David Bahn – Reflections

Faith is a wonderful thing. On the one hand it is childishly simple. On the other hand Jesus chides his disciples for their lack of it.

Matthew 17:14-20

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15″Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
17″O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.

19Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

20He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

There are times when I struggle with the truth of Jesus’ words. This is one of those times. Jesus calls his disciples an unbelieving and perverse generation. Not exactly complimentary. And I’m right with them. How many times do I fail to move out in faith to claim all that Jesus would otherwise do? I believe that God can do all things. But too often I fail to apply that truth to life in real time.

Faith as weak as smoldering flax or as precarious as a bruised reed will not be rejected. The weakest faith saves. That is a comfort. Jesus isn’t speaking about saving faith here; he is talking about the faith that heals diseases and moves mountains. And the onus is on me; it’s on the leaders who fail to access the power of God for the blessing of God to his people.

Some blame the sick for their lack of faith when they are not healed. Others say that sicknesses are a result of particular sins. Jesus never teaches that. But he does say here that the pitiful faith of the disciples prevented them from casting out the demon in this man’s son.

Jesus’ rebuke seems strong. But it is all about his first-hand understanding (as God in the flesh), but also as the champion, author and perfecter of our faith. He knows what God can do. This is no big deal for God. Our faith is strong if it is in God. We can never conjure up faith by our efforts. But faith that resides in God is not conjured. The only thing that gets in the way of such faith is doubting the goodness of God.

And God is good – all the time; even when we flag in our faith. There is much more to say about this. Tomorrow…