Saturday, January 8
Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
—Luke 17:19
This passage from Luke’s Gospel describes what happened when Jesus healed some lepers on his way to Jerusalem. According to the story, only one of the ten returned to thank him for his healing. When this man came back, he fell at Jesus’ feet and praised God. It is to him that Jesus said, “your faith has made you well.”
We don’t know exactly what Jesus meant here. He may have been saying that the act of giving thanks indicated faith and made permanent the leper’s healing. Or it could mean that when Jesus ministered to the ten lepers, it was their own faith that made the healing effective in the first place. Jesus may have been saying that no matter how much he wanted to heal these men, they had to believe that it was possible or he could not have healed their leprosy.
This all makes more sense when we consider other things that Jesus said about healing and faith. Just knowing about our everyday lives tells us that if we don’t believe something is possible, that disbelief may in itself keep the thing from happening.
Faith is a powerful force in our lives. Without it we are much less than God intends us to be. I don’t mean specifically faith in a particular doctrine, but faith that more is possible in this life than just what is the “norm,” or just what we can see, touch and hear.
God Himself is a miracle, someone whose existence cannot be proven. If we have faith that there is God, then more becomes possible for us, because if God is God, then He can be and do anything.
If you read those places in the Bible where God does things for people, you will see that He almost never imposes his presence or will on anyone. I say almost, because He knocked (St.) Paul off his horse on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-4). But most of the time, we have to want God to come into our lives.
The Great Good news is that ALL we have to do is to want God in our lives, and He is there—because He is always there for us, His beloved children.
Lord God, open my heart so that I may have the power and comfort of your presence. Amen.
These Signposts originally appeared on explorefaith in 2007.
