Faithlessness

Author: Joseph Date: September 11, 2022

Yeshua encountered came down from the mountain and reunited with the rest of His disciples after His transfiguration. A large crowd was gathered around Yeshua’s disciples and they were discussing among themselves about what they had witnessed regarding a man’s son who was oppressed by a demon. Some of the scribes who were there were arguing with Yeshua’s disciples as well.

The man with the demonized son approached Yeshua and begged Him for mercy upon his son, who was ill and tormented by a demon that caused him to collapse and foam at the mouth, often throwing him into fire and water. Yeshua’s disciples, the nine that had not gone up to the mountain with Him, had attempted to rebuke the demon but were unable to do so, and the boy’s condition was unchanged. The man told Yeshua, “I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him” (Matthew 17:16).

Yeshua responded to the crowd that was discussing and arguing, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me” (Matthew 17:17). The father of the child, discouraged by his child’s suffering and the crowd’s disbelief, had doubts as well if Yeshua was able to heal his son and begged Yeshua, “I do believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

Yeshua has the child brought before Him and rebukes the demon immediately causing it to come out of the boy. Away from the incident, Yeshua’s disciples approach Him and ask why they were unable to help the child. Yeshua states, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”

The crowd that was looking for a miracle from Yeshua’s disciples did not have faith that the disciples were capable. The disciples themselves also did not have the faith that they were able to deliver the boy from demonic oppression. Both the crowd and the disciples were looking to the disciple’s own ability to cast the demon away. The crowd, referring to the disciples, said “they could not cure him,” and the disciples, referring to themselves, stated, “why could we not drive it out?” The power to command the demon to come out of the boy was not theirs, it was God’s alone. God, Whom they had to put their faith in was only capable of removing the affliction from the child.

Yeshua says to His disciples that they did not have faith and He also tells them that “this kind cannot come out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29). Why prayer? Because prayer is communication with God, Who is the only One capable to performing such a miracle to remove a demon. Through prayer, in faith, they could ask God to remove the demon and it would have been done. But instead of trusting in God and having faith that He would respond to their prayer, their communication with Him, they looked to their own ability and could do nothing.

"Only by the authority and power of God..."

Yeshua did not tell His disciples that they need to perform a special ritual to remove the demon, as is often misinterpreted in this passage. He told them that they did not even give their faith to God when they encountered this difficult task.

When you encounter something beyond your control, do you pray to God or attempt to pursue a resolution of your own will? Do you believe that God can intervene directly in your life or do you deny His power with faithless self-encouragement and self-determination? You cannot self-will anything. Only by the authority and power of God can anything be changed in our lives and in the lives of others. Let us pursue wholesome faith in God. We only need to have the faith of a mustard seed, but let that not be only the beginning of our pursuit of faith.

Matthew 17:14-21 (Mark 9:14-29; Luke 9:37-43)

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org