What is Faith? The Word’s vagueness but equally its importance in Christian doctrine has led often to its misinterpretation. Far too often, Faithfulness comes to define idealized perfection, an absence of fear, or the assurance of salvation. But this is not the case. The way to understand what is meant with Faith is to start at the beginning. The first-time reader of the New Testament is most likely to begin with the Gospel of Matthew, and it is here in Matthew where we find that faith is defined not as a quantifiable sum of actions undergone to attain faith-the-noun, but instead as something deeper: the acknowledgment of the Truth of the Gospel and its Protagonist.[1]
This paper is broadly shaped in three parts. From the Beginning, Matthew is presenting faith as the acknowledgment of the truth and authority of its protagonist. The first looks at the introduction of Matthew and how his 4-chapter introduction sets up its first order of faith: he is asking the reader to accept the validity of Jesus’ claims to kingship, although radically difference from what was expected, acuminating in the Call of “Come, follow me.”[2] Next, as the Gospel moves through the ministry of Jesus, we are swept up along with the disciples in the mystery of Good News, and thus are indicted alongside the disciples as those of Little Faith. In each of the five instances of its use, there is an accusation of something lacking, which appears to be an acknowledgement or lack of understanding of the full authority which Jesus has. This deficiency however, at no point removes the disciples from Jesus’ favour, as over and over he patiently teaches and rebukes their lack of understanding. Finally, playing alongside these moments of deficient Faith, Matthew has placed equal and opposite moments of Great Faith: people who believed in and acted upon the Good News, thus embodying ideal faithfulness. Overall, faith is not a goal attained through the elimination of doubts, the accumulation of certainties, or exhaustion from good deeds, but an act of accepting a Face and a Call.
A prologue to Faith; Proof of Kingship
Matthew, as a narrative journey, explores faith as a relationship and call to acknowledge. Faith does not have a single, uniformed meaning, but rather, the gospel uses it in context of its very particular theme or goal. or in the Greek pistis translates to a trust or allegiance. Anthony C. Thiselton notes that it can also mean “the acceptance of [the] gospel message.”[3] Thiselton however takes it further, noting that the “psychological claim” that it represents implies that it is ”the opposite of every work or achievement.”[4] If it is not a term related to works -something removed from our power, but instead a recognition of something, then the definition that Jeannine Brown gives in her book, The Disciples in Narrative Perspective, captures this acknowledgment: “In Matthew, [Faith] is a trust and recognition of the authority of Jesus.”[5] This call to faith as acknowledgment is presented to us from the beginning.
The Gospel of Matthew opens with a four chapter prologue whose narrative goal is affirming the divinity and authority of Jesus from the outset, as well as foreshadowing the call and claims of the rest of the Gospel.[6] Theologian Ulrich Luz argues that is it Matthew’s goal to prime his readers to the “Programmatic claims to the witness of the prophets.”[7] The language of lineage, prophecy fulfilment, Heralding, and Temptation already call the reader to an act of faith in acknowledging the miraculousness of the Kingdom At Hand.
Firstly, Matthew chooses to begin with “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”[8] This is a deliberate stylistic choice by Matthew to speak something clearly to his Jewish audience, emphasize two facts: Jesus’ rightful claim to earthly kingship (Through the line of David), and his authentic Jewishness.[9] Matthew then moves immediately into the divine birth of Jesus. In this introduction, Matthew’s emphasises the correlation between the miraculous occurrences around Jesus’ birth and the fulfilment of scriptures in Jewish tradition. Moreover, Matthew introduces the figure of John the Baptist – a modern prophet who recognizes and proclaims these ancient correlations to this figure of Jesus. John’s role as Herald calls the reader to acknowledge these series of events as the accumulation of a single spectacular event. We are already called to bear witness from the beginning: It is a call to Faith.
This Prologue, Author and Theologian Fredrick Bruner argues, “Teaches the doctrine of God by telling the Story of Jesus’ beginnings.”[10] It introduces the reader Jesus in an undisguised, raw, and paramount way: Faith is expressed by the revealing of these details in order to know- or recognize God’s authority. “To know God,” Bruner concludes, “Justifies [man’s] existence.”[11] Indeed, it appears that an allegiance to this mysterious, kingly, and heralded Man/God should be the easiest choice ever made. If Matthew had ended his prologue there. Jesus proceeds into the Wilderness where, through a series of trials, we come to suspect that the kingdom Jesus is ushering in, is not what we assumed; instead, it is something radical and alternative. First, Jesus refuses to procure prosperity for himself (turn stones to bread).[12] Next, he refuses to implicate and test the force of the divine power he wields (jumping from the roof) to gain respect;[13] and finally, refuses to demand or force citizenship.[14] We the readers are implicated in our disappointment and lack of understanding. From the beginning we do not fully understand Jesus’ refusals, and therefore from the start, our faith -a recognition of his authority- is called into doubt.
Discipleship and Little Faith
The Prologue of Matthew ends when Jesus Returns from the wilderness, and we are introduced to the disciples, as Jesus calls, “Follow Me.”[15] This call, Hare notes, is a dialogue on Faith, in that the disciples do not choses Jesus, as much as answer a call to Follow: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should bear fruit.” We will return to the idea of bearing fruit in the final part of this paper, but for now, the call of the disciples is equally a call to the reader and all future believers to participate in the work of Jesus. What is important is that the disciples accept. They are declaring, in their action of following, an acknowledgment at the very least that he is someone worthy of their discipleship, and so it is an early declaration of faith and allegiance.
In the remainder of the Gospel, the character of Jesus is slowly built upon, as the understanding of the disciples grows, and more of the complete plan, including the crucifixion is presented. Yet it is the disciples that are uniquely to Matthew described as having Little Faith.[16] This descriptor is used in five different contexts, each placed within key parts of the Matthean Story to demonstrate to the reader what a failure to fully realize and accept looks like, but equally how it can be remedied.
The First time the Disciples are referred to as having Little or inadequate Faith is in the Beatitudes:
“You of little faith? Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ [...] But strive first for the kingdom of God and hisrighteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”[17]
In this Context, the chastisement of little faith comes in the context of worrying about earthly security. This is a call back to the first of the three temptations, where Jesus was challenged to make bread. But just like the temptation, Jesus calls questions the anxiety surrounding the need: the Little Faith is caused by a lack of trust in his ability to provide. The passage recognizes that the heavenly Father will provide.[18] This familial language implies a more intimate knowledge and relationship with God, gained through understanding of his unlimited ability to provide for our needs and worries. The disciples have faith- it is little in that they doubt, whereas no faith is a complete rejection. Jesus is noting their Little Faith, expressed in their expedient anxieties, showing that they can be vindicated in an acknowledgement of a heavenly father with ultimate authority.
Little Faith is then used in sequence through two Storm Narratives. The first is shorter and more anectodical but marks the first words that the apostles speak: “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” To which he replies, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?”[19] This time it is phrased as a question. Jesus questions their fear, as though to chastise its presents. “The implication, notes Brown, “Is that if the disciples had enough faith in Jesus’ power (adequate faith versus little faith), they would not be cowardly but would have confidence in Jesus to care for them.”[20]Acknowledgement or recognition is visibly missing, indicated in the disciple’s astonishment at Jesus’ ability to calm the storm instantly: they do not yet understand fully who Jesus is, even as his Disciples.[21] The pattern is becoming present: little faith is closely aligned with an experience that creates a doubt, and this doubt is a failure to recognize the power Jesus administers over earthly forces and anxieties.
In the second Storm Story, I would argue that their faith is still little, but with Jesus becoming clearer and the disciples already having been sent out, there is a greater confidence present, even in their fear. This time, Peter leaves the boat, trying to get to Jesus by walking on the water.
“But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” [22]
In his dialogue on the symbolism in Matthew, R.T. France believes Matthew has placed this second boat scene into this place intentionally, “he intends his readers to read the incident wholly symbolically as an object lesson in faithful discipleship.”[23] Firstly, Peter initially recognizes Jesus, which leads to his leaving the boat. Moreover, Jesus says come, yet again reminding the reader of his first-time calling Peter to discipleship. In this moment, Peter is faithful, just as he initially showed faith in leaving everything to Follow Christ. But Peter changes focus. France notes that the attention shifts from Jesus who has said “it is I, do not be afraid,” to the wind and waves around him: it is a return to expedient anxieties.[24] This fear causes him to sin. Yet when Peter recalls and reaffirms Christ’s Power by exclaiming, “save me, I am drowning,” the response of aid is immediate from Christ, a callback to Hare’s belief that Jesus chooses and seeks us, just as we pursue him.[25] The rebuke of little faith is that moment of shifted focus, when the reality became greater than the truth of Christ’s ultimate authority.
Where the first three rebukes centered around anxieties that are an expression of little or lacking faith, the last two uses seem to highlight the consequences of this failure to acknowledge.
The fourth addressal of the disciples Little Faith” is in their failure -yet again- to perceive what is meant by Jesus’ parables and metaphors: “You of little faith, why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive?”[26] There appears to be an expectation of their understanding at this point, which disappoints. “The problem is unbelief in the sufficiency of Jesus,”[27] says Bruner. In the same way, the final use of the diminutive, “little faith” comes at the disciple’s failure to exorcize a child. “Because of your little faith,”[28] Jesus explains. He then proceeds to use the analogy of the mustard seed that must grow into a tree.[29] Both these last to chastisements of the disciples is of their lack of growth, first in understanding, then in spiritual power. “The disciples have demonstrated that they have faith, but over and over again their behavior indicates that this faith, while genuine, is weak.”[30] Their faith, Jesus is saying, must grow to expand The Kingdom through continual reflection and reaffirmation of their understanding and acknowledgement of Christ.
The Call of the Faithful:
Over and over the accusation of little faith is an accusation of a failure to perceive the truth of Christ, and failure to build up that little faith. Thankfully, Matthew has given us more than the disciples to compare ourselves to. Alongside these depictions of the disciples’ failures, are the descriptions of those who succeed in demonstrating faithfulness.[31] Matthew places these faithful at key narrative points, to guide the reader through the Truth of the Matthean Gospel. While the Gospel is large and filled with so much more, I will focus on three characters and the recurring parable of the tree to illustrate that while we are of little faith, we are still called to more.
Firstly, After the first little faith description, the beatitudes continue to build on the remedy to this lacking complete faith. chapter 7 expounds on the idea of faithfulness beyond simply not worrying towards a description of an intimate and complete understanding “The true consequence of failing to recognize Jesus’ authority is a failure to know him as well,”[32] notes Brown, and so Jesus continuously uses the illustration of a tree bearing to illustrate the need to build and grow this faith from Little towards great. “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. [...] Thus you will know them by their fruits.”[33] Later again, between the two Storm Stories, Jesus repeats this analogy almost exactly saying, “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.”[34]
Just as a tree cannot force good or bad fruit, or fruit at all to grow, so too this imagery removes Faithfulness from works. Instead, Fruit depends on the tree and the conditions of its rootedness and recourses. This is why the analogy is followed by a call to acknowledgment:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. [...] I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you;’”[35]
Relationship, we see yet again, is key to faithfulness, transcending out attempts to good works to be faithful enough. Those who do the will of the Father are those bearing good fruits, and these fruits derive from and understanding of the faither’s will and a faithfulness to it through an ever-growing admittance to his complete power and control.[36]
This marks the end of the Beatitudes, and the beginning of the description of the mission of Jesus through healing, social justice, and preaching. It is then no coincidence that between the first two little Faith Addresses, but immediately after the description of the tree and the call to acknowledgment and relationship, we meet the first character who represents Great Faith. Matthew, I believe, has deliberately chosen to place the story of the Centurion here, because the phrasing of the exchange stands to show what true recognition embodies. The Centurion’s words indicate an understanding not yet demonstrated:
“Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”[37]
The centurion not only demonstrates a humility and belief in Jesus’ power to heal, but to do so from far away. It is because he is a centurion that he is able to recognize the ultimate authority that Jesus.[38] Jesus recognizes this faith, and says: “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.”[39] Hare argues that Jesus’ praise of the centurion’s faith directed at the disciples is meant to both point it out to them but warn them: “Christians must not simply address Jesus as lord, but humbly acknowledge his right to rule their live day by day.”[40]
The Second person extoled for their Great Faith is carefully placed between the Storm Scene in chapter fourteen and the rebuke of not perceiving in chapter sixteen. The Canaanite woman mirrors the centurion at the beginning in that she is removed from the Jewish society to which Jesus’ mission is concentrated towards. He informs her of this: “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”[41]This line acts a test of faithfulness, and she understands, saying, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”[42] Hare believes that her faith is demonstrated in humility in which she approaches “Israel’s messiah” There is a present desperation that leads to this courage to ask for mere crumbs.[43]This second illustration of great faith is placed before the fourth demonstration of the disciple’s lack of perception due to their little faith seems to comment on her understanding something about this messiah’s power that the disciples have failed to perceive and therefore acknowledge. This acknowledgement grants her daughter healing as a praise recorded for the rest of time: “Great is your faith!”[44]
The analogy of the tree returns one final time after all five rebukes of little Faith and before the final journey to Jerusalem as less of a story like the first two, and of an anecdote. Jesus curses a tree that bears no fruit, and the disciples ask, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree [...] Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”[45] At this point there is an expectation of the disciples, as we have seen building through the denouncements of little faith. The return of the Tree now literally destroyed by Jesus seems to contain that same expectation of a increasing relationship. Jesus calls on them to not doubt and to pray. Bruner argues that this phrasing seems to question not whether the disciples have faith, but weather they practiced it.[46] Their continual surprize reveals how far they have yet to go to full recognize and Jesus, and the tree bares a reminder of this deficiency, which seems to continue right to the cross.
The Cross, in Matthew, marks the revelation of the Gospel message, as well as the climax of the narrative arch. While there is much more dialogue on faithfulness, particularly in the final acts of cowardice shown by the disciples, The shift to the Friday night of trials seems to force the reader to disassociate from those who have fled, as the story seems to be delivered in the same removed style as the beginning. It asks the reader to make one final commitment of faith according to what they have and are witness to. Thus, we are given a final, removed narrative character who embodies the Faithfulness.
“Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”[47]
Again, Matthew is asking the reader to recall the stories beginning, where we met a different centurion. It was a centurion of Great Faith who recognized the authority of Jesus first, ushering in the rest of the ministry and miracle. Now here another centurion who yet again acknowledges the fullness of the promise. In this critical moment, at the foot of the cross, upon the death of the story’s hero, where all disciples have fled, betrayed, and hidden, it is a Roman -the one who Jesus was supposed to overthrow- that first acknowledges the completeness of the Gospel story.
“For these unbelievers, the earthquake and the attendant events constitute a revelatory occasion inspiring sacred fear, just as the event of Jesus walking on the sea aroused terror in the disciples (14:26). Like the disciples [...] the Gentiles confess: “truly this was the Son of God!” in so doing, they vindicate Jesus over and against the mockers. [...] The Soldier represents the vast Gentile multitude to whom the gospel will be preached after the resurrection.”[48]
We are, by observing this resolution with the Centurion, asked one more time where our allegiance lies: If we are among those who believe in the power and authority of God.
The absolute sacrifice of Jesus requires absolute commitment on our part as well. Matthew may remove faith from the weight of questioning whether it is quantifiably enough, but it does not make True Faith, defined as an acceptance of this Gospel and its protagonist- any easier. Intimacy and acknowledgment is difficult in an entirely new way. As the escalation of the tree parables indicate, there is a point where our bear branches will be cut off- where the father will declare an equal failure to recognize, just as we failed to acknowledge and bear witness to the truth of his Son and his Gospel. But time and time again Matthew shows us that in our fear, doubt, anxiety, inability to fully perceive, and properly witness -in our moments of Little Faith, Jesus is there each time to rebuke, chastise, reach out, teach, and guide us back to full Faithfulness. Our recognition will immediately be followed by his at the end of the aeon, when he will recognize us before the father. That, then is our faith.
[1] Jeannine K. Brown. The Disciples in Narrative Perspective: The portrayal and Function of the Matthean Disciples (Atlanta, Society of Biblical Literature 2002), 102. [2] Matt. 4:19 New Revised Standard Version. [3] Anthony C. Thiselton. Doubt, Faith & Certainty (Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing 2017) 8-9. [4] Thiselton, Certainty, 6. [5] Brown, The Disciples in Narrative Perspective, 103. [6] Ulrich Luz. New Testament Theology: The Theology of the Gospel of Matthew (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1995) 29. [7] Luz, New Testament Theology, 39. [8] Matt. 1:1 NRSV. [9] Douglas R. A. Hare. Matthew: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press 1993) 6. [10] Fredrick Dale Bruner. Matthew: A Commentary. Volume 1: the Christbook, Matthew 1-12 (Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing 2007) 52. [11] Bruner, Matthew, 52. [12] Matt. 3:3-4 NRSV. [13] Matt 3:5-7 NRSV. [14] Matt 3:8-11 NRSV. [15] Matt 3:19 NRSV. [16] Hare, Matthew, 30. [17] Matt 6:25-33 NRSV. [18] Matt 6:32 NRSV. [19] Matt. 8:25-26 NRSV. [20] Brown, The Disciples in Narrative Perspective, 104. [21] Matt 8:27 NRSV: “They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’” [22] Matt. 14:30-31 NRSV. [23] R. T. France. The Gospel of Matthew: The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans Publishing, 2007) 566. [24] France, the Gospel of Matthew, 567. [25] Luz, New Testament Theology, 94. [26] Matt. 16:8 NRSV. [27] Bruner, Matthew, 114. [28] Matt. 17:20 NRSV. [29] Matt. 17:20 NRSV. [30] Hare, Matthew, 203. [31] Brown, The Disciples in Narrative Perspective, 103-105. [32] Brown, The Disciples in Narrative Perspective, 106. [33] Matt 7:18-20 NRSV. [34] Matt 12:33 NRSV. [35] Matt. 7:21-23 NRSV. [36] Hare, Matthew, 84-85. [37] Matt. 8:8-9 NRSV. [38] Hare, Matthew, 90-91. [39] Matt. 8:10 NRSV. [40] Hare, Matthew, 91. [41] Matt. 15:26 NRSV. [42] Matt. 15:27 NRSV. [43]Hare, Matthew, 179. [44] Matt. 15:28 NRSV. [45] Matt. 21:20-21 NRSV. [46] Bruner, Matthew, 237. [47] Matt. 27:54 NRSV. [48] Bruner, Matthew, 324.
Comments