Mustard Seed Faith

Faith as a Grain of Mustard Seed
Mind Games/Word Games
The Psychology of Jesus
Copyright 2005
by Alvin Mitchell

There may well be many things for which the Man from Galilee is known and fondly remembered: His claims, His teachings,
His miracles, the Passion, His crucifixion, etc. While He was equally well known in His day, in some circles, for a stoically
unflattering educational background, one as bad or worst than that of some of His own followers (which fact, it might well be
argued, He did more to flaunt than to conceal), what is not so well publicized is Jesus the artful, Masterful Employer of the
(shall we say?) science of psychology. If my own experience with people is any indication, one might say then that virtually
anyone having gone through our colleges and universities in this day and age and, having been flushed out with a degree of
some sort, in one area or the other, is ready and eager (with whatever degree of subtlety) to seed to himself the rights of
“master mind gamer”, whether or not he has had any meaningful training in psychology—particularly if he has the degree, and
knows or figures you do not. Many of our day will frequently use psychology, reverse-psychology, mind games and word
games (manipulation) to puff themselves up, so as to look and feel superior, as well as to deceive and/or take advantage of
others. Jesus of Nazareth’s engagement in these areas was always utterly benign, even as was His lashing out in the fury of
fiery, hot-tempered castigation, to the verbal decimation of His enemies (Matt. 23; Luke 23:34). There was in His heart
always the desire that even their eyes would be opened. Moreover, consider: many among the thinking and inquiring of our day
remember and probe the mind of this ancient Galilean (some say “peasant”), notwithstanding His lack of any known formal
education, but, who will bother—for two thousand years—dragging around the memories of the multitudes of “christological”
doubters among even those with advanced degrees in their field (of psychology), and, for what?! Which brings us then to our
consideration of the moment: faith as a grain of mustard; prerequisite to, and guaranteed to produce, movers of mountains?(!)

Satan and his hinch-men, including the false-prophets, preachers and teachers who have inundated the landscape of our nation,
hogging the thrones of the local churches and all the denominations, must be watching with baited breath as they anticipate any
opportunity to trip up the unsuspecting saint on this one. The aim, their hope—a grand prospect for them—is as always, to
discredit God and to destroy the faith of the believer. After all, you will not—as no Christian has—ever in fact move any
mountain, no matter how much faith you have. But, if Jesus said that those who have faith no bigger than a grain of mustard
seed can move mountains, how come then to this date, no one ever has?, they wonder in a sneer. Was Jesus lying? Was He
being facetious? Bearing in mind that the Master did have what might deemed a “unique” bent or flare for airing points
subsequently lost within the density of His followers, the apostles included, was His here, at last an exercise in “lunacy”?

First, let us observe that while His apostles, to whom the issue in question was broached, were not necessarily men without
intellect or intelligence, they were largely uneducated, uncultured men, lacking in refinement. Whereas this may have rendered
them hopelessly inferior, worthless human beings in the eyes of the hypocritical, privileged upper classes, the then Jewish
intelligencia, they were no less vessels of great promise in the eyes of the God who made them and knew them; societal rejects,
one might say, which could in short order be retro-fitted for the Master’s use. Our Lord readily identified with them, wearing
proudly, openly some of their same “credentials” and stigmata, though He had been thoroughly indoctrinated, fully trained by the
Father before His twelfth birthday (Luke 2:42-52; John 7:14-18; 8:26-28, 38, 55; 12:49-50; 14:10, 24, 31; 15: 10, 15; 17:4,
8, 14). They, however, were neither so privileged, nor were they used or accustomed to thinking and/or reasoning beyond the
level of the shallow, or the mundane. They literally could not think outside the box. Their backgrounds and upbringing had not
demanded that their hearts, their brains and minds be so initialized. Of this the Lord of Glory, though Himself—as has been
shown—bereft of the benefit of formal secular erudition and scholarship, was fully apprised. Therefore, the fact that they could
on occasion handily and readily distinguish themselves on a par near “dunce” intellectually, given the right “stimulus”, was
ultimately not a problem; certainly not one insurmountable. [It is important to note that the Word of God never, under any
circumstance, portrays Jesus as being either ignorant or uneducated, or unenlightened. In addition to the above cited passage
from Luke, His reception and standing in the eyes of the general populace, as well as His handling of situations and verbal
skirmishes involving the “more literate” and informed nay-sayers of His day, our Lord’s own words repeated throughout the
gospel according to John (particularly; see references above; as well as Mathew and the others) make it plain that in fact He
was very well educated, and that He saw Himself as easily a match (to the point of excess) for any among the Pharisees,
Sadducees, or scribes. No man since the creation, over six thousand years—whatever his accomplishments and educational
background; certainly none from the ranks of the aforementioned—has ever achieved such widespread, sustained, global
notoriety, and fascination. No world leader, no general of any army, no statesman or salesman, no Pope, will ever warrant the
recognition or have just cause to wait in earnest expectation that his memory will be as well preserved, kept alive and fresh for
so long. None has or ever will mean so much to humanity. Although the future does have a “place holder” for one who, upon
his coming, will for a short time (in some measure, how ever limited) rival our Lord (Revelation 13:1-18), there is presently no
one any where on any horizon who can ever expect to match His legacy. Furthermore, by virtue of its finding basis in the God
of all heaven and earth, Yahweh Elohim; Hayah (He—the Father—being Teacher, Tutor, Trainer and Mentor), His education
was simply, hands down, “the best, in the west” (or, universe)!]. All that said, what are we to make then, of Jesus’ comment
regarding mountain moving and mustard seed faith? Seeing then, as we have seen, that He was of strong intellect, and of a
stable mind—erudite, as well as an Educator—what was His motive?

“If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, then…”. What was Jesus’ point here? It may be most apropos to begin by
noting that the “faith” spoken of, demanded, and expected by the Man Jesus Christ of all His followers was never one arbitrary,
nor was it in any wise more whimsical than it was idle (it was not the least bit idle; one cannot expect to establish a right,
working relationship with God by believing whatever one chooses, or by believing the Word of God in whatever light or way
one chooses.). The Greek term “pistis” was never a reference to simple “head knowledge”. Its meaning carries within it the
idea of persuasion (being fully persuaded), conviction, trust and holy fervor. Jesus’ use of the term was generally never meant
to elicit a blind faith, without predication or basis. Much key evidence suggests that solicitations to “mountain moving faith”
were sometimes intended to throw the eyes of the minds of His hearers into reverse, to cause them to reflect upon and/or
“remember” some discrete event in the past—either of which they were a part or—which they had witnessed, as evidence of
the probability of the possibility whereupon they were now being prevailed to dwell intellectually. His aim was to “educate”
them, to get them “thinking” in ways and along lines, which they were otherwise neither accustomed, nor inclined (a task made
all the more challenging by the short time in which He had to work and their ever present proneness to forget, or, simply not
understand to begin with; recall that most of them had no schooling or formal training of any kind). Hence, when He bade them
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees (Matt. 16:6-12; Mr. 8:14-21), their eyes should have immediately rushed to the rear (the
“recent” rear) of that day in their lives, and—recalling the feeding of the 4 & 5 thousand coupled with the many earlier verbal
chastisements and repeat run-ins with the religious leaders—realized that, what ever He meant, provision of their next meal
certainly was not going to be a problem, as His emphasis was doctrine, not bread. When Simon the son of Jona was designated
“Pe’tros” (a rock fragment or piece of a rock), everyone hearing including Simon, should have known at once from His choice
of words that the foundation of the church—His assembly of “called out” ones, whose purpose is special—was not destined to
be Peter (whatever his status and prominence among the twelve), but Himself (Pe’tra: a mass of rock; foundation stone—bear
in mind that His earthly occupation during the young adult days of the first 30 years of His life was that of a carpenter, in which
case, as Matt. 7:24-29 suggests, He would have been fully apprised of the significances and the differences.). Peter himself,
the man, the individual, was in fact, strictly speaking, foundational to nothing. The Keys of Heaven, i.e., the things that they
(the apostles) would teach, contributing toward the building of the Lord’s called out assembly of believers, would be only that
which had already been approved and established in Heaven (Matt. 16:13-20)—just as, per John’s gospel (see references
above), He is recorded as reminding them regularly that He was not making up anything He said, as all His teachings had already
been established and settled in Heaven, in advance of His coming, and taught to Him by God the Father [Heaven was not going
to bow and stoop, subjecting itself to following man’s lead, contrary to the false teaching and misunderstanding of some today
in both mainline denominations, as well as and most notably, the Roman Catholics. Such thinking is straight from the “pit”, and
yet another sterling example of how Satan controls and nullifies the modern churches’ effectiveness to his benefit, without
actually destroying it in a blood bath—as he did at the hands of Rome, in the early years.].

So, when the Lord Jesus used what appeared on the surface to be utterly ridiculous expressions like “mountain moving faith”,
He was simply doing what He often did, as opportunity presented itself. No one knew better than He, the Creator of the mind
sullied by Adam’s fall, that stimulation of meaningful, worthwhile productivity within near dormant thought processes (dense
through inactivity) can demand effort in the “megawatt” range, one might say. Therefore, to facilitate getting their undivided
attention, so as to drive home some insight, riveting it (hopefully!) at some easily retrievable junction deep within their psyche,
He intentionally, frequently lead them into verbal situations, from which vantage points He could jolt and jab their minds, thereby
effectively jumpstarting their cognitive powers, forcing them to think, to stretch mentally and grow beyond their narrow
intellectual confines—for, only then could their truest potential be unleashed, realized and tapped [it is special, is it not, that not
one of His antagonists (past or present) can justifiably sustain presence of mind (in any pysche), apart from Him and His work
with and through His twelve “imbeciles” (as, or so they appeared initially, struggling to wrangle and wrestle meaning out of
teachings that often made positively no sense, standing next to Him Who in His humanity was always focused and committed
from start to finish, unwavering, steady as a rock, in even the worst of times)!]. If this strategic performance by the Man from
Galilee was anything short of applied psychology at its absolute finest—reverse-, or otherwise—it certainly was sublime, was it
not (being highly effective, as it was an’all?)?! His men never earned “college” degrees, yet, no one in this enlightened,
informed age will ever shine brighter, nor will the memory of them last as long. The impact of the service of any American
today (for the good of mankind; whether in education, industry, government, religion, you name it, it) owes its birth and being
to the impact of their ministry over two thousand years ago.

So then, what was Jesus saying when He added that tagline to the positive declaration He had already made only seconds before
(“…you could not do the work assigned to you, because you lack faith…if you had faith, nothing would be impossible…?”)?
Can one living in our times, having simple “faith” over the power of the Cat bulldozer or Turner-pull actually cause a mountain
to move? Is…that…what…He…wants us…to believe…“bunnnkee”? Certainly; absolutely; no doubt about it! Just as the
“miracle-workers” He hand picked and commissioned ran circles around the physicians and false exorcists of His day, so
likewise any one in any age can move or bring down any mountain, by “faith”…., given the right set of circumstances, so to
speak. And, just what might that be, you ask? Well, that’s a very, very good question!

When Jesus gave this pronouncement (“…you lack faith…”), the first thing to enter the mind of all His apostles should have
been one simple question: faith in what, or Whom? That should have been followed up immediately with one simple
observation: at no point ever, were they of the twelve or, any of the seventy able to do any of the miraculous works—healings,
or exorcisms—in and of themselves. Nor were they ever able simply because they “believed” (arbitrarily, without
provocation). Ultimately, their mighty works and deeds boiled down to one simple fact of life: they did what they did, when
they did (what they did!) because—and only because—God said they could do it. Their faith (in what God said could be) was
only the open door through which the Spirit of God, having entered in was able to work via their hands, to the satisfaction of
the Will of the Father.   There were many disciples standing around when Jesus selected both the twelve and the seventy, many
of whom might have been easier to work with than those twelve, none of whom ever worked a miracle (much less leveled
mountains) despite perhaps having and possessing a “faith” just as strong. That nontransferable ability was given only to those
whom He personally chose. Consider also the debacle of the seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19:14): “Jesus I know, and Paul I
know, but who the heck are you”, was the cry from within the demoniac, as he proceeded to beat the crap out of’em,
following their failed attempt to oust an otherwise stubborn, unresponsive demon—in the Name of Jesus. Guess you might say,
they learned the hard way, the lesson the Lord Jesus sought to impress upon His own: the strength of faith is God’s command,
“Do it”, while conversely, the weakness in any command given by God is a faith lacking in that saint of whom performance is
anticipated.

Thus, we conclude furthermore that the message in the Lord’s assertion is such that “mountains” fall—whether in the form of
diseases or demons, illnesses or mountains literal—only when (God first having issued the directive) the door of faith is opened
wide, so that the Holy Spirit can come in and work through the saint. This is identically the same formula which powered and
propelled the life and ministry of Jesus Himself during His earthly walk: “I can do nothing of myself…I do not as I wish, but as
the Father commands….I am not making up the things I teach…” According to the “beloved” disciple, He was known for
regularly making such disclaimers (John 4:34; 5:19, 30; 6:38; 7:16; 8:26-28; 14:31).

The idea that the “faith” can be as small as a mustard means quite simply in God’s Eyes, either you have it, or you don’t.
Without it, no “Christian” can ever hope to please the Father (Heb. 11:6). All who draw near to Him “must” believe that He is
(that He is real) and He becomes a rewarder to all who seek Him out.