Matthew 17:14-20 “When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “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. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
“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.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 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.”
Faith enough to move mountains. Mountains! What kind of mountains? Jesus is not talking about magic removals. He doesn’t say that prayer can push Mount Kosciusko into the Pacific Ocean. But He is saying that faith even the size of a mustard seed can move the mountains blocking the horizons of our hopes, shadowing the light and beauty of God’s love in our lives, limiting and bounding the scope of our service to Christ.
He is saying that faith the size of a mustard seed can make the improbable possible; indeed, it can make what looks impossible into a vital and radiant present reality. He is saying that faith can stand up to and move, indeed remove, the things that trap us, the stuff that scares the daylights out of us, the things that test and erode our confidence in God and make us wonder whether God is in fact able to make something of our efforts after all.
But how often it is that we lack even that tiniest amount of faith! Consider the scene here as Jesus addressed His disciples. Long before this event – back in Matthew 10:8 – Jesus had given the disciples full authority to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” By this time they should be performing healings, cleansings, miracles, with absolute confidence and faith! Yet, on this day, they are unable to heal even this little boy. So it is Jesus who must step in and do the miracle once again. And it is Jesus once again confronting his well-meaning followers that they are still a “faithless” generation.
These words remind us of other events; in particular, we recall the events recorded in Luke 8, where Jesus and the disciples, on a boat on the Sea of Galilee, are caught suddenly by a violent windstorm; and the disciples rush in to wake Jesus, crying, “Master, we are perishing!”
There, too, Jesus responds by asking his followers, simply: “Where is your faith?” And now, once again, Jesus confronts the disciples with the same question: “Where is your faith?” He could not make his words any clearer: In verse 20, He tells His followers, “The reason you could not cure this young boy is because of your little faith.” Then, Jesus gives the rest of the story: “For truly I tell 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.”
The faith to move a mountain! How are we to understand that? Did Jesus mean that, literally, his disciples, with a little faith, ought to be able to stare up at the Mount of Transfiguration, from which they had just come down a little earlier that day, and command it to pick up and move to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and it would be done?
No, I don’t think that was exactly Jesus’ intention; nowhere in the Gospels do we read about Jesus rearranging geography just for the sake of performing a miracle. There was another, very real mountain looming in front of the disciples that day; specifically, it was the mountain of healing that sick boy that had been brought to them. And Jesus declared to them, “If you had even the tiniest bit of faith, this mountain will be one that you can conquer.“
The reason that the disciples should have been able to heal this boy, with a little faith, is because Jesus had commanded them, and Jesus had given them the authority, to do just that. With faith even the size of a mustard seed, they should have been able to do everything that Jesus had given them to do.
In that respect, we can place ourselves in the disciples’ shoes. For God has given each and every one of us a job to do, a mission to perform, and Jesus has given us full authority to act in his name as we carry out our calling. That is the ‘mountain’ that lies before you, and me, today! And with faith even as big as this tiny mustard seed, that mountain will move before our very eyes, even today!
In some respects, every person’s ‘mountain’ is a little bit different. That’s because every one of us is an individual, unique in certain respects, given unique abilities and talents by God. So, each of us is called by God to do something different. But the thing we must do today is realize that whatever it is that God has called us to do, God has also given us full authority to do just that – just like Jesus gave His disciples full authority to heal the sick and cast out demons. And we must, today, reach back and find the faith – not necessarily superhuman faith; just the smallest bit will do – faith that we are fully, completely able to do exactly what God has given us to do. Faith that, when the time comes, when we need it to happen most, that “mountain” will give way before us.
What is your mountain? It may be a mountain of sharing Christ with a person very close to you. It may be a mountain of taking a stand for Christ in a new, more powerful way. It may be a mountain of accepting new responsibilities, a role of leadership, in your service to Christ. It may be a mountain of giving that last little area of your life, the one little compartment that you’ve not been willing to part with yet, giving even that part of your life completely over to Christ. It may be a mountain of refusing to sit quietly any longer while your colleagues, acquaintances, co-workers, trample the name of Christ.
Your task today is to find just enough faith to know that you’re not just fighting alone, as a ‘loose cannon’ on the deck, but rather that God has empowered you with full authority to tackle this mountain, and that this mountain can begin to give way before you even today!
There are other mountains that lie in common before all of us. That’s because there are some things that Christ has exhorted all of us, as his followers in 21st century Australia, to do. For one thing, he has exhorted us to “be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of [our] minds” (Romans 12:2). He has exhorted us to “go … and make disciples” (Matthew 28:20). And the faith-inspiring part of this is, He has given us full authority to do these things; He’s given us the authority to serve and conquer in Jesus’ name. If only we can muster up that tiniest bit of faith, these mountains will not continue to block our path; they will move aside for us.
There’s even another category of ‘mountains’ that may be standing before you today. These are the mountains which shout back at you – taunt you, even saying, “You don’t stand a chance in getting past me!” Mountains of self-rejection; mountains of low self-esteem; mountains of doubt; mountains of discouragement brought into sharp focus by past failures. Once again, the promise holds: Christ has given you full authority to get past these mountains; and with faith even as small as a mustard seed, you can do just that. You can do it because Christ promises you that you are accepted – by Him. You can do it because Christ promises that He can make all things new – even a life that’s been marked by failures, disappointments, rebellion, anything at all. God can begin to remove these mountains from before you even today!
“Faith the size of a mustard seed.” It’s so significant that this is all that it takes – for is there anyone among us today that honestly perceives himself or herself as having “great, big faith”? No, we always manage to see ourselves as the weakling. We always manage to pick out someone else that seems to have “so much more faith than I do.”
The promise of God here is: that’s not important! God will work even with weaklings! Faith, according to the writer of the book of Hebrews, is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” And Abraham is lifted up as an example of faith! But do you really think Abraham viewed himself as a possessor of great faith? No. I imagine that Abraham stumbled through a lot of his life, saying to himself, “I can’t believe I’m doing this!” As he followed God’s guidance into a strange new land; as he trusted God’s promise for a child; as he followed God up the mountainside, presumably to sacrifice his only son Isaac – I’m sure that the last thing on Abraham’s mind was this “great faith” that he supposedly possessed.
And for you too, as you stumble headlong into life’s challenges, a ‘superhero of faith’ might be the last thing you would consider calling yourself. The promise of Christ, though, is that we don’t have to be superheros! We simply need to muster up faith the size of a tiny little seed – and the mountains will begin to move.
“Faith the size of a mustard seed.” What little step might you and I need to take in order for that kind of faith to take root today? It may mean that you simply need to stop complaining, “This will never work.” It may mean that you simply stop making excuses today. It may mean that you simply need to stop hesitating today to make that one little commitment that’s been gnawing at your conscience. It doesn’t take much to produce faith the size of a mustard seed – but until we do just that little bit, the “mountains” will continue to stand firmly in place in front of us.
Do you believe that Christ has given us, His people, a job to do? Do you believe that Christ has empowered you to do that job? Do you believe that Christ has empowered you to serve Him? Do you believe that, if Christ has given you a job to do in service to Him, He is able to move any mountains that might stand between you and the completion of that service? But maybe you still doubt. Maybe your mountain just seems too large, too immovable. Perhaps you’ve been praying for years for a breakthrough in your family, in your finances, in your health, and nothing has changed. You might say, “I’ve tried faith. I’ve prayed, I’ve trusted – and the mountain is still there.” Let me encourage you: Jesus didn’t say that the mountain would move instantly; He said that nothing will be impossible for you. Sometimes, faith is not just the immediate miracle – it’s the persistent belief that God is still working, even when you can’t see it.
Do you remember the story of the persistent widow in Luke’s gospel? Jesus told this parable, “… to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (Luke 18:1). The widow kept coming to the judge day after day, and though he was unjust, he finally granted her justice. Jesus concluded, “Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? …However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:7–8). In other words, real mountain-moving faith is not only about believing once – it’s about not giving up. It’s about praying and persisting, even when the mountain doesn’t move at first glance.
You see, sometimes the mountain isn’t removed in front of us – it’s climbed. And God gives us strength for the climb. The Apostle Paul, a man of extraordinary faith, dealt with a “thorn in the flesh” that wasn’t removed, even after he pleaded with the Lord three times. Yet God responded, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Mountain-moving faith sometimes trusts that even if the mountain remains, God’s grace is enough to carry us over it.
While we’re talking about mustard seed faith, let’s not forget what Jesus says in another passage about that same seed. In Matthew 13:31–32, He says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree…” Not only does mustard seed faith move mountains, it grows into something that gives shelter and strength to others. Your small act of faith today may not only change your life – but it may also be the very thing that gives others courage to believe tomorrow.
Are you willing to follow Christ right now, and begin working at that service to him, believing that, when the time comes, he will be faithful to roll that mountain out of the way? If you can answer “yes” to these questions, then you are indeed ready to generate faith the size of a mustard seed; faith that, like that tiny seed, can grow and grow, until it becomes something life-changing, even superhuman!
“The Little Engine That Could” approached the base of that ominous mountain full of doubt and fear. Could he make it up and over? You know the story – he headed into the side of that mountain, crying with determination, “Ithink I can, I think I can”; and slowly, the little engine began to scale the mountain. Inch by inch, his confidence grew, until finally he was able to triumphantly cry out, “I know I can, I know I can!”
As you approach whatever mountain may be standing before you today, you may be tempted to say, “No way.” It may seem like a lifetime away, the prospect of being able to cry out, “I know I can!” Well, can you at least say with faithful determination, “I think I can” – and plunge in, with that much faith? That’s all that’s required of us today; that tiny amount of faith that allows us at least to say, “I think it’s possible” – and I’m willing to follow God and find out!
That may not sound like much of a commitment; it may sound weak- but is it not a giant leap from where we may be right now, saying, “No way is that possible.” Simply commit today to be willing to see the possibilities; commit to step forward with Christ, whichever direction his next step may fall – and before long you’ll be amazed at how those mountains begin to fall; and before you know it, you’ll be shouting out, along with the “Little Engine That Could”: “I know I can!”
Also, don’t underestimate the testimony that results when your mountain moves – or when you have the grace to climb it. When God does what only God can do, the world takes notice. That’s why Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Your faith in action, your small steps forward, your refusal to give up when things are hard – these all speak louder than sermons.
This is especially important in today’s culture. We live in an age of scepticism, where people are not always moved by arguments, but they are moved by authenticity. They are moved by people who live with courage, hope, and peace – even when life is difficult. They are moved by people whose lives are marked by something different, something resilient – something divine. That something is faith. And when we walk by faith, not by sight, we become living witnesses to the reality and power of God.
So let’s get practical. What might “mustard seed faith” look like for you this week? It could mean sending that message of forgiveness. It might mean volunteering for a ministry you’ve always felt too inadequate to join. It could mean opening your Bible again after a long dry spell. It might mean speaking up about your faith in a conversation where silence would be easier. These are not grand, headline-making moves, but they are ‘mustard seed’ moments, and when you trust God enough to act, those seeds begin to grow.
Mountain-moving faith simply says, “Nothing – nothing at all can cut us off from God; nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ.” Faith, the size of a mustard seed, faith in the steadfast, enduring, tenacious love of God; faith in Christ’s ability to bring to completion whatever good work it may be that He’s started in you, in me: Jesus isn’t kidding, it is faith enough to move mountains.
So let me leave you with a challenge – and a promise. The challenge is this: identify one mountain that stands before you right now. Name it. Bring it before God. And ask Him for the faith – even mustard seed faith – to face it, to pray about it, to act upon it. And the promise is this: that nothing will be impossible with God. Jesus doesn’t speak in maybes or ifs here. He says with clarity and confidence, “It will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” The mountain-moving faith that Jesus talks about is not the absence of fear – it’s the presence of trust. It is not the denial of difficulty – it is the embrace of divine authority. And it’s available to every single one of us. Not tomorrow. Not when you feel you are ‘ready.’ But right now.
Will you believe that God can move your mountain? Will you believe that He can use your life to make a difference in the world around you? Will you believe that with Him, nothing is impossible? Then stand tall, even if your knees are shaking, seize the day and speak to that mountain! Watch what God will do.