True Faith

When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, “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. “I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” 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.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” 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. “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Mt 17:14-21) 

In Matthew chapter 17 we find the Lord using the situation to accomplish two things: 1) He frees the boy of a demon. 2) He teaches a lesson on faith.  First let's look at the boy.  Since he was a child, he had experienced many of the symptoms we would associate with epilepsy.  The father uses the term "moonstruck", where we get our word "lunatic". To describe the problem.  According to the phases of the moon, the boy would fall to the ground, foam at the mouth, and throw himself into fire and water.  The father was desperate.  While Jesus was on the mountaintop with Peter, James, and John, the 9 disciples were not able to expel the demon that had caused such cruel torment to the boy. So, when the father sees the Lord, he falls at His feet and begs for a miracle. 

Jesus was able to expel the demon at once and cure the boy.  And Jesus was marveled at their lack of faith.  He describes this generation as "unbelieving and perverted" (literally twisted).   Throughout the Gospels we see this pattern.  He rarely rebuked the disciples except for their lack of faith.  And he seemed amazed when He encountered this pervasive unbelief: 

And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. (Mk 6:4-6) 

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Lk 18:8) 

The word we use for "faith" comes from the Greek word- "pistis".  It means to trust in, rely on, depend on, even roll along on.  As a noun, "the faith" can refer to the tenants of our belief system or the qualities of the Christian life.  As a verb it means to act on what we believe.  It is much more than mere intellectual assent.  James comments on this in chapter 2 verse 19: 

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

 You may have heard of the story of the tightrope walker who could balance over great distances at extreme heights.  As the story goes, he has stretched a wire across Niagara Falls and walks back and forth carefully.  Next, he takes a wheelbarrow and repeats the feat.  Finally, he calls to the crowd below, "How many of you believe I can walk across with this wheelbarrow?"  Everyone raises their hands.  He then says, "Get in."  This illustrates true faith.  "Get in."

Biblical faith is far more than mere head knowledge.  It's heart knowledge.  It's action.  If we truly trust our heavenly Father, we will want to obey Him.  The demons know nothing of this type of faith. 

"Why could we not drive it out." This was the big question on the minds of the disciples.  They had seen Jesus cast out demons on many occasions (six in the book of Matthew alone).  The disciples had cast out many demons as well.  When Jesus sent the 12 to preach the gospel of the kingdom, they were able to cast out demons and heal the sick.  The same happened when the 72 were sent out. (Mt 10:8; Lk 10:17) So what went wrong in this situation?  Jesus gives a clear answer… 

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. (Mt 17:20) 

I suppose this was a nice way of saying, "You had no faith."  If they had even the tiniest faith, the demon, as stubborn as a mountain, could have been removed.  Whatever they were doing, using well-worn phrases, possibly trying to mimic what Jesus had done. It didn't work, because it was not mixed with true faith. 

This brings up an important point for us all... "It's not the size of your faith that matters, but the object of your faith that matters."- Tim Keller 

Even the tiniest of faith in a big God is sufficient for any challenge. 

In the north, lakes often freeze to a depth of 30-70 cm, but there is no limit to how thick the ice can be- even several meters.  To a person from a warm climate this is hard to imagine.  They may slowly creep out onto a frozen lake even sliding on their stomach, expecting it to crack wide open.  But if they look around, they may also see a heavy truck driving on the ice.  It's not the strength of their faith in the ice that matters, it is the thickness and strength of the ice itself.  Even the least bit of faith in that frozen lake may carry you across, because the ice is so very strong.  Remember, even the tiniest bit of faith in a great and powerful God is all it takes. 

“But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Mt 17:21) 

This final note is quite interesting.  Jesus seems to indicate that this demon was especially stubborn.  It might require concerted prayer.  God does not need our prayer and fasting to change his mind, but to change ours.  Through persistent prayer we will be able to adjust our heart and mind and find that mustard seed of faith that the situation requires.  Prayer and fasting will also give us greater confidence in finding the will of God for any situation.

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

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All passages in this post were taken from New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995).