Matthew 17:14-20

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Introduction

Jesus Heals a Boy with a Demon

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.”

Now, before we jump into this text I want to give us all some back story to this event; to remember what happened before this incident. In the first half of chapter 17 we read of Jesus’ transfiguration. Where his disciples Peter, James and John were led up a high mountain by themselves to witness Jesus’ transfiguration. Where Matthew said that his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as light itself.
Moreover, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, speaking with Jesus, followed by a bright cloud overshadowing them, and a voice from inside the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” And then at that moment we’re told that when the disciples heard this they fell on their faces and were terrified. Peter, James and John witnessed the unveiling of Jesus’ glory, the very glory of God himself.
When we looked at this text together I related this event to that of Moses ascending the mountain of God (Mount Sanai) in the Book of Exodus to meet him in the cloud. That the same glory which had made Moses’ face glow, came from Jesus’ own face. That the glory Moses witnessed was like what these three disciples saw.

Jesus descends and finds faithlessness

But also like Moses, when Jesus descends the mount of transfiguration he passes from the glory of his own transfiguration to, as he puts it, the “faithless and twisted generation” below. Like that of Moses coming down from Mount Sinai, with the Lord’s commandments in hand, only to find Israel worshipping a golden calf. Jesus says there in verse 17,

“O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?

The lack of faith that’s exhibited by both this man and his own disciples causes Jesus much frustration. Like that of Moses breaking the tablets of the Law at the foot of the mountain after seeing how quickly Israel had built themselves an idol. Jesus even uses the same language as Deuteronomy 32:5,

5  They have dealt corruptly with him;

they are no longer his children because they are blemished;

they are a crooked and twisted generation.

So we’re brought from a very high point at the mount of transfiguration to a very low point, causing Jesus to lament the faithlessness of his generation. “How long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” Not much has changed since Moses’ day.
This is the general tone of this passage, one of lament for this generation’s lack of faith.

Mark 9:14-29 (parallel account)

Now, you might ask, what about this moment, what about this miracle is it that leads Jesus to his conclusion. Why does Jesus find such disappointment in this father’s request to heal his son? Why is Jesus not only grieved by this man’s request but by his entire generation?
Well, the answer to these questions are found in Mark’s Gospel, the parallel text of this account is found in Mark 9:14-29. It’s helpful to keep in mind that Matthew’s Gospel tends to summarize many of the accounts found in the other Synoptic Gospels. In fact, it’s almost as if Matthew assumes his readers have already read the Gospel of Mark. So let’s turn to Mark 9:14-29 and read this account again together.

Jesus Heals a Boy with an Unclean Spirit

14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Scribes arguing with the disciples

So what we see is that when Jesus comes down from the mount of transfiguration with Peter, James and John they see a great crowd surrounding the other disciples; and not only that, they see the scribes arguing with them. When Jesus arrives he asks the crowd, “What are you arguing about with my disciples?”
Now, if you recall, the scribes were not typically friends of Jesus, instead they were usually seen alongside other religious leaders criticizing Jesus, even condemning his works by blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ miracles made the scribes and Pharisees angry, and ultimately their only recourse was to attribute his miracles to the works of Satan, the devil.
So, now, the crowd has brought Jesus’ disciples a demon possessed boy to heal. And undoubtedly, their failure to do so has caused much consternation among the crowd and scribes. I can only imagine the challenges that the scribes probably brought against the disciples in light of this situation. Jesus was away and they probably thought it was an opportunity to discredit Jesus’ public ministry.
So Jesus arrives right in the middle of all this, and when the crowd sees him they run to him. Then Jesus asks them, “What are you arguing about?” Then the father of the demon possessed boy answers him, first, asking Jesus to heal his son, and then pointing out that Jesus’ disciples were unable to cast it out. So the argument is over the disciple’s inability to cast out this demon and heal the boy.

Faithless generation

Now, I don’t think Jesus’ frustration is only with the scribes, even though they likely started the argument, because Jesus’ indictment is directed toward the entire generation in Israel. And if we look more closely I think we’ll see why. Look there starting in verse 21,

21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”

If you can?!

Notice there how the father approaches Jesus, “if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” The father doesn’t just plead for mercy, he doesn’t just plead for compassion, but he faithlessly prefaces his entire request with “if you can do anything”. His entire plea is prefaced by unbelief. And we see this even more clearly by Jesus’ response there in verse 23,

23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”

“If you can!?!?”, what do you mean if I can? For all things are possible for the one who believes. And if you’ve been paying attention to the multitude of miracles that Matthew has recorded for us there are many that stand out far an above all the others, and they don’t stand out because of how big the miracles were, rather they stand out for another reason. Listen to some of these miracles,

Examples of faith

The centurion in Matthew 8:8 told Jesus,
“Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.”
and Jesus marveled and said,
“Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. … “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.
Then in chapter 9 Matthew tells us that some people brought to Jesus a paralytic, lying on a bed. And that when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
“Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” and “Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”
And then later in chapter 9, verse 20 we’re told that a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of Jesus’ garment, saying to herself,
If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.”
Jesus turned to her and said,
“Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.
Then just a few verses later in verse 27, two blind men begin following Jesus, crying aloud,
“Have mercy on us, Son of David.”
And when the two blind men came to Jesus, Jesus says to them,
“Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” 30 And their eyes were opened.

Faith is not magic

Now, this isn’t at all to say that faith is some kind of magic, that if only well believe hard enough, then Jesus will heal us, or answer our requests. No, Jesus only does what he sees the Father doing, in other words he is completely obedient to the will of his Father in heaven, and so also we must be. Merely believing that Jesus can do something doesn’t necessarily mean that he will do something, but believing that Jesus is able is absolutely necessary to carrying out his will in our lives, it is absolutely necessary to carrying out his purposes for us here on earth.
And we also aren’t intended to believe that God is somehow taken hostage by our lack of faith. Jesus performed a multitude of miracles that were not contingent upon human faith. He fed the five thousand in chapter 14, and then again, the four thousand in the chapter 15, and neither of those miracles were contingent upon human belief, but that doesn’t diminish the importance of faith. While God isn’t held hostage by our lack of faith he often requires our faith when carrying out his purposes. This is why Jesus says there,

All things are possible for one who believes.”

“I believe; help my unbelief!”

And it’s also why it so wonderful to see what this father says afterward there in verse 24,

24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

Those may very well be some of the most beautiful words in all the Bible. When we find ourselves not believing that God can do all that he intends, then let us follow the example of this man and cry out, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
And then we read there in verses 25-27 that Jesus rebuked the demon and it left the boy, never to enter him again. Jesus responds to this father’s plea.

The disciples couldn’t cast it out

But the story doesn’t end there, later, the disciples come to Jesus privately and ask him, “Why could we not cast it out?” In order to answer that question let’s turn back to Matthew 17, starting in verse 19. In this case Matthew gives us additional insight into this part of the story. And it actually coincides with what we’ve already seen seen so far.

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.”

Notice that what Jesus says there essentially repeats what he said to the father of the demon possessed boy, “if you have faith … nothing will be impossible for you.” When Jesus spoke to the father he said, “All things are possible for [the] one who believes.” It’s important to realize that Jesus is saying to his disciples the very same thing that he said to the father.

The quality of faith

Many look at this text and conclude that the disciples had faith, but just not enough. The disciples said, “Why could we not cast it out?” and Jesus responds, “Because of your little faith.” So, at first glance, it appears that the disciples simply didn’t have enough faith, that they simply needed more faith, but that conclusion doesn’t make any sense with what Jesus says immediately after, he says, “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.” Don’t forget that the mustard seed is intended to symbolize the smallest of seeds, and therefore, in this case, the smallest of faith. So Jesus is saying that you don’t need a lot of faith to move mountains, you don’t need a lot of faith for nothing to be impossible for you. So what then does Jesus mean by “little faith”? He means a deficient faith. Jesus isn’t talking about the quantity of faith, he’s talking about the quality of faith.
When they attempted to heal the boy by casting out the demon there was something lacking in the quality of their faith, not the quantity of their faith. Now, none of the Gospel writers tell us how their faith was deficient, or in what way it was lacking, but obviously their faith was inadequate. Their faith was obviously misplaced, we don’t know how, but the point is that their faith was deficient, it wasn’t rooted in the belief that Jesus could accomplish, through them, the signs and wonders that Jesus himself commissioned them to do just seven chapters earlier.

Genuine faith

But Jesus doesn’t leave them with this rebuke, instead he encourages them. He tells them that they don’t need a certain quantity of faith to do what he had commissioned them to do, in fact, they faith need only to be the size of a mustard seed of genuine faith, and with it they could move mountains, and nothing would be impossible for them.

Unique role of the disciples

Now, the disciples played a unique role in redemptive history, they were tasked not only with the things we are intended to do as Christians today, but they were to be the very foundation on which the church, the household of God, would be built. The NT scriptures that we hold in our hands find their authority because of their authorship or direct affiliation with the 12 Apostles. So be careful to assume that everything they were commissioned to do is ours to perform, but the principle of faith is equally the same, and equally comforting. As we seek to obey our Lord, and as we seek to do his will here on earth, remember it is not a quantity of faith that must be conjured up, rather all we need is the smallest of genuine faith in a great savior.

Conclusion

If it weren’t for such a promise I would give up on this church plant, if it weren’t for such hope I would give up parenting my children to know and fear the Lord, if it weren’t for such a promise I would give up this Christian life altogether in despair that I might not have or maintain enough faith to persevere. But it isn’t a large faith that God requires but a true faith, a faith that hopes in God, that believes God, that trusts when all things seem overwhelming believes that nothing is impossible for him.

Prayer

Lord, I ask that you would give us genuine faith. I ask that you help us in our unbelief, help us to put our hope in you, and not the things of this world, but upon your Son. Help us to forsake all others in reliance upon you. Encourage us that we may not lose hope in all of the things you’ve asked of us. Give us strength in the promise that all we need is genuine faith, even if it is as small as a mustard seed.
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