Mustard Seed Faith – Matthew 17:14-20

I remember thinking that this poor man who could not speak and who desperately wanted to speak needed a miracle. He had come to the center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where we were ministering to street children as part of the ministry of The Forsaken Children, and I felt compelled to pray for him even as I shared the gospel with him. I prayed, and no healing came. Like Jesus’ disciples, I could have asked Jesus, “Why couldn’t I heal him?”.

Jesus is fresh off the mountain of Transfiguration and finds his disciples failing in their attempt to help a man who desperately needed help. What is his answer?

And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 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. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 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.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 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 ESV)

Once again Jesus seems harsh.  But it helps us to understand that Jesus knows he is nearing the end of his ministry with the disciples and they are the ones who will be taking over the mission, yet they still do not have the faith they should have.  In Jesus’ mind they should have been able to help this poor man and his son and relieved their great suffering.  For Jesus, this demon should not have been allowed to continue harassing this boy.  Healing was in order.  But they couldn’t give it to him because they did not really believe they could.

Jesus uses exaggeration, though we might argue that God would literally move a mountain if need be for the sake of ministry in the gospel.  But it is unlikely that a mountain would need to be literally picked up and moved somewhere else.  He is trying to help the disciples, and us, to have even the smallest faith that God can do anything and that God wants to demonstrate His power through them and through us as we trust Him for it in ministry.  In doing things for the gospel, there are no limits.

Since Jesus’ departure to heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the followers of Christ have demonstrated faith in God in ministry and have done mighty things. But it seems there are generations or cultures where we don’t appear to have that kind of faith, that God can and will move “mountains” for the sake of the outreach of the gospel. We don’t have even that mustard-grain-sized faith. Lord Jesus, rebuke us if need be and teach us to believe.