Faith is power

After Jesus came down the mountain after His transfiguration, He immediately ran into a demon-possessed boy, a distraught father, and a bunch of baffled disciples helpless to heal the boy.  Jesus responds to this situation with the words: “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you?  How long will I endure you?” (Matthew 17:17).  It reminded me of the time when Moses came down Mount Sinai and found the people worshipping the golden calf.  Moses rebuked the Israelites as a “perverse and crooked generation” (Deuteronomy 32:5).

Just as the Israelites showed little faith in the God who delivered them from Egyptian slavery, so too, the disciples showed little faith in God, even though Jesus earlier had given them authority over “unclean spirits” (Matthew 10:1).

I can't help but see how little we, as a people, change from one generation to the next.  

In Deuteronomy, when the LORD delivers the people to the promised land, where everything will be already built and in good shape, He tells them not to forget the LORD, or from where they have come.  I think it’s our human nature to forget Him when life gets easier.  It’s why we have to remind each generation of the tough times, and of how far we can move from our Creator’s Will if we forget to include Him in our daily lives, to live in Christ.

Moses told the early Israelites, “Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.  Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead.  Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.  When the LORD, your God, brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that he would give you, a land with fine, large cities that you did not build, with houses full of goods of all sorts that you did not garner, with cisterns that you did not dig, with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant; and when, therefore, you eat your fill, take care not to forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. The LORD, your God, shall you fear; him shall you serve, and by his name shall you swear.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-13)

His message could so easily have been written to our generation as we live and move seemingly without stopping so much of the time.  We need the encouragement to teach our children, and keep the thought in front of ourselves, on our wrists, or on our foreheads.

The message is so practical and down to earth; we can relate and apply it to our lives today as we cope with the seeming faithlessness, anger and hopelessness of the pandemic, riots, shootings, abusiveness, abortions, and other violence that surrounds us.

Jesus teaches us that the way to grow in our faith is to let our relationship with God grow.  The disciples were surprised when they couldn’t dislodge the demon from a man’s son, but Jesus did so with no trouble. When they asked Him why they couldn’t do it, He said, “Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to 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. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20-21).  We continue to make these same errors in judgment today.

The Scriptures remind us to grow in Faith by loving the LORD God with our whole hearts, with our whole soul and with all our strength; it’s pretty straightforward.  We should pray that we continue to see the little reminders that come our way, when our day, our life doesn’t quite go the way we’d like it to go; because nothing about life is impossible for those who have Faith.  And if you don't see the little reminders, create your own!  My Mom and I spoke often about what we do when we get in those "moods" that we forget His presence.  Mom said she would reach down to her chest and touch her scapular.  I touch the rosary that I always have close by.  It gives me the strength to face whatever comes my way.  And then of course there's always the universally popular sign of the cross!  Give it a try!  What can you lose? Nothing! What can you gain? Faith. Hope. Love.

Jesus tells us faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.  The insurmountable can be accomplished by the infinitesimal.  Faith – even a small and fragile faith – has the power to unleash God’s healing grace in our lives.  That’s what Jesus tells us.  And when we doubt His words, we have to listen to that thunderous cloud-covered, mountain-top voice that Peter, James, and John heard at the Transfiguration: “Listen to Him.”