Unbelieving and Perverse Generation

Today we walk a mile in His shoes. Welcome to Soldier for Christ.

I want to look at a situation in the book of Matthew today where a man comes to Jesus asking for help. But I want us to put ourselves in Jesus place here because the way he reacts is very... well... human.

If you are a parent you will have no issues putting yourself in his position and understanding how he feels. Also as a parent, you will have no issues understanding why he does what he does.

Have you ever helped someone with something only to have them come back to you over and over again for the exact same thing? You may find that you get to a point of frustration over the matter. I mean after all, how many times have you shown that person how to do whatever it may be and then do it for them again? How many times do you keep doing it for them until you expect they should be able to do it for themselves?

So, let me set it up for you...

* When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” -Matthew 17: 14-16

Here we have a guy with a sick child. Anyone of us, if our child was sick and we had heard about this guy that could heal people, would try to get our kid in front of that man if He was in town. And that is what happens. This guy comes to Jesus begging for Him to heal his child.

And just like we may become frustrated or annoyed with the person coming to us over and over so did Jesus here become frustrated. Listen to what he says...

* “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. - Matthew 17:17-18

Do you see how annoyed Jesus is here? I mean, after all that time with him and seeing all that he had done here he was still having to step in and do it.

* Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” -Matthew 17:19-20

He was fed up. He had shown them over and over. Had taught them over and over that they had the ability, power, and authority to do these things but still their faith was weak and they couldn't do it. He had to step in again. I can imagine this was also concerning because he knows his time was almost up and that he would be going back to the Father. They needed to be able to do this thing on their own.

The same is true with us today. We have been given authority by Jesus with the help of the Holy Spirit and have been given a command. To go and tell. We can't sit back and keep expecting him to just do it for us. We have to grow up in our spiritual faith and do as he has instructed us over and over again. So go. Tell. (L3 Mat 28:19)

Press on. Fight the good fight. As a Soldier for Christ.