Matthew 17:21

“Nothing will be impossible for you.”

The disciples could not drive the demon from a man. His case looked impossible but Jesus cast out the demon. This led into a conversation between Jesus and his disciples that is, on the surface, difficult for me to fully follow.

Let me explain.  The context is, Jesus is now facing the Cross.  The reason he became a man was to bear the sins of the world and all that means. He faced a task so daunting and full of terror that it baffles the mind.  He knew he had to do it but that did not dampen the dread.

Had I been Matthew, seeing it all, I think a question must have arisen, if Jesus said “Believe in God and it will be done as you desire,” then why is the looming Cross troubling his soul? We recall that heart-rending cry, “If there is some other way, show me.”  That was in the garden.  But as we know, there was no other way.

So, Jesus, why did you hope that there might be another way, perhaps?  I gather that the answer is simple, “There is no other way.”

In this short passage we see into the the heart of God and the answer to our own misgivings. Does Jesus not give us a carte blanch “anything you ask” he will do if you believe.  The answer is, if I believe the right thing!! No matter how hard I believe, if my desire is contrary to the will of my Father in heaven I can pray until I faint without gaining my desire simply because it is not God’s desire.

This little but vitally important interchange between Jesus and his disciples concludes with the upsetting news.  “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.  They will kill him.”  v 22  A devastating thought.  What about faith to believe?  Jesus hastens to add, “On the third day he will be raised to life.”  The end of obedience is the resurrected life.  I must swim a long while in that reality.