Reflection: Showing up very soon after Jesus’ enlightening Sermon on the Mount, this is a very well-known account of Jesus telling the elements to calm down. Immediately before speaking the Sea of Galilee into stillness, Matthew’s gospel records Jesus healing a leper’s sickness (8:1-4), a centurion’s servant (5-13) and many people at Capernaum (14-17). Quite the undeniable display of God power. Yet notice what Jesus observes within the question he
asks of his fearful disciples in the boat on the stormy sea: they have little faith. Small. Despite having witnessed what he can do, his closest followers have faith in him of an immature size. I think there’s a suggestion in Jesus’s interaction that the growth of faith, into something greater, is possible. As you or I travel through the gospels with the disciples – and further into the New Testament – we see such maturing through right response to the power and strength of Jesus Christ.
Question: If we believe we have “little faith” in Jesus, what approach can we take to expanding it?
Prayer: Dear God of the heavens and earth. Thank you for giving Jesus such extraordinary power to not only heal and control the physical world, but also to cleanse and restore our sinful souls. Give me clarity about the “size” of my faith and, if I am clinging on to “little faith”, show me how I develop beyond that. Amen.