Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Matthew 17-18

Nikke's thoughts


The part where Jesus heals the boy with the seizures sticks out to me.
The disciples tried to heal the boy but could not.
Jesus says, "O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me."
Jesus just gets right to the point there. I love it.
Jesus then rebukes the demon possessing the boy causing the seizures and from that moment was healed.
This is where I really start thinking.
The disciples come to Jesus later and ask him "Why couldn't we drive it out?" (the demon from the boy is what they are referring to)
Jesus replies, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Wow! So basically the disciples didn't even have faith as big as a mustard seed!? This is so remarkable to me.
You don't need faith as large as an ocean or as big as the land to do tremendous things only the size of a mustard seed!
How crazy is that?
This had made me think how much faith I have. Do I have faith as big as a mustard seed?
This was a great chapter for me to really reflect on my faith.

We can do such amazing things with just the faith the size of a mustard seed. Nothing would be impossible for us!



Angie's thoughts


My thoughts.
Matthew 17:21-22 "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord,
how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven
times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.' "
And then Jesus gave us the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant where you can find in Matthew 17:23-35.
I found this humorous.. because Peter probably thought at the time that it would be completely generous to forgive a brother seven times. That it would be generous to forgive more than twice, even. And then the look that must have been on his face when Jesus told him ..figuratively.. that pretty much.. you must ALWAYS forgive your brother. Whether he betrays you seven times or seventy-seven..
And when he told of how when the servant that was released of his debt by the King did not repay the same mercy onto his own servant and that the King caught word of it and tortured him until he could repay his debt.. and then
Matthew 17:23 " 'This is how my heavenly Father will treat
each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.' "
That... really puts things into perspective. Well, atleast how much value is in our forgiveness. Not even that, actually. I think of it more of.. how much we MUST forgive because of the consequences. There's not much value in our forgiveness at all because we're just doing a minute fraction of what the Lord has graced us with.
So.. that whole section is pretty harsh. But on the other hand it also shows just a glimpse of how merciful our Lord has been to us. We could never repay our debt to Him. So, instead, we must forgive others as he did to us.
Plus, grudges are no fun anyways and cause a whole list of emotional problems.
If the faith of a mustard seed can move a mountain, surely any amount of faith can let us forgive even the worst of betrayals. We know in the end that the Lord will have justice.

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