Matthew 17: 19,20&21 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, 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.”
Every difficulty is solvable if one has faith in the God of the galaxies. That seems to be the message that Jesus spoke to his disciples who failed to heal the boy with seizures. Matthew, who records these words, says that Jesus rebuked his disciples, to rebuke is to level “blame or scold in a sharp way”. The disciples must have cringed in embarrassment, both from the failure to heal the boy and then the lack of understanding from their teacher. Are not some of our meager exercises in faith just as lame as those of the disciples? One should ask, does “every difficulty” mean every? Are there no impossibilities with God?
This is one of those perplexing questions that can only be answered with a “yes” and a “no”, the soup contains neither absolute. In the New testament the power of Jesus to heal the sick is not an absolute. There is no record of any spectacular healing in the first thirty years of his life. During his three year ministry, Mathew, Mark and Luke record how the faith of Jesus could not override the cynicism of the people in his hometown, Nazareth. The people heard the news of the healing in Capernaum and marveled at the teachings in the synagogue but when Jesus claimed spiritual authority from a God who was bigger than their religion, they tried to kill one of their own.
Could it be that the God of the galaxies is less a spectacular God and more of a God who works through his creation? Look around, how often do you recognize the spectacular activity of God? That is not to say that God does not operate in a spectacular fashion, we can list the supernatural recorded in Scripture and in our world. But by comparing the subtle activities of God and the spectacular activities of God, we must conclude that the God of the galaxies is most comfortable operating through his creation. All of life is His creation and the natural world is inclined to reflect the will of God.
Operative faith depends upon us but it is also a shared experience. It is shared with others and with the creative process. The message that Jesus was sending with the over the top ridicule is that as far as you and I are concerned, there are no limits to what God can do, should he so choose. After all, through his creative process, mountains have been raised and others washed into the sea. Deserts have been turned into great bodies of water and jungles have become deserts again. Look around, look what the mustard seed has produced!
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca
