27th Sunday

We feel weak when illness touches us, when we hear the dreaded diagnosis. We feel insecure when life’s difficulties, troubles and worries fall upon us. We then ask: how do we survive this difficult experience? Will we have enough strength, faith, to endure it all? We happen to shout then: “God, heal us, give us strength, save us from evil…”.                                                                 The apostles found themselves in a similar situation when they asked Christ: Give us faith, increase our faith! The apostles ask for an increase of faith when Jesus speaks of mischief, warns them not to become mischief-makers themselves, calls them to always be ready to forgive. The apostles ask for special trust in God in the face of evil. They ask for a strong belief that it is God who ultimately wins, that good will triumph over evil, truth over lies, love over hate. Because, after all, it does not often seem that evil, lies or hatred rather wins. Jesus straightens out the apostles’ erroneous thinking: ” were your faith the size of mustard seed….”. It is not about having great faith that will protect us from struggling with the forces of evil, doubts, struggles, unanswered questions. It’s about a little faith, but in a big God. It is about a faith that is humble, modest, vulnerable, fragile, free from arrogance or impatience.                                                    Jesus complements the apostles’ thinking and says that the key to activating God’s power is HUMILITY: ” We are merely servants”. Humility, that is, the acceptance that I am a servant, that of myself I have no merit, that God is the source of strength, that I rely on God more than myself. Jesus reminds us that faith will grow as the apostles become humble servants. Faith will multiply as the apostles place themselves in God’s hands. Jesus reminds us that humility and obedience to God is the source of great faith. Faith grows through humble service to God and the faithful fulfilment of one’s duties in life.

Let the model for living our daily life be Jesus, who was a humble Servant, obedient to God the Father to the end, even to the cross. If humility is lacking in life, then faith is also lacking.

Someone said:

You have lost wealth – you have not lost much.

You have lost your health – you have not yet lost everything.

But if you have lost a living faith – you have lost everything.