The mustard seed
Beloved in Christ,
This week we will celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Today’s Gospel takes place immediately after the Transfiguration.
Jesus comes down from the mountain not to an excited crowd, but to people carrying their own burdens. The glory of the Transfiguration does not distance Him from human suffering. On the contrary, it leads Him to it. A true encounter with God does not take us away from people in need. It opens our eyes to them.
A father brings his son to the disciples, but they are powerless to help him. Jesus then reveals the real cause. He is not speaking about the power of the evil spirit, but about the condition of human faith.
His words are not only for the father, the disciples, or the crowd. They are for everyone whose trust in God remains incomplete. These are not words of frustration. They reveal the sorrow of God’s heart as He sees that people have not yet learned to place their complete trust in Him.
When Christ speaks about “little faith,” He is not referring to a small amount of faith, but to an incomplete faith. It is a faith that wants to trust God, yet still leaves room for fear and doubt, while relying first of all on its own strength.
That is why Jesus immediately points to the mustard seed. Paradoxically, the smallest seed becomes the image of a faith that can move mountains. The point is not its size, but the fact that it is alive and whole. It already contains within itself the life and power of the future tree. It is not divided between different possibilities.
That is how our faith should be, undivided in its trust in God. Such faith opens the way for God to act.
In the same context, Jesus speaks about His Cross because He wants to show that the greatest strength of faith is revealed not when everything is going well, but when we continue to trust God even in the midst of suffering and trials.
The greatest mountain the Lord wants to move is within us. It is the mountain of fear, self reliance, and divided trust.
Fr. Andrii Romankiv