We are starting a new series I’ve entitled, “The Advanced Lessons.” In Matthew, chapters seventeen through twenty, Jesus withdraws from the multitudes to spend the majority of His time with His disciples.
In this, His last six months on Earth prior to His crucifixion, He will prepare His disciples for their future ministries. The first of these advanced lessons comes in Matthew 17:14-21.
In this text, we’ll observe a man who brings his son to Jesus’ apostles for healing, but they cannot heal the boy. It may be surprising to you at first glance, as it was to me, that Jesus became very frustrated when He was told that His disciples could not heal the boy.
Why was he frustrated? He was not frustrated that they could not complete the healing; He was frustrated because of their small faith. When they asked Jesus why they couldn’t heal the boy, Jesus replied in verse twenty,
“Because of the littleness of your faith;
At this point, Jesus had called them men of little faith for years, and this was a tipping point for His frustration. There are great lessons within this text, but one I would draw your attention to in this article is a lesson of the why behind Jesus’ frustration.
Does this text indicate that Jesus is frustrated with small faith? That’s not it. Look at his next words in verse twenty,
…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.
The lesson of the mustard seed is not the power of small faith. The lesson of the mustard seed is that from the small grows the large. In the parable about the Kingdom, the Kingdom starts small and grows large, like a mustard seed. Here, Jesus teaches that faith that starts small can also grow large.
So why was He frustrated? Because their faith had not grown larger. They have been with Him for over two and a half years. They have heard His teaching and witnessed a multitude of miracles, yet, their faith was still small.
How could this happen? I think the answer, in part, is complacency. A.W. Tozer said, “Complacency is the deadly enemy of spiritual progress. The contented soul is the stagnant soul.” I think he nailed it.
Jesus gave them the ability to heal and cast out demons, yet they cannot do it here. Why? Because they were used to things happening instantly and when the healing wasn’t instant in this case, they gave up. What should they have done? They should have sought more power.
Greater spiritual obstacles require greater spiritual power, or in other words, a bigger faith. This week, Jesus is going to teach His disciples the much-needed lesson of how to tap into greater spiritual power. The same lesson applies to us.
Much Love,
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerewes1@gmail.com
