“O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Matt. 17:17
Jesus and three of his disciples were coming down from a literal mountaintop experience. They had just seen and experienced the transfiguration of Jesus into His glory. A crowd awaits them as they return and a man pleads with Jesus to heal his demon-possessed son. The nine disciples had tried to exorcise the demon and were unsuccessful. Jesus seems to me to be irritated at this news and goes so far as to say “How long shall I put up with you?” He casts out the demon and later in a private moment, the disciples ask Him why they couldn’t drive the demon out. He responds that they were unsuccessful because they had “so little faith”. He further stated that if their faith was the size of a mustard seed, they could command a mountain to move and it would. With mustard seed faith, nothing is impossible.
This story is loaded with faith food…kind of like a Mexican combination plate. For those of you who live in Montana and Canada, a Mexican combination plate has a sampling of a variety of Mexican entrees all on one plate :) Here’s a few of the faith food entrees in this passage.
1. Sometimes we have difficulty seeing the unbelief that resides in our selves. The reason for the powerlessness of the disciples was the unbelief in them. It took Jesus to point out this out.
2. Faith pleases God. Unbelief irritates Him. “And without faith it is impossible to please God…”
3. Faith is a reasonable thing to have. Jesus would not have groaned “O unbelieving and perverse generation…” if faith was an unreasonable thing to expect of the dad, the disciples and even the crowd.
4. With the tiniest of faith, “nothing will be impossible for you.” Are we too steeped in unbelief to ponder this truth? It’s easy to pray in terms of probabilities. Tiny faith prays in terms of impossibilities.
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