The Supernatural Gift of Faith

Homily
FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (B)
9 JULY 2006

Mark 6: 1 - 6

[Mark 6:1] He departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
[Mark 6:2] When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
[Mark 6:3] Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
[Mark 6:4] Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house."
[Mark 6:5] So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
[Mark 6:6] He was amazed at their lack of faith. He went around to the villages in the vicinity teaching.
----------------------------------

1. Introduction

In today's gospel, we see that Jesus is distraught about the lack of faith shown by those in His native place. So lacking was their faith that He "...was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them".

What does Mark mean when he says that Jesus was "not able" to perform any mighty deed because of the lack of faith shown? Jesus is God, and He could of course directly will any cure or other "mighty deed" that He wished. He is saying that faith is a necessary accompaniment of his healing power.

We repeatedly see Jesus affirming that faith is a necessary collaborative component of His performance of miraculous acts, especially those of healing. He repeatedly states to the person he has healed that "your faith has saved you"

[Mark 5:34] He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."

[Mark 10:51] Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."
[Mark 10:52] Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you." Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

[Luke 17:15] ... one of (the lepers), realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
[Luke 17:16] and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.
...
[Luke 17:19] Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."

Jesus is showing us that our involvement with Him in working for the Kingdom is to be one of our collaborating with Him. He does His part as God; He expects us to do ours as men. What is only in the power of God to do, He does; what is within our power to do, He does not do...He expects us to do it. In a mysterious way this collaboration of God and man extends even to the performance of "mighty deeds", including those of healing. He expects us to collaborate with Him through our expression of faith and trust in Him: in Who He is, in what His mission is, and in the word He speaks.

2. What is Faith?

Why does Jesus say "your faith has saved you" after He has worked a miracle of healing? Note further that Jesus does not say "your faith has healed you", but "your faith has saved you". Why then does Jesus seem to require faith to perform a miracle of healing? In fact, just what is meant by faith?

Scripture defines faith in Hebrews 11, verse 1:

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proof of things not being seen.

Modern Catholic theology defines faith with St. Thomas Aquinas as:

the act of the intellect
when it assents to divine truth
under the influence of the will
moved by God through grace.

Since grace is a free gift from God, we properly speak of the "supernatural gift of faith". Thus we distinguish the supernatural gift of faith from that natural faith that is operative in us every day of our lives--for example, we have a natural faith that there was such a person as George Washington, or (if one has not visited India) that there does indeed exist a building in India called the "Taj Mahal".

3. Jesus' Miraculous Signs Foster the Supernatural Gift of Faith

Why does Jesus require a manifestation of faith as a prerequisite to performing a healing? The faith that Jesus requires is the acceptance of Who He is, the truth of what He preaches

The person who manifests faith in Jesus: Who He is, and what His mission is, has allowed his will to be moved by God's grace to assent to the truth of Jesus and hence to the truth of Jesus' mission. He thereby manifests his acceptance of the salvation offered to him by Jesus, to be made possible through Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection. Jesus ratifies this acceptance by performing the miracle, and then saying "your faith has saved you". That is, "the gift of faith freely offered to you, and accepted by you, has saved you, because your acceptance of that faith unites you to My mission and its fruits, which make possible your salvation".

Jesus primary mission was to make possible our salvation. He used miraculous signs, not as ends in themselves, and not force our belief, but as occasions of the working of the freely-given grace of the Holy Spirit to move our wills to give assent to the the truths Jesus preached, and hence to the truth of His mission; that is to say, to the acceptance of the supernatural gift of faith. Jesus states how his miraculous signs are to be occasions of faith in John 9:

[John 9:1] As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth.
[John 9:2] His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
[John 9:3] Jesus answered, "Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.

All mankind is called to receive the supernatural gift of faith by the preaching church, as we read in Romans 10:

[Rom 10:13] For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
[Rom 10:14] But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?
[Rom 10:15] And how can people preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring (the) good news!"
...
[Rom 10:17] Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.
[Rom 10:18] But I ask, did they not hear? Certainly they did; for "Their voice has gone forth to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world."

Hence the supernatural gift of faith becomes operative in the church through the following sequence:

o Jesus tramsmits His truth to the apostles by preaching the Kingdom
o Jesus sends the apostles (and through them their successors) to transmit Jesus' truth
o the successors to the apostles preach Jesus' truth
o people hear the preaching
o the people, moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit, receive the supernatural gift of faith, and are baptized into the life of God, whereby they are set on the path leading to salvation

5. God Expects us to Collaborate with Him: God Does His Part; We are to do Ours

God invites us to collaborate with Him in working for the Kingdom. He accomplishes what requires divine power; He expects us to accomplish what can be done by us.

[1 Cor 3:6] I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.
[1 Cor 3:7] Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth.
[1 Cor 3:8] The one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor.
[1 Cor 3:9] For we are God's co-workers; you are God's field, God's building.

Paul is describing two fundamental activities of the church: planting the seed of the word of God, which is missionary activity, and watering the planted seed, which is pastoral activity. Whether the activity is missionary or pastoral, it is the Holy Spirit who vivifies that activity with divine grace. Without the combination of divine grace with human activity, the Kingdom will not grow.

[Psa 127:1] ...Unless the LORD build the house, they labor in vain who build. Unless the LORD guard the city, in vain does the guard keep watch.

Because of this collaborative relationship between man and God, both the activity of the Holy Spirit and the activity of man are required.

As Jesus acted fully as God and fully as man, so the church functions through the intimate union of the natural and supernatural. We see this in the church's ministry of charity, in its ministry of the word, in its sacramental ministry, and in its fullness, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

The incarnation of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ is prolonged throughout history until the end of time in the church which He founded. Jesus, eternal God, became united to our human nature so that we could participate in His divine nature. Our human natures have been given a supernatural destiny. In all of this, we are privileged to participate as collaborators with God.

Through conception and birth, God gives me my life. Through Baptism and rebirth, God gives me His life.