Matthew 17:19–20 with St. Thérèse of Lisieux
“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.’”
St. Thérèse of Lisieux interprets this saying of the Lord in a surprising way. In the gospel, the disciples have just failed to perform a healing, and they are asking Jesus why they failed. It would seem that, at least at some level, Jesus is telling his disciples that they need only a little faith to do great things. But Thérèse wonders what the verse might tell us about those with great faith, and about the times when Jesus seems to deny us even the little things. She has cause to reflect on the meaning of this verse when God refuses her something that she wanted, and which she believed she would receive with ardent faith.
Thérèse says that this verse reveals that miracles are often granted to those of little faith, in order to strengthen them and to help them to grow. However, in order to perfect the faith of those who are not beginners, Jesus does not always work signs as readily: “for his intimate friends, and for his mother, he works no miracles before having tried their faith. Did he not allow Lazarus to die even after Martha and Mary told him he was sick?” Thérèse also gives the example of Mary at the wedding at Cana (Jn. 3): “when the Blessed Virgin asked Jesus to come to the help of the head of the house, didn’t He answer her that His hour had not yet come?”
The sisters at Bethany and the virgin Mary had great faith, but they had to wait on Christ. After the testing of their faith, however, they were rewarded: Lazarus was raised from the dead and water was turned into wine. Thérèse tells us, therefore, that although mustard seed faith may be rewarded with a sign, deeper intimacy with Christ requires even greater faith still; “thus Jesus acted towards his little Thérèse: after having tried her for a long time, he granted all the desires of her heart.”[1]
