Right off the bat the Pharisees begin questioning, or should I say interrogating Jesus once again. They ask Jesus in verse 2, "Why do your disciples disobey our age-old traditions?" What do you think about traditions? Traditions arn't necessarily bad, but must never supercede our relationship with Jesus. What do you think? Notice what Jesus says in verse 8, "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with [their] lips, But their heart is far from Me."
The pivital verse for me in this reading begins with an all important question by Jesus in 16:13.
"He asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is? Well, they replied, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets." And then Peter chimes in and makes this great statement of faith in verse 16. "...You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!"
This profound statement of faith has to be true for every believer! and it's the foundational truth that the church was built on. What does Jesus mean in verse 18 when He says..."Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." Might Jesus be referring to the great statement of faith that Peter had just proclaimed. Is not Jesus the Rock, or foundation of the church?
Then as we move on to chapter 17 - we see what is commonly called the Transfiguration of Jesus. Might this be a foreshadowing of our own transformation. The Apostle Paul stated in Romans 12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. "
I would love to hear your thoughts?
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I too love this pivotal moment in the disciples lives especially Peter's confession of Christ.
ReplyDeleteFor me Matthew 17:24-27 jumps out at me in Monday's reading. But for a little peculiar reason.
This text is a little obscure to many, and was to me up until a few years ago until I heard Greg Stier, founder of Dare 2 Share, speak on it that made me do some thinking. It says that Peter is approached about paying the double-drachma tax. Not John, Andrew, James or any of the other disciples. This is a tax for Jewish men.
Only Jesus and Peter pay this tax! Why not the other disciples? Jesus didn't pay enough for them too because He told Peter that within the fish's mouth (By the way Wow! Jesus had to have loved doing things like that to blow away the minds of the disciples) there would be enough to pay the tax for Peter and Himself. Either the other disciples didn't pay it (which goes against Jesus' teachings about paying taxes), weren't with Peter and Jesus (all indications are that they were with them), or they didn't have to pay it. Now from my understanding that means they were all younger than Jesus and Peter.
I know this might be an obscure little detail to some, but to me it sure changes my perception of the disciples. If I am understanding this text correctly then Jesus would have been in His early 30s at this time, Peter may have been around the same age (a little younger or a little older I'm not sure), but all the other disciples would have been 'college-aged' or possibly even teenagers (yeah think about that one for a minute). So the mental picture of Jesus walking around with His 'deacon-like' disciples needs to be replaced with Jesus and His 'youth-like' disciples. It does make sense though in the culture of the day. A young man (teens) would either learn a trade (usually the one of his father) or become the 'apprentice' if you will of a rabbi. From my understanding a rabbi would tell a young man 'come with me' / 'come follow me' or 'go learn your father's trade.'
Anyway I would love to hear any other insights on this scripture. Maybe there are other scriptures with greater indication of how old the disciples were. I know this isn't the most important issue in scripture, but I want my perceptions of things in the Bible to based off of fact not tradition or from biblical drawings.
I remembered hearing that when I read that passage, and it led me to wonder about Matthew. Was he just a young tax collector? Was he old enough to collect the taxes of others on behalf of Rome but young enough to not have to pay his own tax for the temple?
ReplyDeleteI was reading a commentary on these verses which stated that Capernaum was called "Christ's own city" (Matt 9:1) where he at one time "lived" (Matt 4:13) and was where Peter had a house (Matt 8:14). This commentator then suggested that the tax was collected where one resided, which is why Jesus and Peter paid the tax here.
I don't know how much light that sheds on the subject, just something I found this morning. I'd love to hear from someone more familiar with the NT culture.
That may be it. I too wondered about Matthew and why a tax collector wouldn't pay the tax. Anyway I wish I knew more about the culture of the day. I think it would explain a lot more and open my eyes to more things that I glaze over in my scripture reading.
ReplyDeleteI still wonder about the Disciples' age. Maybe they were older than Christ, maybe peers, maybe younger. Obviously not too vitally important or the Bible would explicitly say how old they were as it does with Jesus. It's just a curious text to me.