Faith

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, 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.” Matthew 17:20

In Matthew 17 we read about Jesus healing a boy possessed with an evil spirit. As Jesus approached the crowd a man came to him and asked Jesus to, “Have pity on my son.” He tells Jesus that his son suffers a great deal and he had already brought the boy to the disciples, but they could not heal him. Jesus in one command healed the boy immediately. The disciples came to Jesus later and asked Him why they could not heal the boy. They had probably tried but they doubted whether they could do anything without Jesus beside them. Jesus told them why they were not successful, and it is probably the same reason we often fail. Jesus told them, “Because you have so little faith.” He did not say, “You tried your best or you almost healed him.” Jesus even goes on to tell them that it only takes a little faith. If they had only had faith as small as a mustard seed they could have healed the sick boy, but also could have moved a mountain. Jesus tells the disciples that it would have only taken a very small amount of faith to heal the boy, but all of them together did not have enough.

The disciples had been witnesses to many of Jesus’ miracles and had even been able to heal other people before. What was different about this child or this moment in time? The disciples had been with the crowd and a group of men who were teachers of the law had been arguing with them. Maybe the disciples had become frustrated with the teachers and their arguments had made them doubt what they believed. When they were confronted with the sick boy their faith had become replaced with doubt. After all, the smartest people in the town had told them they were foolish for following a man that was a scam. They let a few words by the teachers create doubt in the faith they had built through witnessing the miracles.

I think the same thing happens in our world today. We have seen the miracles that God causes to happen in our lives and built a great amount of faith but, when confronted by someone with opposite views, our faith begins to weaken. We are also told by the world that a faithful person is also a foolish person. After all, according to many, only a foolish person would trust what they cannot see. I think God knows our faith will be mighty at times and weak at others. We may ask "why?" on many occasions and on others we can see His works. But in Matthew 17:20 He tells us to have faith as small as a mustard seed and nothing will be impossible, even moving a mountain.

Chad