Matthew 17 - Listening, Faith & Sonship
Jesus Christ took Peter, James & his brother John up to a high mountain where they experienced another encounter that involved a bright cloud over them. Jesus Christ was transfigured where His face shone & became bright as light. This is when the Father in heaven spoke & said “This is my Son, the Beloved, with Him I am well pleased; listen to Him!”
Afterwards they were tested in their faith, a boy who had epilepsy, in this case it was cause by a demon. This time they couldn’t cast it out because of the lack of their faith. Jesus Christ reminded them again of His future to the disciples again but they seemed to be greatly distressed by only a part of Jesus being killed & couldn’t comprehend yet that on the third day He will be raised. The three events put together in this connect per chapter whether accidentally or coincidentally or intentionally serves a purpose to strengthen or increase their faith.
Then Jesus Christ taught Peter in a session of Q&A where he understood the principle of sonship & slavery after much listening & experience. Sonship include “belongings”, not just a sense of belonging, they are exempt from paying by the law but they do it anyway because they care about others just like Jesus Christ intentionally try not to cause offense to them in this case as it doesn’t involve life or death situation.
1 Corinthians 8:13 “Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never again eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.”
It’s a balancing point where Jesus Christ was showing how to maintain harmony in a community of different rules, doctrines & laws. Sometimes we may get lost in trying to adhere to certain laws & traditions or theological doctrines but after reading much of the chapters in the Gospel of Matthew, there has been multiple different cases & scenarios where Jesus Christ desire mercy over rigid laws & then another different case of giving sacrifice by ignoring the parents’ needs, this chapter is another scenario where Jesus Christ handled wisely. However the point is that Jesus Christ wanted to bring out the principle of faith & sonship in God’s view.
It’s a reminder for myself to realign my heart, my view with our Father in heaven again in every area of my life, to see what He want me to see & learn what He want me to learn & to truly pay attention in listening to His words.