Mustard Seed Faith?

A high school friend of mine used to wear a necklace that held a mustard seed. I later learned that it was in relation to having a “mustard seed faith.” As a young believer, I didn’t think about that much but many times as I grew in my own faith walk, I have heard pastors, teachers, small group leaders, et al. speak of “mustard seed faith.”

In recent years, I’ve come to realize that a “mustard seed faith” is not the kind of faith a mature believer in Christ should desire. The idea of this kind of faith is derived from Matthew 17:14-20. A man has come to Jesus desiring to have his child delivered from demon possession when the disciples have failed to do so. Jesus is able to cast the demon out and afterwards, the disciples ask him why they were unable to help the child. Verse 20 (emphasis mine) gives the answer and our connection to the mustard seed. “He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.’”

Three important things should be noted about this exchange:

1)    In Matthew’s text, it occurs directly after the transfiguration (17:1-13)

2)    Just before Jesus drives out the demon, He says, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” (17:17)

3)    Faith the size of a mustard seed is not something to strive for, rather the presence of faith is demonstrated by the power of it (17:20)

The disciples had been privy to having direct access to Jesus and at least three of them had witnessed His glory in person. Jesus’ comment before driving out the demon reflects His frustration with the faithlessness of His followers. His comment about the mustard seed was a chastisement of how small their faith was; for if their faith had even been the size of a mustard seed, they would have been able to move a mountain. Christ does not desire for us to have a small faith. While the smallest amount of faith can do great things, Jesus wants our faith to be tremendous.


Originally written for Liberty University Commuter Blog in 2015