DEVOTION
THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
NOT IMPOSSIBLE
Matt 17:14-20
14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before
him. 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures
and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I
brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him." 17 "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus
replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long
shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it
came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. 19 Then the disciples
came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" 20
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I
tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say
to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be
impossible for you."
NIV
It would be good for us to establish one small, but yet large position
about this account. There are other accounts which include a 21st
verse which adds this kind of miracle and only happens with much prayer and
fasting. But there are footnotes which indicate many of the earlier manuscripts
do not include this verse. The Greek text does have it but there are no Greek
words, the Strong’s numbers are all 9999 which means it was added by someone in
a later text. Much has been said about the need of prayer and fasting, but we
cannot be sure Jesus actually said that in addition to his comment about having
more than a little faith. If prayer and fasting were the needed ingredient then
that would be by works rather than faith. This is not to say that prayer and perhaps
fasting is not a needed exercise in a believer’s life. Surely prayer is
essential in order to have full communication with God, however we should note
that prayer is more about hearing what God has to say then reciting a list of
our needs. Fasting is also about hearing from God rather than proving we are
worthy of getting our list of wants. The idea of denying ourselves the pleasure
of food, or certain foods would strictly be for the purpose of being able to
focus more upon what God has to say to us. We certainly are able to recite our
lists of wants and needs whether we are well fed or fasting. When Jesus told
us to ask for anything in his name, he did not include only if you are fasting.
In fact, the only condition was that we have faith.
John 14:12-14
12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith
in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than
these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in
my name , so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for
anything in my name , and I will do it.
NIV
1 John 5:14-15
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask
anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us
— whatever we ask — we know that we have what we asked of him.
NIV
Faith alone is the key, and that is what Jesus is telling the disciples
about in this passage regarding this boy under demon control. We are not sure as
to which disciples could not heal this boy by driving out the demon. We know
that Jesus just came down the mountain from being transfigured and being in the
presence of Moses and Elijah. We know that it was just Peter, James and John that
were up there with him. So then the four of them, when coming down were met by
this crowd of people and we would have to conclude the other disciples, the
rest of the twelve were with the crowd, waiting for Jesus. So then the
disciples that asked why they could not drive the demon out may well have been
some of his twelve, rather than simply disciples or followers of Jesus among
the crowd. Some of our scholars are of the opinion the question was asked by
the normal run of the mill follower of Jesus and not one of the twelve who are
called Apostles. But we have nothing to substantiate that view. The text merely
says his disciples came to him privately. This would lead us to conclude they
were his disciples who had the kind of private access to him that his twelve did.
These men have seen miracle after miracle. They have seen demons driven out over and over again. It is not sure the tone of Jesus’s voice when he rebukes
them as a perverse generation. It would be inconsistent with his character to
have a tone of anger or being upset with them. However, from a heart of love
and concern he would have told them the truth and asked how long is it
going to take for them to understand the truth of who they are in him. When
speaking privately with his disciples he once again refers to the mustard seed
faith. The odd thing is he just told them how little faith they had, but then
tells them they only need as much as a mustard seed and not only can they drive
out demons, but they could move mountains. Later in his ministry after he
entered Jerusalem for the last time, Mark records he told his disciples about
mountain moving again.
Mark 11:22-25
22 "Have faith in God," Jesus
answered. 23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go,
throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that
what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you,
whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will
be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone,
forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your
sins."
NIV
Here the condition is not prayer and fasting, but not having any doubt
and forgiving anyone who they hold anything against. Does this all not serve as
a great lesson for us? We can move mountains, if we do not doubt and if we
forgive everyone who has ever offended us in any way. Now let us spiritualize that
for a moment. Maybe we are not actually able to physically move an earthly
mountain, but maybe we could. Is there anything impossible for God? But if we
looked at this as mountains in our life, we certainly could move them. Those
mountains could represent obstacles in our life, things that hold us down, or
back from achieving what God has for us to do. It is certain that Satan is one
of the formidable forces that would hold us down or back from doing want God
has for us. Yet if we have faith, as little as a mustard seed we can move
through or around or simple remove that obstacle from our path. It is the doubt
that grips hold of us which in effect diminishes, even obstructs our moving
forward. Having compete total unabashed faith in God releases his power in our
lives and we can do even greater things then Jesus did. We can move that mountain.
We can live that victorious life he intends for us to live. That does not necessarily
mean a life of fame and fortune, but surely victory over sin, over the forces
of evil that war against us, and yes, even over death. Jesus said that if we have faith, nothing will
be impossible for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment