| “We have very little faith in the Lord, very little trust. If we trusted the Lord as much as we trust a friend when we ask him to do something for us, neither we as individuals nor our whole country would suffer so much.” These words written by the holy Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica in his book Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives, are sobering but promising. In today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 17:14-23) we have heard that God, our Lord, designates the strength of our faith as the main weapon that is able to bring the victory over evil and all its manifestations. When the father of the boy who had increasingly dangerous fits (probably epilepsy) complained to Jesus that His disciples could not cast out the evil one who caused the suffering, Jesus reaction was swift and clear: “ O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?” (v.17) And again, when the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast out the evil one, Jesus was direct: “Because of your unbelief..” (v. 20) The Lord’s words in both instances were an indictment of His generation for its lack of faith, for its weakness, and therefore, for its ineffectuality. It was as if Jesus was saying: “Your entire life rests on the strength of your belief in me and in Him who sent me!” Our faith is not like a lifeless stone, not a precious diamond, which, though beautiful and very expensive, is still dead and can feel nothing. Christ teaches us that our faith must be similar to a grain, a mustard seed. Though it is primarily tiny, it is alive. And, as this tiny grain will eventually grow and become a majestic beautiful tree, our faith must also always grow and develop, and never freeze or stop in one place. Christ tells us that if even we have had faith of the size of a mustard seed, the mountains would have retreated in front of us, and we would have been able to move them from place to place. Such is the power of faith. It is contained even in the smallest bit of faith we have in our hearts. What exactly were the disciples missing, that they could not cure the boy? What exactly is faith? The late American theologian, Prof. Paul Tillich, described faith in this way: “Faith is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern.” Firstly, faith seizes us, grasps us, takes hold of us, becomes our reason for living. It is not an idea or pietistic notion – it is a powerful force (dynamis) that, if we trust God, can truly change us. Secondly, Tillich describes faith as a “state” – meaning a way of existence, not an afterthought, not something we drop in and out of, but it is the manner of living our life, of shaping our words, of relating to others, and ultimately, of being related to God Himself. Faith is NOT religion. Faith is one-hundred percent, 24/7, of who we are – not simply a smaller fraction we give to God when time permits. Lastly, what is it that grasps us, that constitutes our way of life? It is “the ultimate concern”. It is, in other words, God. Only God is ultimate, the highest, the author and finisher of our faith and the one in whom “we live and move, and have out being. God is the sole one who creates, who embodies all that is living with His Holy Spirit. Yet the greatest mistake we often make, is to elevate the penultimate to the ultimate, to raise lesser concerns, lesser priorities, lesser focus, to the place where God alone ought to be. Being grasped by this God, the question becomes for us: Do I live everyday with God as my first concern and priority? Is His word the blueprint of my life? Is the ministry of His Son, Jesus the Christ, they way I relate, reach out, and bring mercy to others? The Lord tells His disciples about prayer and fasting as about the most powerful means to strengthen our faith. What hidden meaning is there in the words of God that by our faith we would be “able to move mountains” from one place to another? Why do we need to do this? Will it help to save our souls? The late Romanian theologian and mystic, Fr. Dumitru Staniloae, (+1993) remarked about this passage: “Let us consider for a moment that Jesus was talking not about the physical mountains of earth and stones, but about those mountains, which rise in our hearts, the mountains of sins, sufferings, and spiritual pain accumulated during our lives? These are the very mountains that separate us from God… Them we should move away and make them topple into the deep sea… Only with the help of God’s grace that we receive at every Divine service, are we able to break down these cold and dark, lifeless rocky mountains of sin, self-centeredness, and pride.” After the stern scolding from the Lord against the faithless and perverse world, and their own weakness of faith, the apostles proved to be able to overthrow these mountains of their personal unworthiness, egotism, and anemic belief and then turn the “ultimate” message of the Gospel on the world – not only through their preaching but through the weapons of fasting and prayer. (v. 21) These are the “tamers” of an unbridled ego. Under the influence of their preaching about Jesus Christ and after their personal example demonstrating the strength of their faith (which they were ready to confess in spite of multiple and various persecutions unto death itself), many peoples were set in motion, declined the previous false beliefs and became followers of “The Way” (Christians). As a result, the entire ancient world was changed and a new Christian civilization, to which we all belong, was built! The evil one wants to destroy this new world of God-believers that our Heavenly Father created. We can preserve it only by prayer and fasting. Our faith must constantly increase. If our faith does not grow, it will decline and eventually die. The true fast – is not when one gives up eating meat, but when one denies oneself, gives up one’s sins. Real prayer – is such state of mind, when the soul every minute is turned towards God, as a radio set is tuned to a specific station. The question for each of us to answer was raised in the Gospel of St. Luke (18:8): “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith upon the earth?” This is not merely a first century question, but a question for our age, our time, our place in the epochs of history, It is a question for US. If you fear that your faith is weak, powerless over your self-centeredness, part-time rather than a full-time commitment, do not fear! If so many lesser issues in your life have become “the ultimate concern” of your living, replacing God as the center, fear not! Jesus assures us today that all you need is the smallest speck of genuine faith, the minutest particle of all, the weakest motions of surrender to God moving in your soul -then you have hope. Through prayer and fasting, as Jesus teaches in today’s Gospel, through the spiritual riches of the Divine Services, through the firm choice of your mind and heart to keep God at the center of all things, that speck of faith will grow and you will see its fruits. Our holy father, St. Jerome, writes hopeful words of today’s Gospel, and hopeful for our lives. Reflect prayerfully upon them and take heart – for you can be a part of that faith that Jesus finds upon the earth, when yet He comes again in glory: “Put this particular doctrine side by side with the teachings of the philosophers, their books, their splendid eloquence and fine discourses, and you will see just how small it is compared with the other seeds of the Gospel plant. When those teachings grow, they have nothing to show that is pungent or vigorous or vital. Everything turns out weak and withering in a plant and in herbs that quickly dry up and fall to the ground. But when this tiny Gospel teaching that seemed insignificant at the beginning has been planted either in the soul of the believer or throughout the world, it does not turn out to be just a plant. It grows into a tree, so that the birds of the air, which we interpret as the souls of believers or deeds dedicated to the service of God, come and dwell on its branches.” (St. Jerome) ay believe! Lord, we believe! Help Thou our unbelief! Faithfully in the Lord,
Fr. Dimitrios |
