“A Cry For Mercy!”

Cry For Mercy!”(Mt.17:14-21).
One of the faith songs we sing and dance our energy out is, “Faith rolls the mountain eh eh, faith rolls the mountain. Faith rolls the mountain that stands on your way, eh eh…” The song is partly motivated by today’s text.
In the text Jesus was just coming down from the mountain of transfiguration. A man approached him and knelt before him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples and they could not heal him.”
Jesus seemed disappointed with his disciples and called them an unbelieving and perverse generation. He wondered how long he had to be with them or put up with them! He then asked and they brought the boy to him. He “rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed.”
While they were alone, the disciples came to him “in private” and asked why they couldn’t drive out the demon?
Jesus’ interesting response: “Because you have little faith. I tell you the truth, 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.”
It is unfortunate that this has become the standard by which disciples are judged to determine the quality of their faith. If a disciple cannot perform a certain feat, it is considered that her/his faith is not up to the size of a mustard seed. This is the reason why some disciples go to great lengths to fake miracles and some seek power from alternative sources, just so that they have faith bigger than a mustard seed!
Few points to note from the text:

1. The man knelt before Jesus.
2. He called Jesus, “Lord” and asked Jesus to have mercy on his son.
3. Jesus was not happy that his dicsciples were such slow learners!
4. Jesys rebuked them in public, but they went to know better in private.
5. With faith nothing is impossible for us. But we must note that we are not Jesus, so we must not want to do the same things he did to prove that we have faith as small as a mustard seed.
6. We must not always want to prove ourselves. Trying to justify yourself is an admittance of guilt.
7. Lastly, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only great healer! Our cry to him for mercy in our situation or predicament does not go unattended to.
   Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing you cannot do. You are the miracle worker. Use our mustard seed faith to reveal your glory here. Amen!
   Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
   Rev Babila Fochang.