I was speaking with a friend a couple of days ago who is trying to spend 15 minutes a day reading the Bible, then spending another 15 minutes ‘journaling’ his thoughts on the passage he has just read.
He is reading the Gospel of Mark. In Chapter 8: 27, Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”. Peter replies that Jesus is the Messiah. Then, just a few verses later (Mark 8: 32), it says that Peter ‘rebukes’ Jesus, because He just told them He was going to be handed over, scourged, and killed.
My friend said he found that passage disturbing because it reminded him of his own limited faith. One minute, Peter is acknowledging that Jesus is God, and the next minute he’s telling our Lord that His plan for the salvation of mankind doesn’t make sense!
I thought his take on the Gospel was profound, but how would it relate to me? I have the privilege of knowing the outcome of the Resurrection, after all. So I just thought to myself, “I’m glad I don’t think my faith is that shaky!”
The very next morning during his homily, the priest echoed my friend’s words almost exactly when preaching on a completely different set of readings! He asked how many of us have ever prayed for something and was granted an answer, only to mutter under our breath to God, “That’s not how I would have answered it!”
I felt like the Holy Spirit whacked me upside the head with a 2 x 4! I’ve uttered those exact words more than once. So when I read the Gospel for Friday this week, one phrase jumped out at me:
“Let it be done for you according to your faith.” With these words Jesus, in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 9:27-31), opened the eyes of two blind men who had nagged him to have pity on them.
Have you ever nagged Jesus with a request? In desperate times such as life-threatening illness, trauma, legal troubles and discord at work or at home, people of faith turn to Jesus, nagging Him perhaps. Nag as we might, however, often our pleas seem to go unheard.
Surely God will cure a young father of terminal cancer. And what about my alcoholic brother? Or the family business that’s about to go under? Can our child meet the academic requirements for the college she wants to attend in the fall? Will I deliver a healthy child?
The answer we want is the same answer the blind men received; “Let it be done according to your faith.” We want what we want on our terms.
If we are honest with ourselves though, in our deepest prayer, sitting alone with Jesus, we do get what we want according to our faith but maybe not as we originally imagined.
By uniting our wills to God’s, we find lasting peace, accepting what we are given, knowing in the larger vision and plan of God, all will be well.
Isaiah gives us a glimpse of this larger vision and plan; “…out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see,” and “when his children see the work of my hands in his midst, they shall keep my name holy; they shall reverence the Holy One of Jacob and be in awe of the God of Israel. Those who err in spirit shall acquire understanding, and those who find fault shall receive instruction.” (Isaiah 29:17-24)
The unplanned pregnancy gives joy beyond measure, the failing grades offer opportunities to tackle deeper issues that had been avoided, the death of a spouse deepens the faith in the resurrection, the drug overdose of the nephew leads the family to crusade for prevention and recovery programs to save hundreds of lives.
Do we pray for disappointments and tragedies? No. But carrying all of life’s joys and sorrows to prayer, totally surrendering ourselves to God’s will, always leads to new life…the resurrection…in ways we might never have anticipated.
“Let it be done for you according to your faith.”
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