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

 

 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 

 

On Saturday, we read that Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.  His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.  And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.  Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles:  one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.  Hear Him!"  And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.  But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid."  When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.  Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead."  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.  But I say to you that 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.

 

  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.  My study Bible comments that sickness in Scripture is often connected to demonic activity.  By kneeling, it says, this father shows humility, but what he lacks is faith.  Although the disciples also lacked faith (in verse 20 further on, Jesus says to them, "Because of your unbelief . . . "), Christ rebukes the man for placing the blame on the disciples when it was his greater lack of faith that prevented the boy's healing.  In effect, Jesus defends His disciples in front of the multitudes but later rebukes them privately (see verses 19-21 which follow in today's reading), teaching us that we ought first to correct people in private (see also Matthew 18:15-17).  

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."  My study Bible cites John Chrysostom, who notes that this rebuke is directed only at the nine disciples who could not cast out the demon, whereas "the pillars" of faith -- Peter, James, and John (Galatians 2:9) -- were not included in this rebuke, as they had been on the mountain (of Transfiguration) with Christ (see Saturday's reading, above).  This kind, it says, refers to all powers of darkness, not only those that cause a particular illness.  The banishment of demons requires faith, prayer, and fasting, as there is no healing and no victory in spiritual warfare without all three, and all serve to shore up faith and discipline faith.  Beginning with the Didache (the earliest teaching document of the Church, attributed to the apostles), patristic teaching has always held that both the person in need of healing and the person performing the healing must believe, pray, and fast.  On moving a mountain, see also Matthew 21:21.

Jesus exclaims to the father in today's reading, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I bear with you?"  This would seem to include the crowd, the "multitude" that surrounds the disciples and the father with his boy.  We should note that Jesus asks that the boy be brought to Him, suggesting that Jesus is separating this father from the crowd that watches.  Indeed, in Mark 9:14, we're told that in fact "when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them" (Mark 9:14).  This detail suggests a kind of clamor going on while Jesus -- together with Peter, James, and John -- was returning from the Mount of Transfiguration (see Saturday's reading, above).  It first of all adds to the understanding that Jesus does not rebuke His disciples in front of the crowd, but only in private afterward.  Second of all, in separating the boy and his father from the crowd, Jesus is separating them from those who dispute with the disciples and who lack faith in this apparently acrimonious display.  Just as Christ separated the daughter and her parents from the crowd who ridiculed Him when He said she was not dead (in Matthew 9:23-26), so He also seeks to separate the father and the boy from the disputatious crowd and the scribes who are likely stirring them up.  So, once again, we observe that faith works not only with individuals but also corporately, with groups of people, and with this crowd their lack of faith also impacts what is happening.  When Jesus healed a paralytic, it was the faith of the paralytic's friends that brought about his healing, despite the presence of the scribes who doubted (see Matthew 9:1-7).  These examples all show us it's not just the faith of an individual that impacts circumstances, but the faith of those who may surround or somehow make up the environment or other relationships also makes an impact -- or their lack of faith as well.  It is why we come together corporately for worship, and it directly reflects on the notion that we ask others to pray for us, as we also pray for others.  Indeed, our faith in God also bears directly upon our capacity for forgiveness, for giving up a circumstance or a hurt or a perceived grievance or sin committed against us to God, just as Jesus has taught us to forgive that we may be forgiven in the Lord's Prayer ("forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" - Matthew 6:12).  As Jesus emphasizes repeatedly in today's reading, so much depends upon faith, and upon what we do to shore up, strengthen, and discipline our faith, such as prayer.  Here, Jesus' exclamation reflects the growing rejection of His ministry, the failure to find faith in various cities where so many of His various signs and healings have already happened.  But we read the Gospels not only to know the history of Jesus, but to learn for our own lives how faith works -- and how important the actions that help our faith are in our own lives.  Corporate worship is important, because we need the help, comfort, and support of those whose faith can help to build up and maintain our own.  Asking people to pray for us, or praying for others, is not only good but also commanded by Christ in our prayers.  We remember also that we are surrounded, as St. Paul says, by a great cloud of witnesses who pray and worship with us (Hebrews 12:1), and who help us to endure and finish our own "race that is set before us."  As Christ has indicated so often, we have need of practices that help our faith, that build it up, that support it, that help to carry it along and maintain it, and that would also include -- as in His repeated examples -- separating ourselves from that which tears it down, or people whose influence is simply to actively do so.  Let us continue in the race set before us, this "good struggle" (often translated as the "good fight" or "good warfare" of faith - see 1 Timothy 1:18, 6:12).  Let us build up the faith, even as a mustard seed, that He asks of us, just as He asked of His disciples then.