Faith Like a Mustard Seed: Is the Mountain What We Move?
How should we really read the mountain-and-mustard-seed passage in the gospels?
In the passage I mean, Jesus seems to promise something outwardly resembling a sort of omega-level telekinesis. In Matthew 17:20, he says, “For I assure you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
This feat with the mountain is one I have not seen performed.
Commentators on this verse frequently point to the smallness of the mustard seed, noting it is perhaps the very smallest of the seeds cultivators in Jesus’ place and time would have been familiar with. In short, the faith described in this passage is—seemingly—tiny faith indeed.
But let’s instead consider the bigness of this seed. Here is the thing about it: If I held a mustard seed before you, you could see it. If I opened my palm before you while holding one, you would notice there was a speck of something in my hand. Imagine, then, if each of us prayed for this much faith—faith great enough to cross this threshold. None of us are gods, but we are God’s. Let us pray for faith that is just big enough to be seen.
Now the mountain. Again, I have seen no one, and I know of no one, who has commanded a mountain into motion in this way. Crucially, the list of people who are not known to have moved a mountain in this way includes Jesus. He never did this that we know. His known miracles do not include an act such as this. Indeed, his miracles, focused primarily on healing and feeding, did not look like this.
The mountain was put there by God. It is a manifestation of his will. We are God’s and not gods; we do not fling mountains as playthings. To belong to God—to have faith—is inherently to have a heart that inclines along the direction of his kingdom, his work, his creation, his choice. Until we learned Jesus had said these words about mustard-seed faith, it did not occur to any of us that relocating mountains was something we should try.
Could it be Jesus was making a positive statement rather than a literal one? If we allow that he might have been figurative, his words offer a picture of faith’s power and impact rather than the terms of a test we cannot pass.
Pray for faith just big enough to be seen.
One with such faith would inherently honor the One who placed the mountain. One with such faith would prefer other barriers move instead, where love is most fully served by that barrier’s removal.
Mustard-seed faith. Faith the size of a speck. Faith just big enough to be seen—what could it move?
It could move unforgiveness.
Despondency.
Fear.