Luke 17:5-6: Mustard-Seed Faith

"The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith!' And the Lord said, 'If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.'" (Luke 17:5-6)

What did Jesus mean when he talked about having faith the size of a mustard seed? Honestly, I think this is a difficult question to answer exhaustively. However, I'm going to attempt to take a stab at it this morning, and I hope it edifies you as it did me.

Whenever we look at any passage of scripture, what ought we to start with? Answer: context. In the context of our verses today, we find Jesus journeying to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). Along the way, he is teaching his disciples and all those following him as well as performing miracles. On this given day, Jesus' teaching was on forgiveness and the difficulty, yet necessity, thereof (see Luke 17:3-4). In response to this teaching, the twelve apostles humbly proclaim to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" In realization of their inadequacy to follow God's commands, they asked the Lord to help them.

Before we go anywhere, let's realize the humility and genuineness of this request. Oftentimes, we see the twelve apostles portrayed in a negative light, always doubting Jesus' words and questioning his teaching, but not here. Here (I believe) they are portrayed in a positive light, requesting of Christ the very thing they needed to carry out his commands: faith. Surely we ought to cry out this same, simplistic prayer to the Lord every day.

But what is faith? Oof. That's a big question. According to Hebrews 11:1, faith is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." When we have faith, we truly and fully believe in that which we cannot physically prove. Thus, when we "put our faith" in Christ, we believe that his death and resurrection is enough to save us and that he is better than the things of this world. Though we cannot see Christ in the same way we can see the sunrise, the stars, and the people around us (though, yes, we do see Christ in these things, in a certain way), we place our faith in the unseen. The disciples were asking for God to increase that faith which was, in part, already within them. They desired to trust him more in the things that he said, and surely we ought to do the same.

But Jesus had a most interesting reply to this request. Rather than encouraging their honest request, Jesus (always being on his toes!) gave a statement about having faith the size of a mustard seed. I'm going to be honest with you--I have no clue what Jesus was doing here. Was he encouraging the apostles in their genuine request? Was he rebuking them in some sort of back-handed way? Or was he simply using the disciples' request as an opportunity to get his message across? Honestly, I'm not sure,* but either way, I think Jesus' point is clear: impossible things can be done even with a small amount of faith.

Now often when we come to this passage, we see it as a loophole into apathetic Christian living. What do I mean by that? Well, Christ says here that I only need the faith of a mustard seed to do impossible things, like uproot mulberry trees and move mountains--surely I don't need any more faith, then! But I don't think that was Jesus' point. Certainly, we could use other biblical texts to prove that we ought to be growing in faith each and every day (Hebrews 11, 1 John 5:3-4). Nevertheless, Jesus was in fact teaching here, so let us discuss what he was trying to get across.

Most commentators would agree that Jesus here is not primarily talking about the amount of faith that one has, but the presence of faith in a person. The disciples asked for an increase of faith, but Jesus took the opportunity to teach on the mere presence of faith in a person--a presence which could move mulberry trees, and even mountains (Mt. 17:20).

In other words, Jesus was trying to get across here that with faith of any amount, one can do impossible things. Now, this does not mean that faith in Jesus will help us with all of our sports games, become financially stable, or anything like that. Rather, I think Jesus was using this as a metaphor for kingdom work. With the faith of a mustard seed, one is able to do phenomenal work for the sake of God's kingdom, that is, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet (as Jesus implies in his teaching), without any faith, one cannot do any of this. Though even a small amount of faith can do great things, it is the presence of that faith that is important. Is it better to have more faith than less? Of course. But Jesus' point here is that even those who are new in the kingdom, even though who have faith but of a mustard seed, can do great things for Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Honestly, I think this is an encouraging message for us today. Firstly, we certainly ought to ask for greater faith, even as the disciples did. Yet furthermore, I think Jesus is encouraging us here that even if we don't have great faith, we can still do great things for him. Even if our faith is feeble, even if our faith is weak (though we ought to seek to strengthen it!), God still uses his people for his purposes.

Yet I would like to conclude with this: that the miraculous power of even a small amount of faith is not rooted in the faith of a believer, but in the object of that faith. In other words, the reason why such small amounts of faith can do such miraculous things is that the God who is the object of that faith is, in fact, quite miraculous.

*If you think you have the answer, please share in an email or in the comments below. I'd be happy to hear your thoughts.