{"id":7359,"date":"2016-02-08T00:05:21","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T08:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=7359"},"modified":"2016-02-07T21:18:39","modified_gmt":"2016-02-08T05:18:39","slug":"what-is-your-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2016\/02\/08\/what-is-your-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Your Problem?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jesus and his three disciples came down from the mountain and were met by a large crowd. Just then someone in the crowd shouted, \u201cTeacher, please do something for my son! He is my only child! A demon often attacks him and makes him scream. It shakes him until he foams at the mouth, and it won\u2019t leave him until it has completely worn the boy out. I begged your disciples to force out the demon, but they couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\tJesus said to them, \u201cYou people are stubborn and don\u2019t have any faith! How much longer must I be with you? Why do I have to put up with you?\u201d <\/p>\n

\tThen Jesus said to the man, \u201cBring your son to me.\u201d While the boy was being brought, the demon attacked him and made him shake all over. Jesus ordered the demon to stop. Then he healed the boy and gave him back to his father. (Luke 9:37-42)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\tBecause he loves us, Jesus never gives up on us. Jesus words to his disciples may seem harsh. In the face of the boy\u2019s suffering, Jesus berated them for being \u201cstubborn\u201d and having \u201cno faith.\u201d He then wonders aloud about how long he\u2019s going to have to stay with them and put up with it all.<\/p>\n

\tWhere was Jesus\u2019 compassion? Why was he suddenly so cross with them? The context explains it all. Jesus had sent his disciples two by two to preach about the kingdom, with Jesus\u2019 authority to heal and cast out demons. He had fed the five thousand. Peter had declared that Jesus was Messiah and Jesus had predicted his death and resurrection. Then three of his closest disciples had witnessed Jesus\u2019 transfiguration on the mountain, saw Moses and Elijah, and heard the voice of the Father. It was only after all of that, that Jesus blew up at his disciples when they failed to help a poor man and his son. Nevertheless, Jesus solved the problem, despite the stubbornness and faithlessness around him. He healed the boy from the demon and restored the son to his father. <\/p>\n

\tJesus may be disappointed by our failure, just he was with his disciples, but he\u2019ll keep working with us, even as he kept working with them. How long did he put up with his disciples? The rest of their lives, and for all eternity. But Jesus more than just puts up with us. He loves us and will be with us always.<\/p>\n

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Jesus and his three disciples came down from the mountain and were met by a large crowd. Just then someone in the crowd shouted, \u201cTeacher, please do something for my son! He is my only child! A demon often attacks … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7359"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7361,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7359\/revisions\/7361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}