The call to have faith

‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be free of your suffering’ – Mark 5:34 (NIV)

‘Don’t be afraid; just believe’ - Mark 5:36 (NIV)

‘Therefore I tell you whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours’ – Mark 11:24 (NIV)

‘Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he has risen’ – Mark 16:14 (NIV)

‘Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned’ – Mark 16:16 (NIV).

The Gospel of Mark begins with Jesus proclaiming and demonstrating the kingdom of God and ends with Jesus in heaven and his disciples proclaiming and demonstrating the kingdom of God (Mark 16:19-20).

Throughout Mark, we watch how ‘faith’ plays a crucial part in how the disciples learn how to do and say the things Jesus did and said.

At the beginning, people are ‘amazed’ at what Jesus says and does. But it’s not long before Jesus begins to expect his disciples, and especially his twelve apostles, to demonstrate ‘faith’.

Look at the beautiful story of the woman in the crowd. She pressed through the crowd until she was able to touch his robe. And when she touched his robe, she was healed.

Jesus told her ‘Daughter your faith has healed you, go in peace and be healed of your disease’ (Mark 5:34-NIV).

But the story does not stop there! A short while later, we read, ‘And wherever he went – into villages, towns or countryside – they placed those who were ill in the market-places. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his clock, and all who touched it were healed.’ (Mark 6:56 - NIV).

The woman’s act of faith in Jesus led a vast number of people to take the same step of faith and be healed just as she was healed.

Jesus wants us to expect great things from him! It is this expectation that he can and will intervene in our lives that caused him to forgive and heal the paralytic in Capernaum (Mark 2:1-12), the Syro-Phoenician’s daughter (Mark 9:24f), and many others.

And the opposite is also true; At Nazareth, ‘he could not do any miracles, except lay hands on a few people who were ill and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith' (Mark 6:6).

When we set ourselves to seek the Lord, we shall soon find that he is looking to us to believe in him … to demonstrate ‘expectation’.

Having ‘Faith in Jesus’ is a journey. Every disciple will need to learn how to believe in Jesus. Faith works in different ways in different situations.

There is faith that believes – we believe the statements in the Creed.

There is faith that trusts – when we don’t understand difficult situations, but we trust Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is in control.

There is faith that risks – where Jesus calls us to step out of the boat like Peter did.

There is faith that waits and rests – when we stop trying to fix things and trust Jesus will sort a situation out.

Faith is finding a promise of God and daring to believe it.

Mark 11:24 instructs us about asking in prayer, ‘therefore I tell you whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours’. When we ask God to give something he has promised to give, we believe that he puts it in the heavenly postal system with our name on it, and we wait for it to be delivered (in God’s best time).

Look at the way Jesus responds to Bartimaeus’ persistent requests as he leaves Jericho and starts the 30-mile walk up the hill to Jerusalem. ‘Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me’. But Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him. ’ Jesus healed him and then said, ‘Go … your faith has healed you’ (Mark 10:48-52 - NIV).

Why not take a moment now to think of a promise in scripture and ask Jesus to fulfil it in your life?