Matthew 17:14-23

14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Jesus Again Foretells Death, Resurrection

22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

Imagine two people crossing a bridge over a chasm. It’s a long way down to the river below, and a fall would be fatal. One person has a great deal of faith that the bridge will hold him up; the other person is terrified that the bridge will collapse.

Question: which person’s faith will matter more?

Answer: it’s a trick question! It is irrelevant how much faith in the bridge each person has. All that matters is the reality of the structural integrity of the bridge, and if the two people actually step out on it and try to cross.

What matters is not the amount of faith a person has—what matters is the object of that faith and whether that object is trustworthy or not.

If I have complete faith in a rickety bridge that collapses as soon as I step on it, then my faith is misplaced. If I have a tiny amount of faith in a bridge that can support my weight, then my faith is validated. But in either case, the amount of faith I have doesn’t matter at all.

Jesus makes the above point to the disciples in the episode of the boy with the demon. He tells them that even a little bit of faith in him is enough, because he’s the one they need to trust, not themselves. Trusting in themselves will not be effective.

Where are you placing your trust today?

P.S. We see again in 17:22-23 that Jesus is defining what faithfulness to his mission will entail: perfect obedience to the will of God, even to the point of humiliation, suffering, and death, obedience that will then be vindicated by the resurrection. And the disciples refuse to accept what he’s telling them!