Do You Believe?

~~~ James 3: 13-18 ~~~ Psalm 19 ~~~ Mark 9:14-29 ~~~

"Everything is possible to one who has faith."

Jesus was returning from the mountain with Peter, James, and John. The Transfiguration had just taken place. They were still all a little dazed including Jesus. He had just given these three a view of what was in store for all of us...the glory of heaven.

Those disciples left behind were being approached by the people; urging them to perform miracles. After all they were close to Jesus, they had witnessed is many miraculous cures. Hadn't they learned how it was done yet? Did they themselves not believe they were capable of healing?

When Jesus comes on the scene he tells the father of the possessed child 'Bring him to me.' The child has been tormented his whole childhood, nothing alleviates his pain. The father then says three little words in his plea for Jesus to help his child. '...if you can'.

Jesus replies, "If you can!" The man wants to believe his son will be cured, but he is not completely convinced. He is still holding on to his doubts...those 'ifs' and 'buts' we all carry within ourselves. We often torment ourselves with doubts. We sometimes are hesitant to believe something good will happen because we do not want to be disappointed. We hold our faith back. We do not 'yes' I believe 'everything is possible to one who has faith'. It is human nature to have doubts, because of past prayers that were not answered. Prayers that were not answered the way we wanted.

The father in this story is so honest and transparent. He cries out in frustration,

"I do believe, help my unbelief!"

This is where most of us are in our faith, I think. We have reservations about what we believe is possible...even with God. We want to believe we just can't dive in. We are constantly testing the water with our big toe first. Is your faith a big toe faith or a whole body dive into the water faith?

Later, in private, the disciples inquire from Jesus why they were not able to heal the child. His reply is not just to the disciples but to us as well. He said to them, "This kind (of healing) can only come out through prayer."

Prayer holds all that we seek in our life. We can always take more time to pray. Through a life of prayer our faith will be strengthened along with the wisdom of humility.

St. James tells us today, "..the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity." (3:18)

These words are describing Jesus...full of mercy and good fruits.

The original image is of a goldfish taking a leap of faith. He is jumping from a glass of water into a nearby fish bowl. The fish bowl is much larger and contains more water. Through prayer we too can get to the larger bowl of water.

The kaleidoscope image reflects our faith increasing out from the center as the white areas become more defined and thicker. The blurred area of blue represents our unbelief. Yes, I do believe our unbelief is many times greater than our belief.

"I do believe, help my unbelief!"