Matthew 17: The Issue of Faith Raised by the Editor of Matthew
Matthew 17: The Issue of Faith Raised by the Editor of Matthew
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."
10 The disciples asked him, "Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?"
11 Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things.
12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way, the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands."
13 Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn’t we drive it out?"
20 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."
The Gospel is not a diary but a text with an intended audience. While a diary is for the writer themselves, the Gospels are aimed at a general or specific group or individual. In chapter 17 of Matthew, the editor raises the theme of faith. The somewhat abrupt transition between verses 9 and 10 may be due to the editor's urgency in emphasizing the importance of the theme. In verses 12-13, we can infer the intended readership the editor had in mind. These verses consider two types of readers: Jews and Christians. If the disciples listening to Jesus are the primary audience, then the secondary audience includes both Jews and Christians.
Jews could not see John the Baptist as the returned Elijah because he was killed by Herod before achieving the reconciliation and rebuilding of the people of Israel. However, Jesus declares that John the Baptist did undertake Elijah's role. The editor appeals to Christians by asserting once more that John the Baptist is the returned Elijah, urging belief in Jesus through the depiction of Jesus' suffering, just as John was rejected.
The crux of the issue regarding whether John the Baptist was the Elijah to come for the restoration of Israel is actually about whether restoration and rebuilding are happening. The editor highlights the meeting of Jesus with Moses and Elijah, representing the law and the prophets and the protagonists of Israel's restoration and rebuilding, followed by the healing of a boy with epilepsy, prompting the reader to contemplate the issue of faith. Whether this line of reasoning is persuasive is questionable. It seems the editor considered his attempt to be as small as a mustard seed in persuasion. Nonetheless, the editor did his best.
The editor saw the disciples' inability to heal the boy as a matter of faith. Here, we have narrowed the issue of faith to the extent of healing power. We focused solely on the disciples' lack of even mustard seed-sized faith to heal the boy. For the editor of Matthew, neither John the Baptist nor Elijah is as important as Jesus. The message he wants to convey to the readers is the faith that Jesus is the Christ. The value and power of faith presented by the editor are such that a mustard seed can throw a mountain into the sea. That's how important Jesus Christ is.
Another point to consider is whether the many miracles introduced in Matthew lead to belief in Jesus as the Christ. Even miracles that seem greater than a mustard seed do not necessarily lead to faith. The faith as small as a mustard seed is a faith that we do not know, that is, a faith not born from us. The seed of faith the size of a mustard seed was beyond our concern. This mustard seed-sized faith is given from outside us, indeed, planted in us. For, by, and of Jesus. The editor states that this is indeed a miracle as great as moving a mountain into the sea.