Matthew 17:14-23 (Mark 9:14-32; Luke 9:37-45)
Jesus, Peter, James, and John make their way down the mountain the morning after the transfiguration to meet back up with the rest of the disciples. The disciples are surrounded by a crowd, and the scribes (men who were "experts" in law and religion) are engaging the crowd in an argument. Jesus asks what's being discussed. A man separates from the crowd and kneels before Jesus and explains his son has (likely) epilepsy (the word in Matthew means to have a disease that is thought to be influenced by the moon.) The disease has been tormenting the man's son since childhood, so he brought him to the disciples to be healed, but they couldn't do it. Jesus rebukes the crowd in general as faithless and twisted for arguing about lack of healing, instead of following Him in faith. The boy is brought before Jesus and he suffers a seizure exactly as his dad described it. Jesus restrains the demon and it leaves the boy. The disciples asked Jesus why they couldn't heal him, and Jesus tells them it's because their faith wasn't big enough. Verse 21 doesn't appear in every manuscript, it says "But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting." Jesus again foretells His death and resurrection, which brings the disciples great distress because they don't completely understand.
The disciples, who had been gifted with the power of healing in Matthew 10:1, were not able to heal this boy's sickness/demon. When they asked why, Jesus said their faith was so small, it wasn't even the size of a mustard seed. The gift Jesus gave them in Matthew 10 was intended to grow the kingdom of heaven, as Jesus taught in Matthew 13, with the parable of the mustard seed. In Luke 9:6, the disciples went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. But this time their faith wasn't big enough. What happened? It seems like they were treating their ability to heal as a "magic trick", maybe to impress the crowd, maybe to impress the scribes. When they weren't able, that lead to confrontation. Just as Peter took his eyes off of Jesus when it came to walking on the water, so had the disciples taken their eyes off of the Source of their power.
As I'm thinking (and thinking. and thinking.) my way through this story, I find myself being hard on the disciples. They are eyewitnesses to the power of God through Jesus every single day. How can their faith be going backward instead of forward?? But my faith does the same thing. I may not be an eyewitness to the power of God, but I am a witness to the power of God. I may find myself saying things like "My faith is strong". "I just lean on my faith." "I make decisions according to my faith." But that's what I have in common with the disciples. My faith is too often in My Faith. And my faith is too little to move mountains. It would be better said-- "My God is strong, I place my loyalty with Him." "I lean on God, and place my confidence in Him." "I make decisions according to God, my conviction is in Him." I'm changed by Matthew 17:21and Mark 9:29--"This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." My faith has no power in itself, it's power comes from the guarantee of God through Jesus Christ. It's only when I get that through my head that my faith can be a tool to point others to God and grow His kingdom.
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