O You of Little Faith

On mountains and mustard seeds

Photo by Jerry Zhang on Unsplash

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.” – Matthew 17:20 NIV

Jesus tells us that faith as small as a mustard seed is all it takes to move mountains. Yet, if we look at this verse in context, we see Jesus telling his disciples just a moment earlier that the reason they couldn’t cast out a demon was that their faith was too little. Do you feel the tension between these two statements?

Casting out a demon isn’t possible if we have too little faith, but moving a mountain only requires the tiniest bit of faith. How can that be?

As I sat in that tension, I began to wonder if it’s our understanding of faith that causes the confusion here. Maybe faith isn’t about certainty. Maybe it’s not about believing hard enough or praying the right words. Maybe it’s not even about an absence of fear or doubt. Perhaps faith is much more active and dynamic.