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| Altarpiece of St Clare |
Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said,
"Why could we not drive it out?"
He said to them, "Because of your little faith.
Why are we powerless before the mountains of life? There is sickness. There is corruption. There is hardheartedness. These things exist in ourselves and others. We see the way our nation is going and lament it. But we lament it as though we are powerless. And, in our present condition, we are powerless. But we are not meant to be.
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."
The situation into which Jesus and his apostles after him brought there message had nothing to recommend it as an ideal time for world changing. The corruption of the world and of individuals was on full display. The world tried to speak the final word when it put Jesus to death. But that didn't work. He rose again. The world tried again, by putting most of the apostles to death. But that didn't work either. Their blood is the seed of the Church. We see in their example faith lived out. It is this sort of faith that moves mountains. It is faith that doesn't count the cost for oneself. It puts others first. It longs to see the whole world healed, physically and spiritually.
Faith is not an abstract positive thinking principle. Our faith has an object: God. It can only be used to further his Kingdom. This emphatically does not mean that he only wants to heal us spiritually and has no care for the physical. The main reason we lack physical healings in the world is not because God doesn't desire them but because we don't believe for them. And when we think we are believing for them it is often entirely disconnected from the Kingdom. If we received a healing like that everything would revert to business as usual with our hearts no closer to God. In fact, we'd be further from him than ever.
So let us learn true faith. If we perceive that God is looking on the faithless in silence we need to wait in faith like Habakkuk. Like him, we need to put our request in the perspective of the Kingdom which we know God wants to establish among us.
I will stand at my guard post,
and station myself upon the rampart,
And keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what answer he will give to my complaint.
If we wait and faith we will receive an answer.
If it delays, wait for it,
it will surely come, it will not be late.
The rash man has no integrity;
but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.
We can trust in the one who does not forsake those who seek him. He is a stronghold for us. We need to ask and keep asking, as Scripture says, to knock and keep knocking. We tend to have faith for a moment until we encounter some brief resistance in terms of what seems to actually be happening around us. We need to set our minds and keep them set on the Kingdom.
Sing praise to the LORD enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations his deeds;
For the avenger of blood has remembered;
he has not forgotten the cry of the poor.
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