Mountain Moving Faithনমুনা

Have you heard the phrase “faith that moves mountains”?

Yesterday, we read the story of the Transfiguration. As the group came down the mountain, they were amazed. At the foot of the mountain a large crowd was waiting for them.“ A man came and knelt before Jesus and begged Him to have mercy on His son who suffered from tormenting seizures. He said his son throws himself into fires and water. The father told Jesus he had brought his son to the disciples, “but they couldn’t heal him.” (Matthew 17:15)

Jesus responded, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? ”He rebuked the demon in the boy and the boy was healed. Later, the disciples asked Jesus privately why couldn’t they cast out that demon? (Matthew 17:18-20) “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.'”

Jesus speaks this shocking pronouncement to his disciples. This brings up questions for us. Does this mean that if we have enough faith, we can do anything we want? If we believe hard enough, can we accomplish miraculous feats? Some motivational speakers might say this is the case. But using faith like some sort of magical power is not what Jesus is advocating.

Faith is not a mustering of will or a power to wield. Faith comes from trusting in God and His will. What Jesus is talking about is far more radical. Faith that moves mountains is not meant to reposition a literal mountain. The Lord does have that power. However, in context, the problem is that the disciples could not drive out the demon because they had too little of faith.

Jesus constantly used metaphors and parables in His teachings. Here, the “mountain” Jesus is alluding to is the demon-possessed boy. Jesus is making a point that even the tiniest bit of faith — the size of a mustard seed, the smallest seed the disciples would have been familiar with — can accomplish great things. The point here is the vast difference between the size of a mustard seed and the size of a mountain. When we have mountain moving faith, we can overcome mountainous obstacles in our lives.