The Narrow Path Ministries

In Matthew 17:14-21 (NASB) we read the following:

14. When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying,
15. "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

16. "I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him."

17. And Jesus answered and said, "You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me."

18. And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once.

19. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not drive it out?"

20. And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

21. ["But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."]

In verse 20 Jesus attributes their failure to cast the demon out to the "littleness of your faith", and then immediately following says that if they have even the tiniest amout of faith that they can overcome great obstacles, a seeming non sequitur. Verse 21 is not in the oldest manuscripts, but when Mark relates the story he simply says Jesus attributed their failure to lack of prayer. Luke's version does not mention Jesus giving any reason for their failure.

I am thinking that Matthew's "littleness of faith" is not about the quantity of their faith, but the quality of faith. Perhaps they were acting as though the authority Jesus had given them to cast out demons was like a magical power and all they had to do was say the right words, perhaps a "word of faith" kind of thing. This would then complement Mark's version where lack of prayer is the reason for their failure.

Thoughts anyone?

I think it could be seen along the lines of Christ's statement about a child's faith but even more so -- a mustard seed knows nothing but to rest in the soil and be what it was designed to be -- it isn't seeking to be anything but a mustard seed. It may be small, but when it does just that and doesn't start trying to be something else (like a tree), then it grows and grows. It's not trying to do it itself.

See this thread, and my concluding post in that thread below:

http://www.theos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2946

darin wrote:Another thought this morning on why the mustard seed was used -- maybe, we make too much of things like this and if we focus on the symbolism of the selection, perhaps we miss the larger teaching (in this and other areas). Preachers tend to try and glean some special meaning from every little thing -- I think it makes them look smart to show that there's some hidden meaning, etc. Maybe Jesus was simply standing next to a mustard plant and it was a convenient reference -- is there something special about "lillies of the field" or the "sparrow" or were those just convenient examples?

The explanation I have heard goes like this:

The KJV uses the word "unbelief" not "little faith" which are two different things.

The disciples clearly had at least a mustard seed of faith. How could they not have? That's really not much faith.

But it's easy to have unbelief and faith at the same time. We can have faith that God can do anything, and really believe that, but what we see with our natural senses can counteract our faith. The disciples had had success in casting out demons prior to this episode, but perhaps the manifestation of the symptoms in this case freaked them out.

other examples: We believe that God can heal, but we put more stock in the dr's report than what God can do. We believe God can help us if we are having financial difficulties, but we use every worldly measure and strategy first, and then look to God as a last resort.

prayer and fasting helps to counter unbelief.

TK

The KJV uses the word "unbelief" not "little faith" which are two different things.






That's right it is different yet you can have faith and doubt at the same time. Think of the qualities of the mustard seed,
small but solid and dense, it will grow if planted in soft soil and if watered. We do not know why a seed grows but it does until it bears a harvest.
So though they had faith they seemed to doubt also because they did'nt get instant results yet Jesus did'nt only tell us to have faith he said "doubt not" , "fear not" and speak to your mountain.