Daily Gospel Reflection for August 9, 2014

Today's Gospel: Matthew 17:14-20

Even after several readings, this passage feels difficult to me. The man in the story desires healing for his son. He brought him to the disciples, and when they were unable to heal the boy, the man approaches Jesus himself.

It’s hard to understand why Jesus reacts as he does. He seems impatient, even frustrated as he speaks shortly to the man, but he heals the boy. The Gospel writer tells us the boy was cured “from that hour.”

It is hard to see the disciples being rebuked by Jesus for having little faith. They tried their best to heal the boy and cast out his demon, but they were unsuccessful. Jesus tells them their faith wasn’t enough- if they had faith as small as a mustard seed, they could tell mountains to move, and they would move.

The thing is, the disciples did have great faith- not in themselves, but in Jesus. They encountered a problem they couldn't fix by themselves, and what did they do? They brought it to Jesus, because they knew He could fix it...and he did.

There are a lot of things that feel impossible for me to handle by myself. Maybe the point of this passage for me today is that I don't have to fix everything on my own. My faith might be too small today for me to move mountains. My faith in Jesus is strong, though, and I believe that He can move those mountains for me if I ask.

Ponder:

Are there areas in our lives where we need to ask Jesus to do the heavy lifting (or mountain-moving) for us?

Pray:

Jesus, please help me to have enough faith in you to ask you for help when life’s situations are too big for me to handle.

Copyright 2014 Abbey Dupuy