The Mustard Seed
“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Matthew 17:20
Many followers of Christ and other curious folks had gathered at some area most likely near the foot of the mountain to await Jesus as He came down. Word would always spread quickly concerning Jesus’ presence among the people. Among the crowd was a man who had a very urgent situation in his family concerning his son. This burdened father came to Jesus, dropped to his knees before Him, and began to tell Him about the tormenting condition of his son. The boy’s family must have been at the end of their rope. The father said that his son was a lunatic and sore vexed. To suffer from lunacy originally meant to suffer insanity influenced by the different phases of the moon. In our day, medical science has discovered that chemical imbalances in the brain bring on conditions such as bi-polar, schizophrenia, and manic-depressive disorder among others. However, in Jesus’ day, lunacy was brought about through demon possession. We don’t hear much about demon possession except in movies, but how else can we explain serial killers and those who commit brutal assaults on people. To be sore vexed meant to be greatly disturbed or troubled. The child would lose control over his own movements. The demon within him would try to destroy him by causing him to fall into a fire or into a pond of water. His parents were constantly on guard and lived in fear for their son.
The father had sought the help of the nine disciples who had remained behind when Jesus, Peter, James, and John went up on the mountain, but none of them could do anything to help the child. The boy’s father told Jesus that His disciples tried but could not give relief to the child. I think that Jesus became exasperated with His disciples and the crowd that was gathered, because He said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to Me.” Faithless meant that the disciples lacked faith. Jesus had given them the power to cast out demons (Matthew 10:1), but they had to fully believe that they could do this supernatural healing by Christ’s power. Jesus also referred to His followers as a “perverse generation”. Perverse, when used here, does not mean immoral, but to “persist in error or fault” or to be “obstinately disobedient or stubborn”. People who have no faith are inherently going to be stubborn and/or disobedient. When Jesus asked them how long should He be with them, He was asking how much longer was He going to have to hold their hands and instruct them over and over again. He knew that He would leave in the near future. Were they ever going to be ready to stand on their own? When He asked how long should He suffer them, He was asking how much longer would He have to endure their lack of faith and their misunderstanding of His mission. Have you ever become frustrated because you had to tell someone the same instructions over and over again?
This was one of those times when the old saying comes into play: “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” Even though Jesus’ disciples had been given the power through Him, they did not know how to appropriate it. The lack of faith among the people also limited the disciples’ ability to use their gift. While Jesus was frustrated and provoked by the disciples’ and the crowd’s immaturity in the faith, He nevertheless was not going to let the child continue to suffer because of the people’s unbelief. In Mark 9:20-27, we are told that the demon saw Jesus and wanted to make one last ditch effort to show off his ability to create havoc by causing the boy to go into a convulsion, wallow on the ground, and foam at the mouth. The crowd must have been horrified. Mark also tells us that the father was also short on faith because he said to Jesus, “if You can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us”. Jesus told him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.” The father then said through his tears, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief”. The lack of faith on the part of the disciples and their resulting inability to cast out the boy’s demon had caused somewhat of a further diminishing of the people’s confidence in Jesus’ power. We must always keep in mind that, as representatives of Jesus Christ, whatever we do or say is a reflection upon Him.
Jesus cast the demon out of the boy who was left motionless on the ground. Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up. The boy was completely cured, and the father, along with other witnesses, walked away with their hearts filled with faith in this Man from Galilee. Jesus and His disciples also departed. They had to ask Him why they could not do that miracle. He told them plainly that it was because of their unbelief. They had faith, but it was weak. Jesus then used an example from nature–a mustard seed. There are those who believe Jesus used this example because of its size. It is a tiny seed that grows into a huge plant, indicating that one can begin with a small faith that will grow into a great faith as one matures. However, I think that perhaps Jesus was referring to the quality of faith and not so much to the quantity. Faith is entirely dependent upon God. The mustard seed doesn’t plant itself, doesn’t try to figure out how it will break forth a root to anchor in the ground, how it will send forth a stem up above the soil, nor how it will grow into a huge plant. It depends entirely on God to provide all it needs to do that for which it was created. And so do we.