Faith and Wondrous Help ...

Tuesday, August 2, 2016. People have always been searching for wondrous help by God. The New Testament is full of Wonder. At the same time it is full of struggle of the disciples with the wonders - since only in very few circumstances they could do it themselves. We need to have a look into this …

What faith can do …

In the gospel of Matthew there is a story recorded where some man comes to Jesus and asks for help, for healing for his son. The reaction of Jesus is remarkable, have a look:

14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered,

“O faithless and twisted generation

, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.4 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” (from Matthew 17)

Promises and Patience …

Where do you see yourself in this? I must say that I see myself more with the disciples than with Jesus. So often I feel powerless and without any influence, so often I feel completely dependent on the grace and mercy of the Lord.

But Jesus rebukes the disciples, and he clarifies that healing is possible. I understand it as a word to myself as well. Jesus characterizes the faith of the disciples as smaller than a mustard seed, since otherwise something wonderful would have happened. Faith can do everything, even very small faith. The power is God's, and when we trust him, he comes with might.

This story is both a word of truth, the truth of our little faith. And it is a word of encouragement, since everything is possible when we trust the Lord. The conclusion we need to draw here is to develop a patience and a sincere and deep faith which will enable the Lord to carry out his wonders in and around us. Then, blessing will come to the people we love. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts