“O ye of little faith!” – seems on the surface a very condescending statement or is it? It certainly was not flattering or complimentary to these men who had forsaken all to follow Him. Can we not imagine that they might have felt a slight sting or at the least might have questioned whether it was fully appropriate given the difficulty of the situation?
Knowing the statement came from the lips of our Lord Jesus we would never accuse Him of “speaking down” to His disciples. Yet on the surface it seems “condescending” (if we are honest) – but we know His heart is too pure for that. We must look past our fragile emotions and carnal mind to hear His words correctly. All the words He ever spoke were “spirit and life,” even these – “O ye of little faith!”
One of the definitions of condescend is “to assume an air of superiority” – this is definitely not the mind or heart of our Lord who made Himself nothing, taking on the form of a bondservant. Yet, do His words not appear to be authoritative even if they are not condescending? How are we to judge whether words we hear are “condescending” since we are cautioned about judging the motives and intents of the heart? Shall we judge by the response of the hearers? Can we be sure we are discerning accurately given our own emotions in the awkwardness of the moment? If we are uncomfortable ourselves, is this an indicator that words were “condescending?” Tension and confrontation make nearly everyone uncomfortable.
We know our Lord is blameless and this should help us persevere to look for His wisdom in speaking like this to His handpicked disciples. It is evident that He knew His disciples were “capable” of faith, or else why would He reprove them for something which they were not able to do? How is God to judge men for “unbelief” if they are not “capable” of faith? This would be unjust! Jesus knew His disciples were capable of better, His reproof was no mistake.
The very nature of reproof is based upon the assumption of the hearer’s “capability” to perform the expected result. The servant who knows his master’s will, and does not do it will receive many blows because he is more “response able” than a servant who needs instruction rather than reproof. Rebuke is a means of grace, full of spirit and life, to those who are not acting in accordance with their knowledge and capability. God’s disciplinary reproof is one of His means wherein He chastens us as our loving Father, indicating we are not walking according to the ability He knows we have.
Those who are parents do this naturally without hesitation. We do not allow our children to determine their own capability, but we regularly override their protest with a “yes you can!” One of the distinguishing characteristics of winning coaches is their ability to challenge players to a higher level of commitment and performance. Many a great athlete will publicly acknowledge that it was a coach’s persistent faith in their ability that helped them achieve the level of success they enjoyed.
“O ye of little faith” was not spoken to belittle the disciples but to bless them by turning them from their timidity. The same is true of the writer of Hebrews reproof to those who “ought to have become teachers by now, but instead have come to need milk.” These were not words coming from someone with a “superiority” complex; they were grace filled words meant to reprove those whose progress was below what the writer knew they were capable of. We can often do more than we falsely comfort ourselves we can not.
Perhaps here is a clue we can look for when we find ourselves in that awkward moment when we ourselves are uncomfortable and it seems the words we are hearing are “condescending.” Listen carefully and seek to discern whether the speaker believes his hearers are “capable” or “incapable”? Condescending words assume the incapability of others, whereas genuine reproof assumes the hearers are more capable than they view themselves.
No chastening seems pleasant in the moment, so we are not safe to judge a situation merely by our comfort level; reproof is never pleasant, it always comes with a measure of pain. Before we conclude that words are “condescending”, let’s listen through our discomfort to see if we can hear the “yes you can” of grace filled reproof. It is possible that those filled with the same Spirit as our Lord Jesus might sound just like Him at times – “O ye of little faith!”
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