The account of the transfiguration at the start of Matthew 17 and the anecdote about the temple tax at the end of the chapter demonstrate that Jesus and his followers belonged to a heavenly Kingdom, not a worldly Kingdom. In God’s Kingdom things do not operate the way they do in worldly Kingdoms. Jesus demonstrated this by paying the temple tax the way he did (and also thereby demonstrating that it should be a voluntary offering, not a compulsory tax). In the middle of these stories, significantly, is the account of the demonised boy. Jesus’ response to his disciples’ failure to drive out this demon seems somewhat harsh. But his saying about the mustard-seed-size faith shows that the issue was not their inability but their connection with the heavenly reality they had just witnessed in the transfiguration. Faith (that is, our willingness to trust God and let him be God) brings this heavenly Kingdom into our hearts and, through us, into the world. The point here is that it only takes a mustard seed of this Kingdom in our hearts, by faith, to throw aside any obstacle. Jesus’ disciples were slow to form this connection, as indeed we all are, because they were still disconnected from the ways of the Kingdom (as was demonstrated in 16:22-23). Jesus would persevere with their slowness to entrust themselves to his ways. And, eventually, they would all go on to move mountains of worldly obstacles to see God’s work advance. Jesus perseveres with us too. Are you persevering and growing in your faith?
Ask God to keep you connected with his heavenly Kingdom.
Read Matthew 17:1-28
