Your faith

As we close out this week on Extraordinary faith, I wanted to share with you one last passage that Tim shared with me. It is a story we looked at a couple of weeks ago during the RESET series; but I invite you to read and “listen” again. I am always amazed by the new insights I receive when I reread familiar passages.


Luke 18:35-42
35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road.
36 When he heard the noise of a crowd going past, he asked what was happening.
37 They told him that Jesus the Nazarene was going by.
38 So he began shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
39 “Be quiet!” the people in front yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 When Jesus heard him, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him. As the man came near, Jesus asked him,
41 “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” he said, “I want to see!”
42 And Jesus said, “All right, receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.”


Your faith. I have to be honest. I used to struggle with the phrase, “Your faith has healed you.” To me, it somehow insinuated that anyone that hasn’t been healed, despite countless requests, didn’t have faith or didn’t have enough faith. I decided to look at other passages where Jesus made a similar comment (check out Matthew 9:29, Matthew 15:28, Mark 5:34, Mark 10:52 or Luke 17:19). I found something very interesting ... they all occurred when people were engaging Jesus for the first time. It was as if He was reminding them (in that moment of healing, that moment of joy) what was most important ... our faith in Him. Jesus knew there would be times when the response wasn’t going to be “All right, receive ...” Jesus knew there would be times when their “soul is crushed with grief”, times when they would plead “if it is possible”, times when they would beg for an illness or a sorrow or a hurt to “be taken away”, times when their faith would ultimately need to be strong enough to say “I want (God’s) will to be done, not mine.” If your faith needs some encouragement, please read Matthew 26:36-44 and be reminded of when Jesus provided us with an example of extraordinary faith.