betrayed their fundamental failure, they focused on externals. So they raised the matter of hand washing.

Jesus immediately turned the tables on them, drawing attention to how they broke the law of God. They had found a “clever” way of getting round the command to look after our parents. Jesus quotes from Is 29:13, their supposed honouring of God was nothing but a sham.

Jesus then turns to the crowds and teaches them the truth. \it is what is inside our hearts that defiles us. The disciples realised how offensive this was to the religious leaders. Jesus responds that they were blind guides and would be rejected by God. They were not the people to fear or listen to. Our hearts are the problem.

15:21-28

The legalism of the Pharisees is contrasted with the faith of a Canaanite woman. She comes to Jesus because her daughter is ill and is demon possessed. The disciples saw her simply as a Canaanite woman, someone who was not part of Israel, if anything, an enemy of Israel, so they urged Jesus to send her away. Initially Jesus seems to go along with this request, telling the woman that his mission was to the Jews. However, the woman is not easily put off, Jesus commends her faith and heals her daughter.

15:29-39

We now get another feeding miracle, this time four thousand people. The crowds followed Him as always, and many were healed.. The disciples seem to have learnt nothing from the previous incident, and urges Jesus to send the people away. Once again all were fed with ample left over.