Matthew 17:14-20 When Faith Fails

When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him." And Jesus answered and said, "You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me."  And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once.  Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not drive it out?" And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. [Matthew 17:14‭-‬20 NASB]

The kingdom of God has an interesting dynamic: it only takes a little faith to accomplish great things, and it only takes a little doubt to completely subvert that faith.

We read in Matthew 10:1 that Jesus had already given His disciples authority to cast out demons. Mark tells us, "They went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them." [Mark 6:12-13 NASB]

They had experience acting in Jesus' name, and casting out demons, yet they failed in this case. I think that's why Jesus allowed some frustration and annoyance show. Because of their experience, they should have done better. When they brought the boy to Jesus, He rebuked the demon and it came out of the boy. Mark tells us in chapter 9 that the demon tore at the boy one last time before coming out, and left him lying still, as if he were dead. Jesus raised him up and he was well.

When the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn't drive it out, he told them it was because of their lack of faith. By comparing faith to a mustard seed, Jesus is letting His disciples know that even a tiny amount of faith would have been enough.

So why did their faith fail them? I don't know for sure, but I can speculate that when they saw the violence of the demon, they allowed fear and doubt into their hearts. Later manuscripts add, "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." [Matthew 17:21 NASB] This verse was included in the King James Bible, and is placed in brackets in most modern translations indicating that the earliest manuscripts do not include it.

Obviously, prayer is necessary for even the most basic faith. You have to spend time with God if you will have faith in Him. The disciples were forbidden to fast at this point. Jesus had previously said, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast." [Matthew 9:15 NASB] It seems out of character for Jesus to rebuke His disciples for something He had forbidden them to do.

Whatever the reasons, the disciples failed. Jesus corrected them, and then He taught them. He never rejected them, or turned them away.

There will come a time in all of our lives when we fail. When you fail, don't think Jesus is going to reject you. He will never love you any less because of your failures. In fact, because He loves you, He will correct you.

Learn from these disciples because they did something very right. After they failed, they got alone with Jesus to talk to Him about their failure. When you fail God in any way, don't turn away from Him. Don't try to hide in shame. Come to Him with an open heart, and learn from Him how to do better next time.