Belonging (S2) : WK 4 - THU
(Matthew 21:21) Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.”
Did Jesus really mean this? I know on its face it’s a silly question. I have never known Jesus to say something that wasn’t true. In Mark 9 he made a pretty bold statement:
“The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” Mark 9:31
Obviously he said it and it happened. We have no issue with the truth of this statement about his resurrection, but faith moving mountains? That is another thing entirely. For some reason, this one is hard to believe.
If I think about it, the reason we have such a hard time with Jesus’ statement is because when he talked about his resurrection, he was talking about himself and his power. But this claim about you and me seems like a stretch. It’s hard to think that we could have that kind of power, the ability to move mountains.
We don’t doubt Jesus, we doubt ourselves. When I look in the mirror I don’t see a powerful person of faith. I see someone who struggles to walk with God more times than I would want to admit. So that statement by Jesus seems far-fetched and truly impossible, not because of his lack of power but because of my lack of faith.
But it’s at that time that we need to remember that Matthew had a different version of this statement:
“I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:20
So the size of our faith doesn’t really matter. Big or small, it’s still faith, and in the hands of our mighty God and savior it will move mountains.
Did Jesus really mean this? I know on its face it’s a silly question. I have never known Jesus to say something that wasn’t true. In Mark 9 he made a pretty bold statement:
“The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” Mark 9:31
Obviously he said it and it happened. We have no issue with the truth of this statement about his resurrection, but faith moving mountains? That is another thing entirely. For some reason, this one is hard to believe.
If I think about it, the reason we have such a hard time with Jesus’ statement is because when he talked about his resurrection, he was talking about himself and his power. But this claim about you and me seems like a stretch. It’s hard to think that we could have that kind of power, the ability to move mountains.
We don’t doubt Jesus, we doubt ourselves. When I look in the mirror I don’t see a powerful person of faith. I see someone who struggles to walk with God more times than I would want to admit. So that statement by Jesus seems far-fetched and truly impossible, not because of his lack of power but because of my lack of faith.
But it’s at that time that we need to remember that Matthew had a different version of this statement:
“I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:20
So the size of our faith doesn’t really matter. Big or small, it’s still faith, and in the hands of our mighty God and savior it will move mountains.
- Do you feel powerful? Why or why not?
- How big is your faith today? What can help make your faith stronger?
- Who is someone in your life you can talk to when you struggle with faith? Reach out to that person today and let them know how your walk with God is doing.
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