“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 “You 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 at 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. Truly I tell you, 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.”
Many times we get so caught up in the divinity of Jesus that we forget that he was human in every way as well. I can relate to the humanity of Jesus, especially when he gets really ticked off. It is a great comfort to me that Jesus also experienced frustration with the world. In addition to the “how long shall I put up with you?” I hear something like this. I try to teach these people, but they don’t listen. I try to show them how to live, but they don’t believe they can do it. They could be healing people like they see me do, but they can’t because they don’t believe. How long O Lord, am I going to have to put up with these people???
The way of life exemplified by Jesus is meant for all. The teachings, the lifestyle, the faith, love and peace, the healings — all of it. So why aren’t we doing it? Jesus said it over and over during his ministry. You do not believe. You do not have the amount of faith of even a tiny mustard seed.
Somewhere along the way we lost sight of Jesus as teacher and way-shower. Jesus became a god to be worshiped and following his way became seen as impossible.
When Jesus healed what did he say? “Your faith has made you whole.” We have faith in education and teachers, medicine and doctors, money and those who control it. So why can’t we have faith that the power of God can flow in and through us to bless, heal and live the way we were meant to?
The cultural indoctrination we go through that teaches us that we are powerless, limited, weak and sinful and can be very hard to overcome. I struggle with it daily. It is important for us to remember we are God’s children, created in the image and likeness of the creator of the Universe. We believe that we were stripped of our power and position in the family of God with the fall in the Garden of Eden. But Jesus came to remind us that there is still a better way and we can follow it if we only will.
Dig a Little Deeper: What keeps you from being able to follow the life of Jesus? What limits your faith?
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