In Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6 Jesus refers to “faith as a grain of mustard” – or ” faith as a mustard seed” and in both cases, Jesus describes great results which follow on from such faith. Most commentators see this as a reference to the efficacy of even very small faith or of faith which starts off small but which grows greatly over the course of time as the Christian matures or experiences faith-related events or miracles. It is the purpose of this article to suggest that although these understandings of God’s working in our lives are often graciously and wonderfully true, they are not exactly what Jesus meant by “faith as a mustard seed”. The view put forward in this article is that faith as a grain of mustard is actually, paradoxically, big faith! The article develops this point of view with particular reference to two famous helaings: the healing of the woman with an issue of blood and the healing of the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter.
The article can be accessed by clicking on the link below:
I hope you will enjoy the article, and I look forward to help, correction and comments!
Categories: Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Matthew, New Testament Exegesis
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