When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. They disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell 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 for you.”
As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they were greatly distressed.
Matthew 17:14-23
I’ve honestly never understood the faith the size of a mustard seed. Could the disciples not heal the boy because they didn’t have faith in God? Because they didn’t have faith in their own abilities to heal him? Because they didn’t have faith in Jesus? All of those things? Because I know that I could never move a mountain. I am too much of a doubter. But I feel like I have faith that God could do such a thing. Maybe if He told me to, and told me I had the power to (the way He used to talk to Moses) I could… Maybe that’s the disciples’ problem. Back in chapter 10 Jesus specifically told the disciples to heal people, that they could. And still they didn’t have faith!
It’s harder for us. God has never spoken directly to me, never told me what He wants me to do. So how do I know whether I have the faith to do it or not? I’m learning to trust in His plan, but I still have no idea how to figure out what that plan is. I mean, I think I have faith. Then again, I’m sure the disciples thought that too…
But look how little faith they have! Jesus told them He would die (which they seemed to believe), and that He would then be resurrected (which they didn’t). And they were afraid of being without Him! How could they have seen him feed thousands, heal thousands, and even RAISE A GIRL FROM THE DEAD and not believe He could do the same for Himself?
Understanding the New Testament 
I believe the disciples did have faith otherwise they would have just waited for Jesus to come down and heal the boy and not have attempted to do so themselves (He was on the mount of transfiguration at that time), the word ‘little faith’ is an incorrect translation, if you see the King James translation it says “Because of your unbelief”. The problem was not because of the faith of the disciples as the disciples had already cast out demons from people earlier [Matthew 10:1], and Jesus clearly says you need faith the size of a mustard seed (i.e. the quantity is irrelevant, it’s the quality that’s important). However the disciples had unbelief, which diluted their faith. Faith and unbelief can co-exist in a person’s life.
This is my opinion (you can trash it if you don’t like it), the disciples saw the man’s epileptic behavior – convulsing, frothing and foaming from the mouth which might have caused them to have fear and give rise to unbelief. This unbelief was the reason why they could not cast out the demon.
I’ve made an attempt to bring clarity to the topic of faith, doubt and unbelief in my post – “Faith, doubt and unbelief” (http://delonsblog.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/faith-doubt-and-unbelief/)
God bless you!
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Wow, thanks! That was very helpful! I especially liked the part where you mentioned that faith, doubt, and unbelief can all exist together at the same time. That clarified a lot for me. God bless!
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Glad to have been any help. Stay blessed!
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