Jesus: Model of Faith
The Healing of a Boy with a Demon (Matthew 17: 14-21)
Being approached by a large crowd, Jesus encounters a sorrowful father who pleas for him to save his son who "is a lunatic and falls into fire and often into water." After finding out that his apostles were unable to cure the boy, Jesus exlaims "O faithless and perverse generation!" After rebuking the demon from the boy, the disciples approach Jesus in private and question him regarding why they were unable to drive the disease from the child. In response, Jesus answers them saying that it was because of their "little faith." He further explains that "if you have faith the size of a mustard seed...nothing will be impossible for you."
While one of the more direct statements regarding faith provided by Jesus, the teachings here tell of the necessity of faith in order to accomplish great things. The apostles were incapable of accomplishing the challenging task of healing the boy because they lacked the necessary faith to do so. Jesus, having this necessary faith in his Father and his caring presence, was capable of healing the child as a result of this complete faith. Attempting to explain this to his further discouraged apostles, Jesus makes it sound simple: If one has faith that he can do something, then his faith will guide his actions and allow him to accomplish what he wants, even if the task is as overwhelming as "moving a mountain." This statement exemplifies that, in order to overcome the challenges that we as humans face, we must trust in our own abilities that God has given us, and furthermore, believe in the caring presence of God knowing that he will provide us with the power to overcome these obstacles, making "nothing...impossible for you." We, therefore, must recognize God's true compassion for us and willingness to help us throughout trying times, and as a result place our trust in these qualities of God, because if we believe in the goods God provides us, then we are capable of accomplishing great things.
The Poor Widow's Contribution (Mark 12: 41-44)
Observing different people making contributions in the temple area, Jesus brings an elderly widow to the attention of the apostles. While many rich people donated large sums of money to the temple, the widow merely put in a few small coins seemingly worth nothing. Jesus, however, states that the poor widow "put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury...because she contributed all that she had," while the rich men merely "contributed from their surplus wealth."
As Jesus explains, the poor widow, in giving up "her whole livelihood" possesses an immense amount of faith. In sacrificing all that she has, the widow not only believes that God's will is greater than material wealth, but further trusts that God will provide for her. This faith, as pointed out by Jesus as an ideal quality, guides the widow to make the complete sacfrice willingly, for she humbly and convincingly believes that God's will is greater than her own and that he will take care of her. We, too, must strive for this humility towards and faith in God.
A Woman Afflicted with a Hemorrhage (Mark 5: 25-34)
Jesus, rushing to save the dying daughter of Jarius, is pressed by a massive crowd. A woman afflicted with a hemorrhage who had heard about Jesus came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak saying "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured." The woman was immediately cured and in confessing the incident to Jesus amidst the crowd, Jesus comforted her saying "Daughter, your faith has saved you."
The woman with the hemorrhage possessed such faith that she believed that she merely had to touch the cloak of Jesus to be saved. She was severely ill and drastically pushed through the crowd in hopes just to touch the train of his cloak. This, truly was an act of faith. She trusted that Jesus was so powerful and so caring that all she had to do was make physical contact with him and she would be saved. However, according to Jesus, it was not his "power" that saved her, but her own faith. Jesus, therefore, expresses the power of faith and its abilities to bring about salvation. We too must trust in the abilities of God and believe that his compassion for us can help us when we need it.