And it provides shelter and food for those it is over. As an example, there is a tree described in Daniel (it is Nebuchadnezzar’s position of being king) that towers over all of the plants and animals in the field. Throughout the Bible the amount of power, or the position in society, that people held is represented by trees. This passage began with a discourse on forgiveness where the disciples asked Him for more faith so that they too could forgive. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go your faith has made you well.” He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him –and he was a Samaritan. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “ Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants we have only done our duty.’” Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.Īs he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. “Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. Circumstances will no longer control your life because you will trust God to do what is good for you –and for those around you. Does that mean that if you trust God to change something (take away the bad and bring on the good circumstances), that it will happen? No, moving the mountain is about taking away the fearful thoughts so that the circumstances are no longer something to dread. Your faith –trust in God– will also grow and you will be amazed by what He does with you. They grow into something much bigger than what they started. It’s only after experiencing the sitting –and the resting– that you can know that the chair is trustworthy.Īs you journey through life, you can see faith do the same things that seeds do. It’s when you actually sit and rest in it that faith is realized. Saying you trust the chair to support you is nothing more than words until that faith is exercised. No doubt you have heard the old example about having faith in a chair. It must produce results in your life –something real that you attribute to God’s compassion for you. The point of the comparison is that faith must be more than a concept in your mind. The mustard seed –although tiny– is real and tangible. The mountain represents those things that only God can overcome. In this passage, the emphasis is not on healing but on the ability to “move this mountain” –the mountain being something that is overwhelming, daunting, seemingly impossible. 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. He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” He often falls into the fire or into the water. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. (It’s also found in Matthew, Mark and Luke where Jesus described the kingdom of heaven.) In Matthew chapter 17, Jesus was talking to his disciples about why they could not cast out a demon to heal a boy of his seizures whereas in Luke 17 He was dealing with the human difficulty of forgiving people. The little mustard seed is used in both Matthew and Luke to provide a picture of faith.
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