Even after everything that they saw and knew and felt, people still thought “IF” not “WHEN” not “CAN” not OF COURSE it is going to happen.
I am weak. I am chronically weak.
I say I will do one thing and then in the next moment, I simply change course and decide to do another. One minute I believe in God with the faith of the Angels, and the next, I am in the pits of despair wondering where God is and how He can help me.
And I have been reflecting on that today as have been thinking about the story of Christ healing the son who was possessed of a “dumb spirit”…
“A man said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to You, for he has a dumb spirit...I asked Your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.’ And He answered them, ‘O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to Me.’...[The father] said, ‘if You can do anything, have pity on us and help us.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘If you can! All things are possible to him who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:14-29).
The chronology of this story is important. It occurs – we are told in the Gospel – immediately after the Transfiguration, which we commemorate in the fourth Luminous Mystery of the Most Holy Rosary. So, right after Christ showed Peter, James and John that He was God – right after He showed them His GOD-NESS, the man brought his son, who was dumb, for healing. And what did the apostles do then?
Well, they tried to heal him. They had just walked down the mountain with God Himself and there they stood in front of this petitioning father, thinking to themselves, “Well, maybe I can give this a go? Why not? The Teacher told us to heal in His name after all, why can it not be done?”
And there – in that test – they failed (and they failed dismally). Not one change in that son. Not one sound escaped his lips after they tried that.
And then the father approached Christ and said, “IF You can do anything...” (emphasis added). And it is the “IF” that I have focused on today. You see – even after everything that they saw and knew and felt, people still thought “IF” not “WHEN” not “CAN” not OF COURSE it is going to happen.
And Christ did not like that response. I can imagine His sadness at hearing those words and at the failure of the Apostles the believe enough to heal the son. I can image His sadness knowing that He would soon suffer and die and that STILL His people did not get this and did not understand this. And – perhaps most importantly – I can imagine His acceptance of the Father’s Will that NOT EVERYONE is going to understand or have faith, no matter what He did or how hard He tried.
And when I think about that today, I aim to do better… I really do not want to be one of the people who make my God sad. I really do not…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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