A Firm Faith
Adapted from a sermon by Fr Jonathan Ishak
When the sinner woman looked upon Jesus, she saw Him with clarity. She saw God, while others saw another guest in a home. She was the only one that saw Him among the entire household of supposedly righteous people. Even Simon the Pharisee saw Him as a prophet alone. He questioned if He could even be a prophet if He allowed her to touch His feet.
The Lord concludes this interaction, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace” (Luke 7:50). She recognised and saw Him in the right way. No young lady would untie her hair and use it to clean anything, let alone someone else’s feet. A young lady’s hair is one of her most beautiful attributes, but when she look upon Christ and saw God, she sacrificed even this.
When we look to Christ, do we see God? Do we act upon our faith in the right way? Is our faith similar to that of the sinner woman? We may have reasons to have more faith than her, but she proved herself faithful above most. Maybe even the disciples that witnessed this interaction questioned if Christ was God.
This lady saw Christ as God, and left with more than she was looking for, for all her sins were forgiven on that day. How beautiful her faith was on that day. Do we have faith like this?
Just the other day, a man was called into his boss’ office. As he entered, he was expecting big problems. He was tired after a long day’s work and was not prepared for what he walked in to. His boss was furious and accused him of wrongdoing. The man sat in front of the boss while he was yelling. Not knowing what else to do, he was praying and asking for the intercessions of St Mary and St George. The boss began to notice that he was not concentrating and so he said, “Why aren’t you listening to me? I am trying to tell you about the problems that happened last Sunday!”
The man stopped him at this and said, “but I don’t work Sundays and I haven’t worked on a Sunday for many years.”
The boss, realising his mistake, became extremely apologetic and when he saw he looked into this man’s record, he saw someone that was efficient and competent at their work. We keep in mind that there is always a Boss higher than will save us from the troubles of the world. Do we turn to God in our problems? Or do we turn to our own logic or the help of other people? We cry out to the Lord is our needs to save us from all tribulation, and He will save us in ways we never thought possible.
Another story happened in the life of Fr Mikhail Ebrahim who was the confession father of many, including Pope Shenouda III. After his departure, Pope Shenouda wrote about Fr Mikhail that he believed in the words of the Bible as his source of knowledge and comfort. Before he was a priest, he would follow the words of the Bible without question. He was working for the government before priesthood. On one occasion, he gave his suit to be dry cleaned and came to pick it up and the man said it was stolen.
Fr Mikhail asked him, “but did you iron it before it was stolen?”
The man said, “What difference does it make?”
“If you ironed the suit then I must pay you for your work, as it says, “Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” (Romans 13:7).
Do we see God and the Bible in this same way?
Many years ago, a certain doctor’s father was undergoing an operation. He asked for the keys of the church so he could spend this time in prayer. While his whole family was at the hospital, he wanted to pray. A doctor could easily speak to the doctors and nurses of the hospital to find out what is happening during surgery. He chose the higher path, to trust in God that guides the hands of the doctor. Instead of using all the knowledge he knows, he left this behind and trusted in God.
How can we attain this faith?
We can attach ourselves to the Lord. Do not allow the 24 hours of the day to pass without giving the Lord a fair portion of these hours. One hour at the end of day at the very least. Allow yourself to have a retreat with the Lord on a daily basis. How did the sinner woman know the Lord? Maybe she didn’t say anything, but it is likely that she followed Him, she saw His miracles, she attached herself to Him.
Request renewed strength of faith from the Lord. In the liturgy we pray, “give us Your peace till the end.”
We need a repentance heart. Make a U-turn every time you see yourself heading toward sin. Immediately return when you see yourself heading down the wrong path. Don’t allow yourself to go down the path of sin, but turn around, at any point, know that your repentance is still acceptable to our Lord. Glory be to our Lord forever, Amen.