And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Matthew 17 : 20.
What intrigues me more about this particular passage is the last phrase. Imagine coming to an place where nothing is impossible for me! I want that kind of life, the best of everything at my call and beckon, both tangible and intangible. Total peace and wholeness and ability to give it to anyone I please. I think every right thinking person desires this too.
As we explore the words of Jesus concerning this, let us recall that He told a parable earlier, likening the kingdom of God to a mustard seed. That was about how the mustard grows. From a tiny negligible seed, gradually, subtly it spreads through the garden, just as we see happen with God’s Kingdom in this world.
The first time I saw a mustard seed I couldn’t believe its size! I had to search the internet for the mustard tree and found it interesting to know that the mustard grows like pumpkin, it stretches and wraps around anything on its path and fully covers it. It keeps growing and spreading.
But in this case of the mustard seed and faith,
Jesus wasn’t talking about growth, neither was He talking about size. In fact, His statement proves that He meant even if it’s this tiny but it’s like mustard. He could have used a grain of sand if it’s size He was referring to and His opening statement makes it easier to grasp why He used the mustard seed to describe mountain-moving faith.: Because of your unbelief.
Remember what Jesus was replying to? Their questions on why they couldn’t cast out demon from a possessed boy. And just after replying, He said to them, Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Pause for a minute and see the truth in this scripture, He wasn’t saying that demon possession is delivered by fasting and prayer. If Jesus name can’t cast out demons, fasting won’t. He was saying “This unbelief that stopped you from casting out the demon goes out by fasting and prayer”.
In using the phrase “Faith as a grain of mustard seed, Jesus was calling the attention of His disciples to the purity of the mustard seed- it does not cross pollinate, it’s pure breed. The lesson here Jesus was pointing out was that their faith would work if the impurities of unbelief was removed.
That is why in the next verse, He prescribes to them how this unbelief can be dealt with. Do you know we fast and pray not to get God to give us, bless us or answer us? We already have all that partains to life and godliness. We fast for this reason- to drain the impurities of unbelief that this world has bombarded us with, to come to a place where we’re not double-minded about our prayers, which hinders results.
If we just remove the unbelief, a mustard seed amount of faith will be sufficient to move our problems”. – Andrew Wommack.
We have the faith of CHRiST and in focusing on Him, we let this faith thrive like a pure mustard seed does.
Leave a comment about your thoughts, your Bible study on this subject or just let me know if this made a difference for you. Thank you for reading.
Wow! Quite a revelation. I has to go back to that verse again to note that Jesus wasn’t specific about the size. Thankyou for the insight MaMer! God’s thoughts flow through you. ❣❣
You’re welcome, baby. Thanks for stopping by