Wis 1:13-15, 2:23-24; Ps 30, 2 Cor 8:7.9.13-15; Mk 5:21-43
Why Believe
Dear Friends, today is the 13th Sunday in Ordinary time. Before we reflect on what the readings tell us today, I would like us to reflect on why we believe or do not believe in God. Many of us received the faith we have from our parents and the communities where we were brought up. Upon growing up, some mad sense of this inherited faith and can now say like the Samaritan villagers to the Samaritan woman in John 4: 41-42, that ‘we believe no longer because of what our parents taught us but rather because we have heard for ourselves and believed that Jesus is the saviour of our lives’. However, many others, for different reasons, did not come to make sense of the faith handed over to them but rather abandoned it in the name of emancipation and self-determination.
Today the world has been invaded by ideologies that are confusing many young people. Many have been made to think that they do not have to adhere to what their parents taught them or be what God created them to be. Some colleagues working in Western countries told me recently that children are being taught that they have a right to choose which sexual orientation they want to belong to as they grow up. Can you believe that?
Faith is something that we cannot force or pretend to have. It is either we have it, or we do not. After that, we can cultivate it until it matures enough to give us hope in and out of season. Nevertheless, for convenience’s sake, many act as though they believe. This does not have any benefit but rather it becomes a burden. Faith in God is founded on the initiative of God himself who reveals himself to those disposed. Even those who say that they do not believe in God, know very well that there are things about life that remain mysterious such as death.
On one hand, those who do not have faith in God find it difficult to accept not only death but also the normal realities of life itself. On the other hand, those with faith have God to thank for their successes and on whom to take refuge when predicaments come their way. When we suffer from severe pain or loss, we say it is God’s will and we find a reason to continue with our lives. Those who do not believe in God, attribute their success to their whims but fall into desperation and depression when things do not work out for them. Some end their own lives because of frustrations. Faith is an ingredient of life that if it is missing life becomes brutal, painful, and short. We all need a reason to live and faith in God gives us this in abundance not only to live for ourselves but also for others.
The Book of Wisdom talks about the nature of the God. God is a creator, and he always works to sustain all that he created. God does not plan evil for his creation but rather he cares and sustains it. Evil comes our way when we turn our back to God. He created us to share in the abundance of his life and afterward return to him for eternity. St. Paul adds that God did not create us to suffer in isolation, but through his grace in Christ to live for one another and his creation. As children of one father, we are called to share in abundance and lack. All we have belongs to God. He gives us to manage it and share it with others.
Jesus presents to us the practical benefit of having faith in him. Faith brings hope with it and these two help us to enjoy the good things in life and bear the sorrows. Many people followed Jesus behind but only a few believed that he was the Messiah who was to come. Those who believed benefited from his healing power. When the leader of the Synagogue, approached Jesus, he did not doubt the ability of Jesus to cure his daughter. Jesus did not question him about his faith because it was all written on his face. When we have faith, we do not need to beat drums to express it because it will be visible in our attitude and actions.
Jesus went with him but was delayed on the way by a woman who also believed that he was the one who would relieve her of her long-time suffering. “If only I touch his garment, I will be cured”. Jairus’ daughter died before Jesus could arrive giving even a greater opportunity for God to be glorified. The neighbours laughed at Jesus when he said that the girl was only asleep. Jesus drove out all those unbelievers before he could raise the girl back to life. If we want to succeed in life, we must drive away all doubts and stay away from the company of the unbelievers who keep on discouraging us.
The woman did not even face Jesus probably because culturally she was considered unclean even to mingle with people due to her hemorrhage. This woman suffered silently for all those 12 years without disclosing her problem to anyone. She relied on her faith in the messiah who happened to pass by. In our journey of faith, we are confronted by many difficulties. Sometimes we are unable to find help by ourselves and rely on others who have faith to seek help on our behalf just as Jairus did for her daughter. Other times, we must rely on our faith in Jesus because those around us are untrustworthy. When we share with them our problems, they either gossip about them or advise us to seek help from the powers of darkness that end up costing us resources, destroying our families, and eventually our own lives.
Faith is a way of life and not an ideology that we can assume whenever we deem convenient. These days, many are seeking instant miracles to cure conditions that they have acquired for a long time. Conditions like poverty can only be cured by hard work and patience and not laying of hands in crusades. Such faith cannot be sustainable. Instant miracles are just like instant richness, they never last for long. The miracles that Jesus performed depended on the faith of the individuals. Many people go to modern-day prophets to be prayed on while they have no faith of their own. Saying that I have faith is not enough, our attitudes and actions must correspond to our words.
Dear friends, let us today sit and scrutinize our faith and see whether it is good enough to take us through difficult moments. Let us also be there to help those who have little faith and present their needs to Jesus on their behalf. By our intersessions and interventions, we can bring the suffering to healing.
Have a blessed Sunday.
Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD
SVD JAMBO KENTAN 