Luke 17:6
He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you."
It's a new year, and that means it's time to make a resolution, a promise to do something more and improve yourself. For believers, it can seem the most important thing they need to do is have faith. If they could trust God and have more confidence in Him, then perhaps their new year, and the rest of their lives would improve. This must have been what the disciples thought, when they told their Lord, "Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5). Perhaps they believed they needed more faith, in order to do what Jesus commanded them (Luke 17:3-4), but Jesus responds, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you," (Luke 17:6). All one needs to move a simple tree on command is a tiny amount of faith.
So, after what Jesus said, did the disciples start uprooting trees, bushes and all kinds of flora by their words alone? No. These believers were unable to make shrubs jump into a lake, the same way believers today can't command seeds to plant themselves. Does that mean believers don't have faith; even faith smaller than a tiny speck (the size of a mustard seed)? It would seem odd to say that, after all believers are known as "believers" for a reason. It is written that those who have faith in Jesus will have eternal life (John 3:16) even if their body dies (John 11:25). Since heaven, an eternal place without death, is filled with those who have believed in Jesus' name (Revelation 7:9-10), then everyone who is a believer must have faith. So, if every believer has faith, then why can't every believer move a mulberry tree?
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| Depending on the size and available tools, one could physically move a mulberry tree in a day or several days. |
Jesus did not only say that faith the size of a mustard seed can move trees. He also said it can move mountains. Jesus told this to His disciples after they had failed to cast out a demon from a boy, (Matthew 17:19). Upon them asking why they could not cast out the demon, Jesus says, "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). Well, there's no account in the Bible where any physical mountains move at a believer's command, but there are accounts of the disciples casting out many demons. In fact, the disciples did this, before they encountered the boy they could not heal (Mark 6:13). So, how is it the disciples could heal the demon possessed, and then could not? Well, before Jesus sent out His disciples to cast out demons, He told them He was giving them authority to do so (Matthew 10:1). Jesus gave them the power to do the impossible; in the same way that Jesus gives all of His believers the ability to do the impossible, the ability to have faith.
It is not possible for anyone to believe in Jesus on their own, because people apart from God are spiritually dead and are incapable of having faith (Ephesians 2:1-3). Even though everyone who lived was dead, God makes people alive by His grace (Ephesians 2:4-5). It is written, "By grace [believers] have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast," (Ephesians 2:8-9). Faith, even the smallest amount of it, cannot come from within someone, but is given by God. He is the one who maintains the faith of every believer, "from first to last," (Romans 1:17). This is why when the disciples asked Jesus, “Who then can be saved?" Jesus responds, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God," (Mark 10:26-27). God Himself comes into everyone to whom He gives faith (Ephesians 2:20-22). By His presence believers can do the impossible; not to uproot Everest or speak down a redwood. God gives His people faith so they can trust His resolution to them, that we will be His people, and He will be our God, (Jeremiah 30:22). No one needs more faith. All everyone needs is one God.
Sources
- The Bible (New International Version)
- Strong's Greek: Faith
- Evangelical Focus: Mulberry Tree
- The MacArthur Study Bible
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