"When they came to the crowd, a man approached JESUS, knelt before HIM and said, 'Sir, have pity on my son, who is an epileptic and suffers terribly. He has often fallen into the fire, and at other times into the water. I brought him to YOUR disciples but they could not heal him.'
JESUS replied, 'O you people, faithless and misled! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to ME.' And JESUS commanded the evil spirit to leave the boy, and the boy was immediately healed.
Later, the disciples approached JESUS and asked HIM privately, 'Why couldn't we drive out the spirit?' JESUS said to them, 'Because you have little faith. I say to you: if only you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could tell that mountain to move from here to there, and the mountain would obey. Nothing would be impossible for you.'" - Matthew 17:14-20
(All things are possible for one who believes. JESUS has gone back to the crowd and again HE meets with human unbelief. The prayer of the child's father would be a model for all Christian prayer. If we turn to GOD in prayer, it is because we have faith; and yet in doing this we discover the poverty and the fragility of our faith.
Why couldn't we drive out the evil spirit? The apostles wonder: did JESUS not give them power over the demons? They are not aware of their lack of faith and easily forget how far they are from their Master. To them are directed the sharp words of JESUS: You, faithless people! How many people think they are great believers when, in fact their faith has still not moved anything!)
No comments:
Post a Comment