“Woman, great is your faith!”
These words come from Jesus after we have heard several
weeks of readings relating to the variable faith of the disciples. First, they
did not believe that a few loaves and fish could feed an entire crowd—and yet
they did. Then, they trembled at the sight of Christ walking on water, and did
not believe that it was him—and yet it was. Peter even challenged Jesus, and
though he walked briefly on water, his doubts took hold and he began to sank.
Now we have the story of this woman, who was so sure of
Jesus’ power, authority, and love, that she approaches him to ask for healing.
When the disciples try to turn her away, she continues to push, continues to
ask Jesus for help, trusting that he not only could, but would do so.
“Woman, great is your faith!”
We may wonder what we can do in order to have faith like
this unnamed woman. What can we do, or say, to prove to the risen Christ that
we are worthy of such an acclamation? How can we behave so that Christ will
know of our faith?
Nothing.
There is nothing we can do. And while that may sound like
bad news, it may seem disheartening, it is not. Because faith is not something
that we do. Faith is not a human action. Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit, given
through the Word and through the waters of baptism. Faith is not our own.
When we are baptized, we are gifted with the Holy Spirit,
with being claimed by our loving God. When we go through times in our lives
when we struggle to believe, it is not because we have failed in some way, or
because others around us have failed. When we find people that do not believe,
it is not because we have failed them. There is nothing that we can do in order
to receive faith ourselves, or to give it to others. It is a freely given gift
of the Holy Spirit.
So what do we do when we struggle to believe? We pray. We
ask others to pray for us. We demand of the Holy Spirit fulfillment of the
promise of faith, the promise made to us in our baptisms, the promise we
recount each in the creed when we profess that we believe in the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit gives us life and faith.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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