Where is your faith?

 

 "No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers 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 on 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 Jesus 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, covers 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 has just told a parable about planting seeds, the word of God.  The parables themselves are told so that those "with ears to hear" can come to know the mysteries of God.  Here Jesus speaks of the revelations to those who "hear" and seek Him, and keep His word.  He is emphasizing the importance of living that word, taking it to heart, and making it a part of one's life.  

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 comments that Christ's will was not to deny His mother and brothers.  Instead, Jesus is correcting both His family members and His hearers, according to St. John Chrysostom, "to the right idea concerning Himself," that the family of His Kingdom "is not by nature but by virtue."  This passage placed here emphasizes the teaching above -- that we all must "take heed how you hear."  That is, this is a call to all, even to family members, and creating communion.

 

 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 on 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 comments that Christ deliberately permits the windstorm to arise while He is sleeping in order to perfect the disciples' faith, and also to rebuke their weaknesses -- all so that they will eventually be unshaken by life's temptations.  One can simply imagine what they will go through as apostles going out to all the world after Pentecost.  Here, my study Bible says, their faith is still mixed with unbelief.  They showed faith when they came to Him, but unbelief when they said, "We are perishing."

One must marvel not so much as the signs of Christ's authority, power, and divine identity (although of course, they are marvelous signs of the presence of God with us), but at the wisdom of God's testing.  So often we are inclined simply to forget this part of the Bible, although this thread is shot through all the stories we will ever read in the Scriptures.  Let's take the centerpiece of the Old Testament, Israel wandering in the desert following Moses.  How much testing is involved in that particular chunk of the Scriptures, and is so much a part of everything we learn in the Bible?  Jesus Himself is tested:  He is led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit in order to be tempted and tested by the devil.  This is clearly an essential and important part of the story of faith.  Jesus says, "Remember Lot's wife" in Luke's chapter 17, when He is teaching the apostles about the end times.  She was the one who turned back to look upon the remains of the places destroyed by God, and was herself then turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:12-29).  We are prepared by God for endurance, for the difficulties, dangers, and temptations of this world -- so that we continue to move forward more deeply into our faith.  As commented above, think about the apostles and the things that they would encounter when they went out into the world after Pentecost.  If we read the Letters of St. Paul, we find constant conflict and difficulties and challenges.  How many of the apostles became martyrs?  John the Evangelist seems to have lived a long life, but it was one of persecution and exile.  All of this is not to discourage, but to help us to understand that we are on a journey with a purpose, and that purpose is not some simple plan to lead a life with no challenges and no achievements that correspond to those challenges.  If we look closely at the passage of the windstorm, and Christ's miracle, we can clearly understand that His "sign" comes entirely unexpectedly.  Many of us have the experience of feeling like there is no hope to do something we need to do, only to find that in surprising ways everything works out.  This is so often the outcome of prayer through a difficult circumstance that one is tempted to think that everyone reading this will understand through their own experience.  Often, things do not work the way we necessarily prayed for them to work, but the outcome nonetheless is provided which can lead to other things, or lessons learned.  At any rate, the testing becomes another contribution to our own power of faith, and our capacity to endure in it (Matthew 24:13; Mark 13:13).  The stories of the Bible give us the answer that more is demanded of us by God than we are necessarily prepared to know we are capable of giving, or achieving.  But it is Christ who calls us forward, who tells us that we are those who have the capacity to know the mysteries of the Kingdom (see yesterday's reading, above), or that we might be called on to rise to occasions we have never contemplated.   This includes learning the discernment of the wise ("take heed how you hear"), even though we didn't start out with that wisdom.   Everything Jesus teaches in today's reading is a kind of preparation, a teaching of readiness for something ahead.  We might call it mission, or even just a calling, but Christ's words all give us a sense that His mission is to give us a mission -- something that challenges us for our lifetimes, in terms of how we will live and carry His kingdom into the world.  In a time when so much is taken for granted, Christ still prepares us for fortitude, to be called to something greater than we know.  It is an honor to be so called, an unsurpassed gift that calls us into His family, to be like Him and to follow Him.  The grace He offers is always waiting for us, to "hear the word of God and do it."