If you have faith as a mustard seed

And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him." Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me." And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."

- Matthew 17:14-21

In yesterday's reading, Jesus took His three closest disciples -- His inner circle of Peter, and James and John Zebedee -- up to a mountain. There they saw Him transfigured: His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. Moses and Elijah were with Him, on either side. Peter suggested they build tabernacles, one for each of them. Then a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice said: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" The disciples were in awe and fear, but Jesus touched them, telling them to arise and not be afraid. When they looked up, only Jesus was there. Coming down from the mountain, they were told to say nothing about it, until after the Resurrection. The disciples asked why the scribes say Elijah must come first. Jesus said, "Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist. See Transfiguration - His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him." We remember that Jesus is coming back down from the mountain of the Transfiguration; in a sense we see the Messiah coming back into the world as it is -- in need of His transfiguring reality. My study bible points out that "sickness, especially epilepsy is often connected to demonic activity in Scripture. Yet the disciples could not banish Satan." It is a world plagued with the effects of evil. The father somehow represents us all, asking for help from Christ for the legacy from which his child is suffering.

Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me." And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Again, we have a teaching about faith. In Matthew's gospel, we have read several accounts recently demonstrating the power of faith. The Pharisees and Sadducees show no faith at all, and demand signs, while Jesus has repeatedly chastised His disciples for being of "little faith." But, as we have discussed before, a little faith goes a long way, just like the mustard seed that grows a great and sturdy shrub. Here, once more Jesus chastises them, a little more severely than before! To quote my study bible, "Jesus rebukes His disciples' powerlessness and their participation with the faithless and perverse (see Deut. 32:5). Perhaps He's referring back to His warning about the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and fears His disciples are too affected by them. My study bible continues: "Nothing can withstand Jesus' power, for He is the Lord of all. To everyone in need He says, Bring him here to Me!" "Bring him here to Me!" is the answer to the prayer for mercy.

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Once again, I will quote from my study bible, a note worthwhile to read and to consider: "Exorcisms require sincere faith, combined with prayer and fasting. Faith is a gift of God, either (1) an assent to the truth, which profits the soul (John 3:18, 5:24) or (2) a special gift bestowed by Christ which effects things beyond man's power (Mark 11:23; 1 Cor. 12:8-9). But it is always both a belief and a trust."

Of course, it goes without saying that with faith comes the presence of God, in the power of the Spirit and of grace and truth. Too often, it seems, people want to make prayer into something other than what it truly is: a cooperative kind of effort with God. Jesus says, "If you have faith as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you." But let us consider what faith is. It is not merely a way of convincing ourselves of something, a decision that we will choose to believe absolutely in whatever we decide we'd like. Faith is a gift of God, of grace. It is an acceptance and a trust, a kind of assent to the presence of God and all that implies, including God's power and truth. Faith is a cooperative effort, putting our hand in God's, so to speak. And it grows as we accept and deepen our relationship to God. We give our assent to the Spirit's work in us, keeping our hearts open to it. And there is so much more. Prayer and fasting are ways of devoting ourselves to that action in us, in our lives, to the presence of God with us. They are not formulas for success in the sense that we choose the goal and make it happen. They are ways of seeking God, and finding deeper faith by devoting ourselves to God's power in our lives, God's presence. So let us consider what it is to remember God, to seek God's presence and God's grace, to have faith: a belief and a trust. From there all things are added. "With God," He will teach, "all things are possible." It is God we seek through prayer, and practices such as fasting, and God works in us through faith, and deepening relationship.