Matthew 17:14-20 Why We Can
“A man came to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said, ‘Lord, have pity on my son.’“ Thus begins the mission of our Lord in healing the sick and those who are possessed. “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). It is the faith of this man that moves him to approach Jesus, to worship him and to request from him divine intercession. “You forsake not those who seek you” (Ps. 9:11b). The man’s son is immediately cured. How come, then, when we approach the Lord, we are not immediately cured?
Today’s Gospel illustrates what we need to do in a “perverse and faithless generation.” The Apostles tried to help the man and failed. He brought the boy to them, “but they could not cure him.” Even the Apostles were puzzled as to why they could not drive out the demon. Jesus said to them, “Because of your little faith.” Faith does not mean I ask once and that’s all. Faith does not mean that I ask twice and I am through. Faith means that I believe in God; in his everlasting love, in his infinite power and in his boundless mercy. “Are you not from eternity, O Lord?” (Hb 1:12) Therefore, “I will stand at my guard post [I will be faithful], and station myself upon the rampart [I will be prepared], and keep watch to see what he will say to me [I will be attentive], and what answer he will give to my complaint [I will be open].”
As you can see, belief is an intellectual matter and trust is an emotional matter. Faith flows from the heart, the center of the person and this root allows the branches of intellect and trust to grow. Faith is the “yes” of the person to The Person. Its object is God, not ideas of God. The fruit is “faith seeking understanding.” Faith must come first so that understanding may follow. “In thy light we see light.”
Faith is essential for the believer because it allows us to go beyond reason - the now, what is seen, heard, reported. Faith sees higher and further than reason or experience can. “I believe I can fly…and it happens.” Without believing in man, we could never have reached the moon. Without believing in God, we can never reach Heaven!
People sometimes tell me, “I have a hard time trusting God.” I tell them, “I have a hard time believing how God could trust me so much!”
A little humility opens up a lot of doors of grace, release, healing and imitation.
I love your response, "I have a hard time believing how God could trust me so much!" How true!
ReplyDeleteI am one of those people that has told you that sometimes I have a hard time trusting God. But it is not because of God that I have a hard time trusting Him, it is because of our sinful, broken world. When the very people who are to love and care for you the most and be an example of unconditional love, your mother and father, betray you, how are you to even know what trust is?
And when God broke into my life and saved me from drowning, that kind of love was so foreign to me, that I didn't understand it.
But because God knows everything about me and knows how much I want to trust Him and how I am struggling to walk in his Truth each and every day, I know he is fine with where I am at.
And every day I ask God to forgive me for my unbelief and to help me grow in faith and to trust in Him completely.
St Agustin said that the first step is to Believe. If you believe, the next step is to obey. Once you obey you start living in a good way and that's when you understand what you believed. That's why it doesn't matter if you don't understand in the beginning, just believe Him and eventually you will understand why He asks from you what He asks. All it takes is faith!
ReplyDeleteA little humility opens up a lot of doors of grace, release, healing and imitation.
ReplyDeleteRight now, pride is the Giant THING between me and Him.
This statement reminds me of the enormous power of humility. Maybe that's why it can be so difficult to muster up at the times when I need to practice it the most, when I have the most to lose by standing firm in pride.
And I suppose if I had more faith, I'd be able to let go of some of the pride.
mmmm....this all seems to be connected.