Why couldn’t we throw it out?

Matthew 17:14-20

At the bottom of the mountain, they were met by a crowd of waiting people. As they approached, a man came out of the crowd and fell to his knees begging, “Master, have mercy on my son. He goes out of his mind and suffers terribly, falling into seizures. Frequently he is pitched into the fire, other times into the river. I brought him to your disciples, but they could do nothing for him.”

Jesus said, “What a generation! No sense of God! No focus to your lives! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here.” He ordered the afflicting demon out—and it was out, gone. From that moment on the boy was well.

When the disciples had Jesus off to themselves, they asked, “Why couldn’t we throw it out?”

“Because you’re not yet taking God seriously,” said Jesus. “The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, a poppy seed, say, you would tell this mountain, ‘Move!’ and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn’t be able to tackle.”

Food for thought!

The apostles came up and said to Jesus, “Why couldn’t we throw it out?”

Jesus' response is that we don’t need more faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. It is about having faith or not. In other words, we don't need more faith; we just need faith! And as St. Paul tells us: "Faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17). 

We have got all the faith we need. Have you ever seen a mustard seed? That’s all the faith we need . . . according to Jesus. So, let's take a step of faith and take God's Word for it. We have all the faith that’s necessary, if our faith is grounded in the Word of God. Faith detached from the Word of God is not faith at all. 

As we get to know Jesus, in an intimate way, by knowing how He thinks and what He promises, we will begin to experience an inner strength that produces confidence and ultimately faith. So more faith, more Word of God! Through our Daily Word, God is developing a faith in us that we weren’t expecting. It’s persevering faith. It’s a faith that does not give up “until. . .” This kind of faith doesn’t give up quickly, and holds fast, even if things get worse instead of better—even if an answer to our prayer seems more and more impossible. This is the faith that moves mountains.

Indeed, many of us have faith but we don't put it to use. Faith is a tremendous force we have but rarely use. If we approach a thing saying, "It can't be done," it will not; if we approach it saying, "It must be done," it will. Facing each task with the determination to do the job to the very best of our ability can bring something positive to the actual doing and a solid feeling of accomplishment after the job is completed. It means even that which looks completely impossible becomes possible, if it is approached with faith.