Matthew 17.20 NLT
“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.”
Having just had the mountain top experience of the Transfiguration the disciples go back down to earth with a bump. A father brought his very ill son to the disciples and they were completely unable to heal him. Jesus healed him immediately and then reflected on the appalling lack of faith of his disciples. All they needed was the tiniest amount of faith and they would then be able to perform miracles in Jesus’ name.
The imagery of the mustard seed is one that we have met in other places. The seed is very tiny but can grow up into a huge shrub as high as twelve feet. Jesus’ message was clear. Faith in God is so powerful that it can make incredible miracles happen. It can even move mountains. I don’t happen to believe that God is calling us to rearrange mountain ranges around the world! That would be incredibly disruptive and serve no useful purpose. Jesus was talking about the problems and challenges of life which are so massive that they seem impenetrable. I believe that in recent history we have seen mountains move and I know that huge numbers of people have prayed for those situations. When I first went behind the Iron Curtain in 1979 it was almost impossible to imagine that such a wall of separation could ever come down. But that’s exactly what happened ten years later in the most dramatic way. And then when I reflect on Northern Ireland where in the early 1970s hundreds of people were being killed each year, it was very hard to imagine that the mountain of violence and tension would ever be removed. But in an incredible way Northern Ireland has developed and prospered in recent years and the violence, although by no means absent, no longer rules the Province.
In our own lives we bump into mountainous problems. It may be over a dispute with a neighbour, or within our families, or at work and it is almost impossible to imagine that it will ever go away. Jesus commands us to have faith and however tiny that faith might seem to be, we can be sure that God will work miraculously and powerfully.




Question: In what situation are you needing to have faith at the moment?
Prayer: Lord God, I place my faith in you. I trust you with my life and invite you to lead me today in the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen

Released on 28 Mar 2022