Matthew 17:18-20 18And answering, Jesus rebuked, and the demon came out of him, and the child was healed from that moment. 19Then the disciples coming to Jesus said privately, “Why were we not able to cast it out?” 20And 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; nothing will be impossible for you.”
Jesus’ second response is towards the father as he calls the boy to be brought to him. This situation appears to be a spiritual condition rather than medical, although thoughtful readers today might interpret the boy’s problem as epilepsy and not demon possession. How could a child become demon possessed? Rather than quibble over this part of the story, we will find more spiritual application by reading the story as it is written from Matthew’s perspective. There is never even a hint that Jesus has to struggle again physical or spiritual illnesses. He is always in complete control. In this situation, it only took a rebuke and the demon left and the child healed. We get the word “therapeutic” from the Greek word for “heal” (here as etherapeuthē).
Verse 19 highlights the continued confusion of the disciples. Like us, they interpreted the situation from their self-focused position. They may have thought that they had power and authority because of their position as disciples of Jesus. They were deceived by the world into thinking that they had magic powers. They had been given the special insight that Jesus was the Messiah. Their problem is that they were trying to do miracles from their own power and not by trusting in Jesus’ power and his position as Messiah. They had little faith. At least they had some faith, enough to follow Jesus, but not enough to put their full trust in him. They were like many people today: they are believers but they have not come to the point of full consecration. They are following Jesus but have not taken up the cross of sanctification by accepting his supremacy as Lord, which requires a deeper faith and commitment.
Jesus describes what this deeper faith is like in verse 20. It is not a matter of human power or intellect but of direction. This faith is directed towards him and not self. Faith in him can move mountains. Moving mountains had a proverbial sense to ancient Jews and represented huge obstacles or challenges. A grain of mustard seed is quite small, but the seed will sprout and grow into a tree (13:31-32). Faith shifts our focus from what we can do (or attempt to do) to what God can do.
The last statement is difficult for us to understand and apply: nothing will be impossible for you. Faith is putting our trust in God. There is no limit to how much faith we can have. Even small faith can make a huge difference. But we must step forward in trusting God, otherwise, we are not expressing our faith but our own understanding and strength. The disciples struggled with this. They were still thinking like the world and needed to make the necessary transformation to thinking like Jesus is faith and reliance on the Father.
For older posts, click here.