Rebuke and Guide: Jesus on Disciples and Their Failures

"Jesus replied, 'You unbelieving and rebellious generation! How long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.' Then Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and from that moment the boy was healed.
Then the disciples approached Jesus privately and said, 'Why couldn’t we drive it out?'

'Because of your little faith,' He told them. 'For I assure you: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.'" -Matthew 17:17-20, HCSB

Have you ever just wanted to smack a friend? They continue doing something dumb, and can't seem to get it. Finally, they act a fool one last time, and you tell them (rather bluntly) how they are screwing up.

Jesus had one of those moments here. Over and over He calls His disciples out for their faith, and over and over again His disciples show how little their faith is. This time, however, He goes a bit deeper.

Jesus proceeds to explain how their failure at driving out a demon is due to how little their faith is, but if they were to have greater faith, they would be able to do great things. Notice how Jesus handled His disciples in this scenario, and let's see if we can glean some guidance for our own discipleship efforts.

1. He wasn't afraid to rebuke them. How often have we wanted to say how a fellow Christ follower is not walking on the right path, but then chickened out and didn't tell them? Me too, but Jesus didn't chicken out. He saw His disciples failing in their spiritual growth, and He called them on it. We must also be willing to do this. If we are never willing to correct our disciples, then how will they ever grow?

2. He guided them closer to God. Jesus didn't stop with a rebuke, though. He followed up with spiritual guidance and pushed them closer to God. He explained why things weren't working, and helped them see how to do better.

We must be willing to do both of these steps with our disciples. We mustn't be afraid to call people on their shortcomings, but if we aren't willing to lovingly and calmly come alongside and guide them to a new understanding, what good does that do? They'll never know how to correct their actions!

Let us be willing to rebuke, and let us be willing to guide. Our disciples look to us for spiritual leadership; we must act our part.