Faith as small as a mustard seed

FAITH AS SMALL AS A MUSTARD SEED
-         Cl. Mario D’Couto sdb

            I would like to share a short reflection on the lady suffering from bleeding who touched Jesus’ cloak as recorded in the Gospel of St. Luke (8:46). For me this is a short yet a very powerful incident. This lady in the Gospel symbolizes all of us. We must note that when she touched the cloak of Jesus, there was a huge crowd surrounding Jesus. Perhaps, there were other people who also wanted something from Jesus though they were not able to get close to Him due to he overwhelming crowd. Yet, in the midst of this, the lady grabbed the courage and thought to herself, “If only I touched His cloak, I will be alright” (Mtt 9:21; Mk 5:28). Hence, she made her way through the crowd and touched the cloak of Jesus. At that instant, she became alright. The Gospels make it clear that Jesus was aware that someone touched Him because power had gone out of Him. He asked, “Who touched My clothes?” (Mk 5:30; Lk 8:45) to which the lady acknowledged what she had done.
            As I had mentioned before, the lady in the Gospel represents all of us. Each of us is in need of healing from the Lord, be it physical, emotional or spiritual. The ‘crowd’ is a representation of the things we go through, the daily events of our life, the struggles we face, the temptations and so on. However, this incident mentioned in the Gospel is a reminder that we need to take up courage and go to God. Just as Jesus Himself said, “If you have the faith of even a mustard seed, then you can move mountains”, the lady grasped this truth even though she was not in His company as we have just seen. If we too have the slightest bit of faith, we can be sure that Jesus is on our side. Yet, we should first ask the question, “What is faith?” “Is it some mere passive believing?” No. It is one thing to believe and another thing to do. Notice in the Gospels, the woman did believe that Jesus could heal her, but it was she who made the step forward to go to Jesus. In our lives too, there are many things that God wants to bless us with, but He needs our cooperation and when we are able to cooperate with Him in His plan for us, then He can work wonders in our lives.        

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