Faith as 'small' as a mustard seed?

Faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains.

The above words are lyrics to a childrens action song I had learnt back when I was a kid. I had no reason to not believe it exactly as I sang them. A 'little' faith can move mountains. True, right? Right?

Well, that is not what Jesus was talking about. Infact, Jesus was probably alluding the opposite.

The statement is found as such in Mathew 17:20 and also in Luke 17:6. To provide context, in Mathew Jesus is addressing the question of why His disciples were not able to drive out a demon from a possessed boy. In Luke Jesus is responding to the plea of His disciples to 'increase their faith'.

Now, a mustard seed is infact a tiny seed. It is not the smallest seed as some would have us believe. No. Infact there are other seeds far smaller. The orchid seed for example is microscopic in size, nearly invisible to our eyes. Despite the fact that it is not the smallest seed in nature, its small size was definitely important in the statement Jesus makes, just not in the same way we tend to think.

Just as we are taught to understand a Bible verse by factoring in its narrative context, we also ought to factor in historical and cultural contexts just as much. We must remember first and foremost, that every aspect of the Bible was spoken or written with a primary audience in mind which is the people of Israel (or Judah) who lived in the time of the speaker or writer. Why is this consideration important you ask? Well, because all things in creation changes with time. This is true with human culture, language and in turn perceptions as well. This means that people who heard Jesus might have understood His words differently from how we interpret it today. Sometimes this difference is only marginal and so does not impact our understanding of a word or verse but sometimes it can be significant enough to change the meaning of a passage completely.

So, getting back to the topic at hand. In the time and geography where Jesus walked upon this earth the mustard seed was not a commercial crop as is understood today. Most of the time it was considered a 'weed' and you can research this for yourself on the internet. The reason why it was considered a weed is because of its explosive and unhindered rate of growth. Once it began to grow, it could overtake any other crop and impede their growth. A seed as small as a mustard seed was capable of growing at an alarming rate and impacting everything around it.

Now, this fact from history presents the mustard seed in negative light but Jesus's words in narrative context presents the 'weed' aspect of the mustard seed in a positive light. Jesus is essentially telling His disciples that their little faith (Mathew 8 : 26) ought to grow like a mustard seed. Their faith in Jesus Christ, in God almighty ought to permeate every aspect of their lives, spreading outward in all directions and changing them. Their faith might be small today but it should not remain small tomorrow. It has to grow.

The faith of the disciples, despite the time they spent they had already spent with Jesus was not growing. It remained little for all the time they spent with Jesus until after they bore witness to Christ's suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension followed by the visitation of the Holy Ghost upon each of them. What was Jesus' recurring crique of His disciples? Was it not concerning their faith? 

Jesus' concern was always that they had little faith. Yes. They did have faith just little. This 'little' was the problem Jesus kept highligting. So perpetual little faith is not necessarily a good situation for a Christian. Why? What is little faith? Well, judging by the gospels the disciples did believe from the start of their discipleship that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. They did not seem to doubt that fact but it seems to be the full extent of it all. Yes. Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God and this is the foundation of our faith and perhaps its most important component but that is, to my understanding of the gospel narrative, merely little faith. Faith in Christ and His deity is merely the begining of what God expects our faith to look like.

Now 'little faith' is not necessarily little in and of itself. What does this mean? Well, though the disciples only had little faith, look at what they did. They were able to profess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. They were able to do miracles when Jesus sent them out. James and John were confident enough to destroy cities with fire from heaven if Jesus permitted them. So their faith in effect was not 'little' as such, definitely not when compared to mine. If faith is evidenced in work, mine would not deserve to be called even little then by the same standard. The faith of the disciples was little in the light of God's standard of expectation from each of them.

The disciples got to spend a lot of time with Jesus, day in and day out, for a little more than 2 years atleast. That is plenty of time to know a person inside out and Jesus was Himself actively revealing Himself to them. It was only natural for Him to then expect them to grow in faith but surprisingly (to us not to Christ) their faith did not grow and overtake their carnal, doubt-filled minds.

So what was Jesus truly trying to say in Mathew 17:20? The verse is this:

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Jesus is telling His disciples that though your faith begins small, if it grows just like a mustard seed does then you too can do great wonders and nothing will be impossible. Still not sure? Well, take a look at the impact the disciples had on the then civilized world once their faith actually grew in the light of what they had seen with their own eyes. They were filled with the Holy Ghost as Christ promised them and they changed the world upside down. They created an uproar in the world around them. They stood boldy before kings and emperors, worked miracles everywhere they went and changed the world with the message of the gospel. Nothing was impossible to them anymore and they knew this. This was their confidence as they stood before kings and conquerors. This gave them boldness even as they faced painful torture and cruel death. I can only think of the words of Azariah, Mishael and Hananiah in Daniel 3: 16 - 18 where it reads:

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

This, my friends, is growing faith as is evidenced also by the disciples in the book of Acts. In this light I do find myself fascinated by the fact that the Bible does not ever draw a line and say this is genuine faith. The only reason I can imagine this to be is because faith is meant to always grow until the point when faith matures into sight in God's eternal presence.

Now this does not mean that if you and I have growing faith we can actually go out and change the geography of the continents. No. Nor do I believe Jesus is using hyperbole. Growing faith can do incredible things, even on the cosmic plane. Remember Joshua and how he sought the Sun and the Moon to tarry in their places a little while longer? So Jesus is definitely not using hyperbole. Infact, I believe it connects to what faith is in and of itself and other teachings of Christ to His disciples.

You see faith is often misunderstand to be power in and of itself. No. Faith is powerful but is not power in itself. Faith involves trust in Christ who has the power to do all things and for whom there is nothing impossible. Faith did not elevate the apostles to God-likeness. No. Remember how Paul and Barnabas refused to be treated as Gods? Faith did not imbue them divine power. Faith was their trust in Christ and His sovereign ability to do anything they sought of Him. Jesus had taught them to ask anything in His name and it would be done, did He not. That is why faith is powerful. It is not so much about faith in itself but about the One in whom faith is placed. Well, this still does not fully explain my statement that Jesus we can go and literally change the earth's geography.

Would you also remember that when the Bible teaches us about prayer, it also teaches we are to ask in His will. John the Apostle of Jesus Christ explains this in his first epistle. 1 John 5:14 reads like this:

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

John expands what Jesus taught them by telling the believers that it is not just about asking anything from God but instead it is important to ask according to His will. You see faith necessitates knowledge. The Bible never advocates blind faith but instead encourages us to know God. This is the whole reason why we have the scriptures, that we may know Him. This knowledge is what ought to translate into faith. The more we know Him, the more our faith in Him grows. The more it grows the more we are transformed by it. What are we transformed into? We are being transformed into the likeness of Christ. What was the thing that stood out about Christ in His relationship with God the Father? Christ knew His will and did just that. The more we know God through His word the more we know His will for our lives. Now we know His will and pray for that, there is no doubt that He will do so, even if it means moving a mountain into the ocean. God is not servant to our faith or prayer. He is sovereign God and does His will not yours or mine and so when we live out His will, we can be confident in His promise that there will truly not be anything impossible to us. Now this begs the question of what prayer truly is but that is for a different article.

So in summary, Jesus is not speaking about a tiny faith as small as a mustard seed but faith that might begin small and simple but expands quickly and exponentially and results in transforming every aspect of our life and perspective. Christ's measure for faith and its power is defined by His expectation from us. Faith that actively grows is not about moving mountains but about living out the will of God. Growing faith is powerful to do impossible things for it is built on the unimaginably omni-potent God.

May we endeavour to grow in Christ, to grow in faith and live out God's will in our lives every moment of everyday.