Matthew part 30
After the Mountaintop Experience
Sometimes the hardest part of ministry is coming down the mountain. In youth ministry, there is a phenomenon known as “post-camp woes.” Whenever a youth group heads to youth camp, they have a phenomenal time—especially when the camp has a mission focus. The youth are energized and ready to storm their town with the story of Jesus. Unfortunately, coming back to “the real world” and their school also brings an overwhelming sense of how dark their world can be.
The disciples in Matthew 16 have had a phenomenal experience. They have seen Jesus in his glorified state. Now, they are headed down the mountain and will be reminded just how dark this world can be.
Ministry off the Mountain | Matthew 17:14-23
And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “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.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 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.”
As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.
Matthew 17:14-23
There is a direct contrast Matthew (and Mark) draws between the mountaintop experience and what happens here down the mountain. Jesus took James, Peter, and John with him to the mountaintop where the disciples see Jesus transfigure into his glorified appearance. They also see Moses and Elijah speak with Jesus. Then, to cap it off, a bright cloud envelopes the area telling the disciples, “This is my son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” It had to be the height of the disciples’ experience with Jesus up to this point.
Then, as they come down, a man comes begging for help for his son. He took his son to the other disciples, but they could not help the boy. And here, the contrast becomes even clearer. Last week, I posed the question, “Why couldn’t the other disciples go up the mountain?” Jesus’ response to why the disciples could not heal the boy gives a clue to one possibility. Jesus alludes to Deuteronomy 32:5 when he calls the generation “faithless and twisted”. If we compare the phrasing to that verse, it appears there is some disobedience on the part of the disciples. Their faith is little and that has impeded either their obedience and/or their ability to accomplish their ministry.
Now, perhaps Jesus is merely referring to the man when he alludes to Deuteronomy 32, but in either case, the point remains:
Spiritual problems will manifest in physical ways.
Now, by that, I don’t mean every physical problem has a spiritual root (except in the general sense of sin’s curse), but it does mean that when our spiritual lives are off kilter, our physical bodies can take a hit, as well. This family was suffering under spiritual attack, and the boy suffered seizures and self-harm because of it. The disciples’ faith was not enough and that impeded their ability to heal.
But Jesus brings them good news. Even though the disciples’ faith was small, there was still hope. If only they developed faith the size of a mustard seed, they could move mountains.
So, how can we build our faith? Turn with me to Mark’s version of this account in Mark 9. Mark gives an extended version of this account, and in the middle of it, Jesus has a conversation with the boy’s father. Let’s read that now.
So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”
And he said, “From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
Mark 9:21-24
This man’s response to Jesus is the perfect response for our unbelief. There will be times when our faith struggles. That is part of life. The answer is not to act as though we believe anyway, or pretend our faith is not hurt. The answer is to look directly to Jesus and say, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
Last, let’s look at verse 23 again.
The reason we can have faith, and the reason we can overcome these spiritual battles, is because the Son of Man was delivered into the hands of the men, he was killed, and on the third day, he rose again. Jesus has overcome the grave. Jesus has overcome the powers of darkness that bring death, disease, and sin. We can have victory over the powers of darkness because Jesus has already been victorious.
We can overcome spiritual battles through Jesus Christ.
It may take time, and we may struggle to believe. But in those times of doubt and despair, look up to heaven and cry out, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”