As much as anything, stagnant faith disheartens Jesus. In fact, it displeases him. When we neglect the exercise of faith and when we resist moving forward in his authority and power, then the very thing for which Jesus came, died, rose again, ascended, and intercedes for at the right hand of the Father has been put on the back burner: our empowerment as agents of his Kingdom. No wonder our lack of faith hurts his heart so deeply. On the other hand, any time we operate in faith, even if that faith is only mustard seed sized, we are activating God-pleasing faith. That is what Jesus wants from us.
The Journey: Matthew 17:17-20
“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 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.”
Jesus was fully God, yet fully man. That is a core part of our Christology—our doctrine of Christ. That fundamental belief about the nature of Jesus is a mystery; it is hard for us as finite human beings to grasp. Yet while we accept it by faith, there is no shame in struggling with various aspects of it. Some struggle with the divinity side of Christ’s nature, others with the humanity side. I, for one, have more difficulty with the humanity part of his nature: how could God be fully man?
Yet being fully human, Jesus the Son of God experienced and expressed the full range of human emotions. He cried, he got angry, he rejoiced, he felt concern, and as in the case here, he got frustrated. When his disciples couldn’t cast out an evil spirit that has been tormenting an innocent little boy, he took them to task, “rebuking” them for being unbelieving and perverse, for having so little faith—not even mustard seed sized faith. In comparing their faith to a mustard seed, he was using one of the smallest common objects in that culture to make an unforgettable and very harsh point with them.
Now as you read this story, like me, you probably relate to the disciples. Haven’t we all been in situations where our efforts for the Lord produced no kingdom results? I, too, have prayed for people that didn’t get healed, too—more than once, in fact. So would Jesus rebuke me, too, if he were physically present?
But as always, to understand the hard sayings of Jesus, it helps to understand the context. In this context, his rebuke was not directed at the quantity of their faith—for sure, they did have faith at least the size of a mustard seed or they wouldn’t have been following Jesus in the first place—but he is referring to the quality of their faith. It wasn’t the breadth, but the depth with which Jesus took issue.
You see, their inability to drive out the demon exposed their prayerlessness (Mark 9:29), which itself exposes laziness of faith. Furthermore, it indicated that they still didn’t fully believe Jesus’ words (Matt. 10:6-8) that they would be doing these very kinds of things in his power. Their failure to deliver the boy demonstrated they were operating in their own strength rather than Jesus’ authority and God’s power. Jesus was quite clear that when the will of God was carried out by human beings in the power of God, even the most stubborn objects had to move (Matthew 17:20). Obviously, they had missed the point—their faith was shallow, they were unbelieving, they were relying on their own power—and that frustrated Jesus.
So what is the lesson for us? Simply this: stagnant faith displeases our Lord. He came, died, rose again, ascended, sent the Holy Spirit, and intercedes on our behalf at the right hand of the Father to make it possible for us to enter the kingdom by faith, and by the exercise of that faith, become agents of that kingdom. His plan for us is to walk in his authority and exercise his power as we do his bidding on Planet Earth.
The disciples needed Jesus physically with them for their authority and power, but he wanted them to come to the place where they could operate without him being physically present. While he would leave them, he would be within them through the Holy Spirit, and in this way, they and all his followers could fan out around the globe to bring his kingdom to those, like the little boy, who were enslaved and victimized by the power of Satan.
God has given each of us a measure of faith. And he expects us to exercise it. We exercise it through prayer, by believing that Jesus authorized us to use it, and then by stepping out in his power to do the works that Jesus would do if he were in our place. And if we do, that faith, even the smallest amount of it, will make impossible things possible, even to the degree that immovable mountains like demonic harassment will get uprooted and tossed aside like a child’s play toy.
That is the kind of faith Jesus has given you. Don’t neglect it.
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