Matthew 17:14-27

Jesus comes down from the mountain where he experienced the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8), only to find that he must deal with regular life in all its complexity.  It’s not that different for us: even when we have mountaintop moments, we must return to “real life” in all its ordinariness.

Let’s look at the 3 incidents that Matthew tells us about right after the Transfiguration.

Matthew 17:14-21 The healing of the boy with epilepsy, and the power of faith and prayer

In the previous passage, Peter, James, and John experienced the overwhelming power of God during Jesus’s Transfiguration.  How have you experienced the power of God in a special way?

What problem does Jesus encounter that the disciples had not been able to solve?

In verse 15, Matthew literally says that the boy is “moonstruck”, i.e., struck or affected by the moon.  Some translations say the boy is a “lunatic” a word that comes from the word “luna” for “moon.”  The symptoms are what we would call epilepsy, and people thought those symptoms were affected by the phases of the moon (NABRE, Matt. 17:15 fn.).

In verse 17, how does Jesus react to the fact that the disciples were unable to heal the boy?

When Jesus calls them “faithless and perverse,” it isn’t clear whether he is reproaching unbelievers among the crowd or the disciples.  He has previously chided the disciples for having “little” faith (Matthew 6:30), and in verse 20 he says they have “little faith.”  He does not say they have no faith.  Based on what happens here, does Jesus give up on people with “little faith,” or does he stick with them?

He sticks with them and provides the healing that is needed, despite their lack of faith.

Jesus sounds frustrated, or even exasperated, in verse 17.  Frustration is a human emotion and not necessarily a sin.  When would you say being frustrated or exasperated is sinful, and not just human?

Jesus’s is ready to move to the next step, but his disciples don’t seem to be as ready as he might have hoped.  Do you think God might feel this way about us sometimes?  If so, what does this passage tell you about God’s enduring commitment to us even when we fall short?

Jesus says, “How much longer must I put up with you.”  It won’t be much longer until his death and resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit to empower us.

In verse 20, Jesus compares faith to a mustard seed.  Many translations say, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,” but that is not what he actually said.  He says, “If you have faith as a mustard seed.”  It isn’t the size of the faith that Jesus is talking about, it is the recognition of the potential that is available to even a person who is very small, if they have faith.  How does this encourage people who think they are small in this world?

The fact that Jesus calls for faith “as a mustard seed,” not “the size of a mustard seed,” is important, because we sometimes think we have to muster up a large faith, and that puts the focus on ourselves when the focus should be on God.  The point is to be as open to the working of God as a mustard seed, and to cooperate with the work of God as a mustard seed cooperates with God’s work of creation.  What does this say to you?

Seeds need darkness as well as light to become what they are meant to be.  Does our faith similarly need times of darkness as well as good times?  Explain.

Jesus is using metaphors here, so he isn’t talking literally about moving mountains.  What does moving mountains stand for?

Having something come to pass that seems impossible or very hard.

Seeds don’t cause their own growth; they have to trust God to provide the conditions for the growth of the seed.  Similarly, our faith doesn’t move the mountain; God moves the mountain.  We just have to trust him.  What does that kind of mustard seed faith look like?

How have you experienced answered prayer?  How have you seen what seemed like a mountain be moved so that God’s will could be done?

Go back to chapter 7 and read Matthew 7:9-10.

Jesus tells us that God wants to give us good things to us, his children.  How does that assurance affect your thinking about prayer, faith, and trust?

Sometimes, no matter how much faith we have, we do not receive what we ask for in prayer.  The mountain we ask God to move does not move.  That’s part of real life.  What do you do when it seems like your prayers are not answered?

Here are some ways to think about this question:

1. We are asked to trust God.  God gives us what we need, but not necessarily what we think we want, just as human parents who love their children don’t always give them what they ask for because it might not be what is best for them.

2. God always answers our prayers, but his answer may be “Yes,” “No,” or “Not Yet (i.e., Wait).”  Sometimes, he needs to work in our spirit to help us realize that we aren’t asking for the right thing.  Sometimes, he may be waiting for us to grow spiritually so that we can handle the blessing we are asking for.

One of the challenges of faith is to accept God’s answer.  If we try to force it, as though we know best, we may make something happen that God knows is not best for us.  Instead, we need to trust him.

Matthew 17:21

Verse 21 does not appear in most modern translations of the Bible, because that verse does not appear in the oldest manuscripts.  The New Testament was divided into verses before some older manuscripts were found, and those older manuscripts don’t have Matthew 17:21.  It might have been added accidentally at some point by a copyist who was recalling Mark 9:29.  In the oldest manuscripts, Mark 9:29 reads: “This kind can come out only through prayer.”  The words “and fasting” only appear in later manuscripts of Mark and Matthew.  In the oldest manuscripts we have, there is no Matthew 17:21 and Mark 9:29 does not include the words “and fasting.”

Although Matthew 17:21 does not appear to be original to Matthew, Jesus does say in Mark 9:29, “This kind can come out only through prayer.”  Why might there be times when prayer is necessary for healing?

Matthew 17:22-23 Jesus again foretells his Passion; the disciples respond with grief

Matthew 17:22 adds a new piece of information to what Jesus said in Matthew 16:21: it says Jesus will be betrayed.  How does the idea that he will be betrayed make Jesus’s suffering and death even sadder?

Notice that this time, the disciples are more ready to accept what Jesus is saying about his coming suffering and death.  That is why they are so distressed, and perhaps also because someone who appears to be on his side will betray him.

Jesus has said twice now that he will be raised.  The disciples may not have understood what that meant, but what difference does it make to you that Jesus’s prophecy includes his resurrection and not just suffering and death?

Matthew 17:24-27 paying the Temple tax

After a long time away in more Gentile areas, Jesus now returns to Capernaum in Galilee.

Matthew has several stories about Peter that the other Gospels do not have.  This is one of them.

This is not the story about the tax paid to the Romans (“give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”).  We will see that story in chapter 22.  Every male Jew age 20 and older was expected to pay a tax for the upkeep of the Temple, based on a command in Exodus 30:11-16.  The tax was two drachmas (equal to a half-shekel).  (Some scholars think Matthew is writing about a situation his community faced after AD 70, when the Temple had been destroyed and the Romans ordered that the tax continue to be paid, but for the upkeep of a temple in Rome dedicated to Jupiter.)

What does the fact that Peter speaks for Jesus in verse 24 tell us about his role?

Peter has clearly become a leader of Jesus’s band of followers, and he would have assumed that Jesus would not refuse to pay the tax that was expected of all adult males.

Jesus asks whether the children of a king pay taxes that are owed to a king.  (Some translations use the word “subject,” but the Greek word in verses 25 and 26 is actually “sons.”)  What is he implying by his use of the word “sons”?

Jesus is indicating that he is the son of God.  But he uses the plural, “sons,” so he is implying that his disciples are also children of God.

In verse 27, Jesus says that he does not want to offend those who expect him to pay the tax.  The Greek for “offend” comes from the same root as the word “scandal” in English and the word for stumbling block in Greek.  He does not want to scandalize them or be a stumbling block to them.  Why is it important not to give scandal if you can avoid it?

How might we decide when we may act in freedom and when we do what others expect of us in order to avoid giving scandal?

Jesus tells Peter where to find the money to pay the tax, and he thoughtfully adds that Peter will find a stater (a coin equal to 4 drachmas or a full shekel), which is enough to pay the tax for both Peter and himself.  What do you think about how Jesus handled this incident?

Jesus does not have money, but when he needs something, the whole world is at his disposal (think of the few loaves and fish that led to the feeding of the 5,000).  Jesus here shows that he cares about our earthly concerns, not just spiritual matters.  What does this say to you the maters you face in your life?

Jesus provides for Peter, and he will provide for us.

What do you need, that Jesus can provide?

Take a step back and consider this:

If you think of this set of passages as a day in the life of Jesus, it might not seem all that different from some days in our lives: Suddenly, someone urgently needs you to do something; you know that a serious challenge is looming on the horizon; and then another issue unexpectedly pops up.  Many people frequently have days like that; for some, it is just a normal, hectic day.

When we have days like that, sometimes we might get exasperated, as Jesus did.  But if we are following the model of Jesus, we will keep our cool, keep doing what needs to be done, keep helping those who need help, and keep solving the problems that arise.  That’s what Jesus did on this hectic day; and with his help, we can too.

When unexpected problems pop up on already busy days, how do you tend to respond?  Do you become bossy?  Grow anxious?  Shut down?  Or keep doing what needs to be done?  And with what attitude?

How might Jesus help you deal with those kinds of days?