Proper 8: Gospel, Mark 5:21-43                                                 

Mark 5:21-43

Faith is a powerful thing. No one who knows and loves the Bible would argue against that point. But there are some who may be confused. You see, many come to the Bible with the idea that faith in and of itself is the power. Unfortunately, there is an entire form of teaching today, claiming to be Christian, which emphasizes the power of faith to craft your life and future, to call things that are not as though they were (to incorrectly borrow a biblical phrase). But where people miss the ball on faith is where they swing “before the ball crosses the plate.” What on earth do I mean by that?

Faith is a powerful thing. But not isolated as a force or power that moves or manipulates God. No, a thousand times no. Faith is powerful because of its object. When you sit on a chair you are exercising faith that the chair will support your weight. Faith’s object is the chair. When you put your foot on the brake in your car, you are exercising faith in the credibility of your pads and rotors. Again faith is placed in something. So faith, from the Bible’s perspective, is not a “force” meant to make you healthy or wealthy, to secure or create your future. No, the faith of the Bible carries immense power because of its object, God.

In today’s reading there are a couple of miraculous healings and both are attributed to the faith of the one seeking help. In the case of Jairus, Jesus counsels, “Do not fear, only believe,” and the result is the receiving back of his daughter from the dead. In the case of the woman with the hemorrhage, Jesus credits her healing to her faith, “Daughter, your faith has made you well …”

Neither of these occurrences are due to faith as a working power, but as a receptive one. Both received the healings they sought because of the one in whom their faith was placed. So, the issue is never: “Do I have enough faith?” Jesus recommended true faith in the quantity of the smallest of seeds. The issue is, “In Whom is my faith placed?” 

Faith in the God of the Bible is a powerful thing.