Tuesday, November 15, 2011

What Does It Take?

Matthew 17:14-21
Our gospel reading for today tells a story of healing and faith. “When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, and said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.’ Jesus answered, ‘You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.’ And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. 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 tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you’” (Matthew 17:14-21) On the one hand Jesus’ words to his disciples sound like a stinging rebuke: “If you only had the faith of a mustard seed!” On the other hand, Jesus’ words offer insight into all that is possible.

We live in a world of pain and suffering, of anger and disunity, of oppression and injustice. What are we to do about such things? In faith, even in our little faith, we trust God to be at work healing, comforting, restoring, reconciling. By ourselves we cannot do all that is needed, but by God’s grace we have a role to play. Even when we seem to fail we may find ourselves as witnesses to great things.

“If you only had the faith of a mustard seed!” Yet even if we don’t Jesus remains the source of our hope and the reason for our faith, as frail as it may be.

Prayer: Lord, help us to live in faith, but do not leave us in our times of doubt or fear. Work through us to accomplish your will. With faith in Jesus we pray. Amen.

No comments: