Where is your faith?

 "No one, when he has lit a lamp, coves it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.  For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.  Therefore take heed how you hear.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him."

Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd.  And it was told Him by some, who said, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You."  But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."

Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples.  And He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake."   And they launched out.  But as they sailed He fell asleep.  And a windstorm came down by the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy.  And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!"  Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water.  And they ceased, and there was a calm.  But He said to them, "Where is your faith?"  And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be?  For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!"

- Luke 8:16-25

Yesterday, we read that,  Now it came to pass, after Jesus' encounter with the woman who wiped His feet with expensive fragrant oil, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God  And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities -- Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.  And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable:  "A sower went out to sow his seed.  And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.  Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.  But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold."  When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  Then His disciples asked Him, saying, "What does this parable mean?"  And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that 'Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'  Now the parable is this:  The seed is the word of God.  Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.  But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.  Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.  But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience."

  "No one, when he has lit a lamp, coves it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.  For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.  Therefore take heed how you hear.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him."  Jesus extends His teachings (which we can also read in the Sermon on the Mount) to reflect accurately His teachings in yesterday's reading.  Especially "take heed how you hear" reflects upon His statement to the crowds after the Parable of the Sower:  "He who has ears to hear let him hear!"  Those who are in this for the long haul, who bear fruit -- through thick and thin and all things that come in life -- with patience, will be rewarded with more. The good seed of the Sower, taking root in the good ground of a "noble and good heart" will be added unto by God.  We note also the power of truth on display in this teaching, that "nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light."

Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd.  And it was told Him by some, who said, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You."  But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."  My study bible says, "It was not Christ's will to deny His mother and brothers.  Rather, Jesus is correcting both them and His hearers 'to the right idea concerning Himself,' that the family of His Kingdom 'is not by nature but by virtue' (John Chrysostom).  See also Luke 11:27-28."

Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples.  And He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake."   And they launched out.  But as they sailed He fell asleep.  And a windstorm came down by the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy.  And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!"  Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water.  And they ceased, and there was a calm.  But He said to them, "Where is your faith?"  And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be?  For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!"  My study bible suggests that "Christ deliberately permits the windstorm to arise while He is sleeping in order to perfect the disciples' faith and rebuke their weaknesses, so they would eventually be unshaken by life's temptations.  Here their faith is still mixed with unbelief.  They showed faith when they came to Him, but unbelief when they said, "We are perishing."   Once again the Gospel tells us of Jesus' words which encourage the disciples to launch out into the deep, when He suggests they cross over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. 

What is faith?  Over and over again Jesus invites us to consider that question.  Certainly, it is trust (which reflects the root of the word for "faith" in the Greek).  When Jesus teaches the apostles to launch out into the deep (to cross over the Sea of Galilee) this must be a journey of faith and of trust.  We can see Jesus' trusting nature, in the sense that He's so trusting of God that He's calm enough to simply fall asleep in the boat as they cross.  The windstorm and the raging water don't disturb Him enough to wake Him.  But the apostles are terrified.  They think they are perishing.  Coupled so closely with the other stories in today's reading, there is a great emphasis on various dimensions and definitions of what faith is.  Jesus tells even His family, in front of all the listeners, "My mother and My brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."  This is another facet of trust, just like launching out into the deep at the word of Jesus.  And it emphasizes the words Jesus teaches, that it's extremely important to "take heed how you hear" because whatever is found planted in the good ground of a good and noble heart will be added unto.  This is also a result of trust, just as the seed of the word of God taking root deep into the ground of the heart is precisely an example of trust.  As we go through life attempting our best to do this, to emulate the things He tells us to do, to cultivate that deepening relationship in the heart, we come up against obstacles.  Perhaps the greatest obstacles are those things that frighten us, that threaten us with taking something away that we value highly, the things that threaten our security most, on whatever level we may be talking about.  But the experience makes us choose:  are we going to go forward into the depths of faith, or are we going to put first the things of this world we may be called to let go of in order to better follow that word?  One such example, that even the disciples speak about, is reputation.  It may cost you to speak up for the truth, or even to simply cling to it in the quietest way possible.  From whatever background or "side" there may be people who will drop you from their circle for doing so.  The really great test of faith is being able to "change our minds" (the meaning of the word in Greek for "repent").  We may be friends with someone who espouses a particular form of Christianity that we find not really following the word of God -- it may not exemplify His love.  We turn in prayer for answers.  We turn to God's love to teach us what to do.  If there comes a time where conscience is really telling us we need to turn away, then we are challenged to make that choice.  Most of all, we are challenged in terms of what we prize the most, what we prioritize first.  There will be all kinds of circumstances and moderation and discernment are also an important part of making such choices.  Love is a most important part of making such choices; there are ways in which love can lead to separation from what doesn't really help us in our love for God or for the choices in life that are best for us (such as an addiction in which therapeutic help may require separation from the life we've known, old friends, perhaps even certain family members).  It doesn't really matter what situation we're talking about, there may be millions of different possible scenarios.  But what we should see over time when we cling to His word is a change in ourselves and our priorities, a gradual shift from things we thought were essential and all-important, to a kind of courage that will forgo what is less important to the life we want and need, to the loyalty and love we feel for Christ.  Think about it, meditate on it, pray on it.  Let go of the externals and focus on the inner life of the things that really are your business, the state of the soul.  Sometimes Jesus will leave us for quite a time in that place, and that is part of cultivating patience too (as the Greek reads:  holding fast, and persevering.)