In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
We see, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, many acts of faithfulness which lead to healing in the Gospels: the four men who carry their friend to Christ, even lowering him through a roof, (Matthew 9:1–8, Mark 2:1–12, Luke 5:17–26) the centurion who recognises Christ’s authority and his own unworthiness asking Christ to heal his servant by only a word (Matthew 8:5–13, Luke 7:1–10) and the woman who wished to touch only the hem of his garment that she be made well (Matthew 9:20–22, Mark 5:25–34, Luke 8:43–48) are three examples. They had faith, they were faithful, and by their faithfulness healing took place.
This is not to say when healing does not take place it is because of faithlessness: the Lord acts according to our salvation. Yet it was prophesied that the Messiah, the Christ, would come with healing (Isaiah 61:1–2; compare Matthew 11:4–5, Luke 4:16ff.)
And having come from the Mountain of Transfiguration with the Three disciples (Matthew 17:1–13), having shone out with the Light of God, having set his eyes upon Jerusalem and the coming New Exodus, the Lord is met with faithlessness. A father comes forward and says to the Lord,
Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.
He lacks faith and his instinct is to blame others, “they could not heal him.” And in my faithlessness, am I tempted to do the same? Do I find others to blame, others to be the “bad guys,” others to face the consequences of my lack of faith? The father tries to mask his own lack of faith with placing it the context of wanting a good thing for his son, of wanting healing for him, but in reality it is all about the ego of the father; likewise, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I do the same: I pray for objectively good things but I do so not seeking salvation for myself nor for my neighbour but looking for a party trick and when it does not happen I look to blame others.
And so I must change. I must be faithful not as a way to manipulate God into giving me what I want but because I choose to unite myself with him—whether I am given miracles or the apparent lack of miracles, whether I am given blessings or apparent curses, whether I am given life or apparent death. For when I am faithful I would bring my prayers before the Lord and trust that he will do what is best for my salvation and union with him.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are called to a life of faithfulness to God, not as a path to worldly riches but that we receive Life, true Life, Life in abundance. Let us not seek to blame others but to change ourselves into the Christians we are called to be. And then, if we act in such a way, “if [we] have faith as a grain of mustard seed, [we] will say to this mountain, ‘Move hence to yonder place,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to [us].”
To our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth,” (Revelation 1:5) be all glory, honour and worship, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honour, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, and we labour, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the off-scouring of all things. I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
— First Corinthians 4:9–16
At that time, a man came up to Jesus and kneeling before him said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move hence to yonder place, ‘ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting.” As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”
— Matthew 17:14–23