Matthew 17:9-27 – Rotten Manna, Faithless Disciples, and Miraculous Fish

I have been studying Matthew’s Gospel through the lens of the Lord’s Prayer to see how we might gain a richer prayer life. But anytime we filter scripture through a set of lenses not readily apparent in the passage, we must be wary of the danger of reading into the text something that is not there. The depth of scripture is greater than we will ever comprehend and, much like the infinitely colorful rainbow produced by a stream of white light passing through a fine jewel, there is no end to the various nuances of scripture’s wisdom when one is enlightened by the Spirit. But we must be careful to not get in the way of the Spirit and create a hue that does not exist. As such, we must always heed scripture’s explicit word over any person’s interpretation of it.

That being said, I feel confident that the lens through which I am approaching Matthew’s Gospel does not impede the Spirit’s movement; I believe this lens reveals an accurate shade of the scripture’s truth. But that doesn’t mean I am unwilling to accept that my approach might sometimes feel a bit forced. In particular, this section of verses is one such area. I trust and pray that what I am about to write highlights a true fragment of the Spirit’s light, but I also trust that you will be discerning about that which you are about to read, as you should always be when reading anyone’s comments about scripture.

Now, following Jesus’s transfiguration on the mount, Matthew records a conversation between Jesus and the disciples as they walked down the mountainside. Matthew writes,

9 And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” 10 And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 11 He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. 12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

Matthew 17:9-13

This passage doesn’t seem to say an awful lot about bread, but if we look closely, we might see that there is something in this passage informing us about how long the Father’s bread lasts. But to see that, we need to take a look at a passage from Exodus. It says,

And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.

Exodus 16:19-20

The Father’s manna had an expiration date, but unlike the expiration dates we see on cartons of milk, crates of eggs, or boxes of cereal, the Father’s expiration date must be heeded. The manna the Father provided for the Israelites had to be eaten that day otherwise it bred worms and stank horribly. In like manner, the Father sent John from heaven, but if his message was not accepted then John’s message of repentance became a message of judgment; what was meant to nourish became rotten. The Father also sent Jesus from heaven, but they rejected him just as they had John. This time, however, the scribes weren’t merely rejecting a prophet, they were rejecting the very bread from heaven. Because of their rejection, Jesus’s message of repentance quickly became one of judgment. Paul also addresses the phenomena of bread going bad when he quotes Isaiah. He said,

We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold now is the day of salvation.

2 Corinthians 6:1-2

The day of salvation had come to Israel, but the religious leaders rejected it. The Father sent his daily bread to them so they might be saved (John 3:17), but they threw that bread on the shelf and did not partake of the life Jesus offered them. The Father’s bread of life became moldy and stench-laden condemnation. When the Father gives us his bread and we do not choose to eat it, such life-giving bread becomes a meal of judgment. The Father doesn’t force us to eat his bread; we must partake of it, and, I might suggest, we need to partake of it daily. I don’t mean to say we need to seek salvation daily, but we need to keep a steady diet of the Father’s bread otherwise we might lose the taste for it. I realize this might be controversial, but the Spirit of the Father doesn’t always move in our lives. John writes,

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

John 3:8

When the Spirit moves, we need to step into his breath for we do not know when, or if, the Spirit will again move in our life (read John 5:2-9). This does not mean, however, there is only one day in life when salvation is offered, but if, like the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’s time, we continually reject the bread, there will come a point when the Father’s bread of life becomes a meal of condemnation; the Father’s bread from heaven becomes bread from which we will and can no longer eat.

Then, upon arriving at the bottom of the mountain they met a crowd of people. Matthew writes,

14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:14-20

This passage seems to highlight two points relating to our prayer for the Father’s daily bread. We know nothing about this man other than the fact that he brought his son to Jesus for healing. He had heard about Jesus’s powers and hoped he would heal his son, but upon arriving where Jesus was, he found only his disciples — remember, Jesus was up on the mountain being transfigured. The absence of Jesus did not, however, cause this man to hesitate: he approached the disciples, and when Jesus’s disciples were unable to heal his son, undaunted, he waited for Jesus’s arrival and then approached him. When he spoke to Jesus, he didn’t question Jesus’s power — his faith in the Father’s daily bread was unwavering — but he questioned why Jesus’s disciples couldn’t perform a miracle. This man’s persistence was rooted in his faith in Jesus.

But when we look at the disciples (minus Peter, James, and John who were on the mountain with Jesus), we see a group that seemed to lack faith. Remember, in Matthew 10 Jesus had empowered the disciples to heal, but in this case, they were unable to do so. If I were to guess what happened, I would say that because the disciples had so frequently seen Jesus heal people they probably didn’t give this much thought. But when they approached this man’s son in a matter-of-fact way, they could not perform a miracle. The problem had nothing to do with Jesus’s power; it was their lack of faith that stymied them. Their faith had become stale. Faith, like manna, has an expiration date and must be renewed daily, or like the manna in the desert, it becomes stale and stench filled. Again, this is not to say we need to renew our salvation faith on a daily basis, but we do need to keep our faith in Jesus’s power renewed each morning otherwise we find ourselves trusting in our memory of the past and not a living faith of the present moment.

The nine disciples, after seeing a man whose faith was fresh and then being reprimanded for their own stale faith, seem to have become quiet. It is not difficult to imagine that as they walked in silence to Galilees, the other three disciples were still thinking about the transfiguration. When they arrived in Galilee Jesus spoke. Matthew writes,

22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

Matthew 17:22-23

This was not the first time Jesus spoke of his death; in Matthew 16:21, just after Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus said he would soon die (Matt. 16:13-20), but Peter, if you recall, didn’t take kindly to Jesus’s claim. Peter had different plans for Jesus than Jesus had for himself. Peter wanted a king who would rule an earthly kingdom not a lamb who would be slain.

With the three disciples still probably thinking about the transfiguration and nine thankful that Jesus was still around to cover for their messes, I don’t believe it is coincidental that Jesus brings up his coming death again. Jesus needed his disciples to focus on the actual facts of the matter — he was going to die, but he would also rise from the dead — instead of their own plans, a sense of glory, or a sense of failure. They needed to accept the bread from heaven just as the Father intended it to be taken and not have their focus elsewhere. Yes, Peter understood the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God — he even saw him transfigured into a moment of scintillating glory — but Peter needed to, as did all the disciples, realize that Jesus had to pass through the fires of death.

The disciples are not alone in this way of thinking. We tend to impose upon God our own understanding of how he should operate: we expect him to do marvelous and glorious things. And, if we aren’t enraptured with glorious expectations we can easily wallow in our sins and failures. In either case, our eyes are not on the Father’s plan and our tastes are not set to accept the Father’s daily bread. Certainly, we need to keep the big picture of God’s glory in mind, and we need to acknowledge our own failure to trust, but we also need to realize that the path to which we have been called is not an easy one. The Father’s daily bread leads us down a path contrary to this world’s path. When Jesus concluded the beatitudes he said,

11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:11:12

Confession that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God is the rock upon which Jesus builds his church, but that confession also leads down the same path Jesus walked. When Jesus reminded the disciples of his coming death, he not only pointed out the road he was going to walk, be he was giving the disciples, and any who choose to partake of the Father’s daily bread, the path they would also walk. However, Jesus did not want his disciples to remain distressed about either Jesus’s death or the persecution they would face in the coming days. Matthew records the next conversation as a way of providing hope for those who were about to walk the same path Jesus walked. These verses also serve as a conclusion to this section of Matthew’s Gospel that is focuses on praying for the Father’s daily bread. Matthew writes,

24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” 25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” 26 And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

Matthew 17:24-27

I don’t know if Judas was keeping the money at this time, but instead of reaching into the money bag, Jesus sent Peter to grab a coin out of the mouth of a yet-to-be-caught fish. This passage does tell us that Jesus is all-knowing — I mean, who knows a) that a fish has money in its mouth, b) that it is a shekel, and c) that Peter would be able to catch it on the first time casting a hook into the sea? — but this passage also helps us better understand how to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

When Peter came to ask Jesus about the two-drachma tax Jesus preempted him with an odd question about kings, their sons, and taxes. Jesus was making the point that the sons of earthly kings don’t pay taxes; they are the eventual recipients of the tax and they are free to do as they like. Jesus was reminding his disciples of their true identity. They were not sons of earthly kings, but they were the sons of the Father in heaven and heirs to his heavenly kingdom. While Jesus’s disciples might have to pay taxes to earthly kings, in their Father’s kingdom they are free.

But this story is not merely about taxes or identity. These are the final verses in this section of Matthew’s Gospel helping us better understand how to pray for our daily bread. Jesus wants us to know that even though the Father will provide us with all that we need spiritually, the Father will also provide for his children’s material needs. It would have been easy for Jesus to reach into the bag held by Judas, take out a shekel, and toss it to Peter, but that wouldn’t have been as clear of a way to show that the Father provides. By having Peter pull a mysterious lodged shekel out of the mouth of a fish, Jesus was telling Peter that aside from all the spiritual ramifications of what it means to go to our Father for our daily bread, the Father is still interested in meeting the material needs for our daily life.

Jesus came to earth to be a sacrifice for our sins and set us free from the bondage of Satan’s lies. His mission was a spiritual mission, but it was also one with material ramifications. He came to heal the sick, to give sight to the blind, and words to the mute. He came to help widows, orphans, and aliens, but he also came to take care of his flock of brothers, the Father’s sons. Our prayer for the Father’s daily bread is much more than a prayer for actual bread, but it is also nothing less. The Father’s daily bread provides for both spiritual and material needs if only we are willing to ask and receive from our Father daily.

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