Nothing will be impossible for you

Matthew 17:10-27 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ¹¹ And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; ¹² but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” ¹³ Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

¹⁴ When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, ¹⁵ “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. ¹⁶ And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” ¹⁷ And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” ¹⁸ And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was healed at once.

¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁰ And He said to them, “Because of your meager 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 for you.”

²² And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be handed over to men; ²³ and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.

²⁴ Now when they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?” ²⁵ He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” ²⁶ When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are exempt. ²⁷ However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a stater. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”

In today’s text it says: When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying,  “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was healed at once. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” And He said to them, “Because of your meager 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 for you.”  As with the disciples, there are often things that we pray for, or that we struggle with, which we are unable to cast out or overcome. Is it that we too have meager faith? In reality, it is not about the amount or size of our faith. A mustard seed is tiny. Surely, we have that much faith. Why then can’t we move mountains, or at least heal the sick? It’s really not that our faith is too small. It is that our faith is misplaced. If we trust in our own strength or ability, our faith is rightly meager. In John 15:5 Jesus says: “I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” We can do nothing apart from Christ. We only need a small amount of faith that is focused on and established in Jesus. In John 14:12-14 Jesus says: “Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” Our faith must be in Christ, that He will do it. Even more, when He was on the cross, Jesus said: “It is finished!” (John 19:30) He already fully paid for and accomplished everything we need. Isaiah 53:5-6 says: He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all To fall on Him. “It is finished!”

There is more though, remember that Jesus says: “The one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”  In John 14, after saying that we could do the works that He did because He will do it, Jesus says: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments… The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him… If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him.” (John 14:15;21-23)  We cannot abide in Christ and do the works that He did if we do not also keep His commandments. In the meditation from Matthew 16, we saw that in verses 13-19 it says: Now when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”  We often say that someone who is gifted in a particular area of ministry is anointed to do that ministry. In part, the anointing is the presence of the Holy Spirit, who gives us power. Moreover though, when Peter said: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,”Christ means: Anointed One.  Any anointing that a person has comes only as they abide in the Anointed One. If we would do the works that Jesus did, we must abide in Him. Our faith lies not in what we can do, but in what He has already done.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, the Christ and precious Holy Spirit. I desire to abide in You. By the power of the Holy Spirit may I do the things that You call me to do. May I keep Your commandments. As the psalmist says: You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. (May Your anointing in me, overflow from me.) Certainly goodness and faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life, And my dwelling will be in the house of the Lord forever.  Amen.