Thoughts for the Day

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.’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I once listened to a lecture at Theological College, by the BBC Religious Correspondent of the day. She told the story of a Christian on an airplane who watched the stewardess come round dispensing glasses of orange juice. As she came closer the man closed his eyes and started to pray fervently, "God, please let her give me apple juice!" A moment later he looked down at the drink to discover that it was apple juice, even though there appeared to be no other such drink on her tray. Now we don't know why the man didn't want orange juice, could he have been allergic to it, in which case he could have refused the drink. Was he perhaps testing his own faith? Or was he testing God? The question for the Religious Correspondent was deeper, she asked us: "Should we ask God for such a thing?"

We should remember that Jesus has already sent the disciples out in two's to heal the sick and even raise the dead (Matthew 10.1-14), but while Jesus has left them to go up the mountain of transfiguration with Peter, James and John, the other disciples have been unable to cure the boy of his epilepsy. Jesus castigates their lack of faith, and says nothing is impossible if they have a grain of faith.

After the Iecture at college I went away and did some thinking about the question she left with us. Consequently, I made some decisions about what I asked God for in my prayers. Do I have faith enough to move mountains - no, I think not. But I do have enough faith to ask God again and again for important things (like world peace, or food for starving people, or healing for those who are sick) for which help is needed, and I'm content to leave the answers to Him.

Lord God,
You care for us as a father
cares for his children.
Give us the faith
to ask for Your help,
and to leave the answers
to You.
Amen.