Imperfectly perfect faith-Part 2

A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water.  So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.’

Jesus said, ‘You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.’  Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well.

Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, ‘Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?’

‘You don’t have enough faith,’ Jesus told them. ‘I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible’ (Matthew 17:14-20).

How much faith?

‘You don’t have enough faith,’ Jesus tells his disciples. These are tough words, there is no denying this. It would have been a tough message for the disciples to hear. And it continues to be a tough message for some today.

‘If a little bit of faith can move a mountain,’ they reason, ‘and your faith has provided nothing, you obviously don’t have enough faith.’ But I don’t believe that is what Jesus was saying here.

Prior to this encounter, Jesus commissioned his disciples to go out in pairs. And in pairs, they were to heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons (Matthew 10:8). Judging by the reaction of

these disciples, you get the impression that—up to this point—everything Jesus said they could do, they did! They must have felt like world-beaters. Nothing, it appeared, was too hard for them, and nothing could stop them.

But then something did. And I want to suggest that it wasn’t the demon, but their attitude toward the demon. No wonder Jesus pulls them into line. He speaks sternly because they had overlooked this one simple truth: ‘It’s not the size of your faith that will move the mountain, but what God can do with the smallest of faith.’

Tom Wright, a renowned New Testament scholar and author, explains it this way: ‘Imagine if one night you wanted to see the moon. And you wanted to see the moon from inside your house, not outside. Now, the easiest way to do that would be to look out a window. But the size of the window that you are looking through doesn’t matter. What matters is that the window is facing in the right direction. Big, small, medium—it makes no difference, but look through any window regardless of its size, if it’s facing the wrong way—despite how hard you try—you’ll never see the moon.’

I want to suggest that faith is like that. When we point ourselves (or align ourselves) in the direction of God, it’s not the amount of faith that’s important, but the size and power of our God.

God is moved by us

Here’s a wonderful story that’s found in Luke’s gospel: Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her.

‘Young man,’ he said, ‘I tell you, get up.’ Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother (Luke 7:11-15).

What an incredible scene! Without her son (or a husband, for that matter), the widow had no way of providing for herself. Death had struck deeply. And then along comes Jesus, and moved by compassion, he offers to her new life.

And so, despite our faith or lack thereof, I believe that Jesus reaches out to each of us as well. He may not say or do what you expect (after all, you cannot control God), but he reaches out nonetheless, offering hope, healing, restoration and new life.

The dilly-dally approach

Occasionally when I speak (or write) and I present what I believe is a watertight argument, I have people come to me with a counter argument. And sometimes they present their side of the argument with scriptural backing. This happened once at an event where I was speaking. After boldly declaring that the widow of Nain story teaches us that God in his mercy can respond to our despair, even in the absence of faith, it was suggested that I stop talking and turn to Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6, which I was told said, ‘And it is impossible to please God without faith.’

This verse brings with it many challenges. Read in its entirety, it says: And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

What I believe the author of Hebrews is addressing here is the one who is yet to commit to a relationship with God, or is looking to commit, or is unsure whether they should commit or not. And so the writer is quite succinct, ‘Get on with it’, he’s saying, ‘make your commitment to God, because then—and only then—will you discover what it means to be relationship with God.’ This dilly-dally approach (I’m in … I’m out) will never please God.

When we doubt

For those of us already in relationship with God, there will be times when we doubt. We will sometimes doubt whether God will or can act on our behalf (and that’s only natural). And sometimes our faith will be shaken. We experience an unexpected or unwelcome change to our circumstances, and it throws us or leads us to a crisis of faith where

we perhaps ask, ‘Is God really there?’ Sometimes it’s not faith that we lack, but the courage or desire to move forward ‘in faith’.

But regardless of the size of our faith, whether we have great faith or a struggling faith, the point is this: the size of our God never changes. Whether we are people of great faith or little faith, God’s love, God’s care, God’s grace, God’s forgiveness will always be there. In short, God will always be there.

Surprising faith

Prior to entering the village of Nain, Jesus was in Capernaum (about a 10-hour walk from Nain). And while there, he was approached by some well-respected Jewish elders who wanted Jesus to go with them to the home of a Roman soldier.

They wanted Jesus to go with them because a highly valued slave of the soldier was very sick and near death. So they earnestly beg Jesus to help the man. They want Jesus to help him because of the Roman’s love for the Jewish people. Luke informs us that this soldier had even built a synagogue for them. ‘If anyone deserves your help’, the Jewish elders say to Jesus, ‘he does.’ So Jesus goes with them.

But before he arrives at the house, the soldier sends some friends to meet with Jesus and to say to him: Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honour. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, ‘I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!’ And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed’ (Luke 7:1-10).

What I love about this story is that throughout the gospels Jesus does and says things that surprise people, but this is one of the few places where Jesus is surprised. Where the soldier got his faith from, we do not know. But his belief in Jesus is very simple and clear: he sees Jesus as a military officer, one with much authority. When Jesus commands that something is to be done, it will be done. No wonder then that Jesus is surprised. There’s no denying that this man has much faith.

But here’s the thing. Jesus responds to the Roman soldier long before learning of his incredible faith. Right from the outset, Jesus was going to heal the soldier’s servant.

If faith was a recipe

So it’s not like we have to somehow try and impress God, or try and convince God to move on our behalf. After all, if faith was a recipe and the recipe was dependent on one key ingredient, then the size of your faith isn’t the key ingredient: the key ingredient (or the active ingredient) is the God in whom you believe.

The Apostle Paul, writing to the church in Corinth puts it this way: …we are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
(2 Corinthians 4:7)

When the father presented his son to the disciples for healing, perhaps they thought they had the power in themselves, or maybe they thought they could do it without bothering God too much. Maybe that’s why Jesus says to them, I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible. But even so, Jesus was not suggesting that we try harder, but that we rely boldly on God.

* Bible quotes from the New Living Translation

Major Darren Elkington is Corps Officer (pastor) of Whangarei Salvation Army.

Ponder This

A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son.’ What events or experiences have led you to trust in Jesus?

‘You don’t have enough faith,’ Jesus told them. Why do you think Jesus was upset by His disciples’ lack of faith? On the matter of faith, do you think there have been times when God has been upset with you? What about now? What causes you to waver in your faith?

‘Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate.’ Has ‘death’ struck deeply? Or are there areas in your life where ‘death’ has a grip on you? In what ways does Jesus offer ‘life’ to you?

‘I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!’ In what areas of your life do you find it difficult to believe and trust in God? What are some examples from your life of trusting God? In what areas of your life do you want to rely more on God’s strength and power, rather than your own?