Friday, 17th Week in Ordinary Time
It is said that faith is like a switch that turns God on; while lack of faith turns God off. Faith turns on the power of God… it allows God to do great things for us. While lack of faith turns off the power of God…it prevents God to do any mighty deed for us. Just imagine the many great things we are hindering to happen in our personal life, in family, community and country due to our lack of faith in God – or due to our unbelief.
We heard a ‘shocking’ statement in today’s gospel reading: “(Jesus) did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.” Let me paraphrase that: Jesus was unable to perform miracles in his own town… because of the lack of faith of the people there. Their lack of faith rendered Jesus powerless to do any miracle among his own people. How unfortunate, even tragic, is that?
Indeed, our lack of faith renders the Lord powerless to do any mighty deed among us. Our lack of faith prevents Jesus from performing miracles for us. It prevents him from helping each of us reach our full potential and be the best person that God intended each of us to be. It prevents him from making our family a home of love, acceptance, understanding, forgiveness and reconciliation. It prevents him from making our parish community a channel of God’s providence, graciousness and generosity, an instrument of justice, peace, mercy and compassion. It is really sad, and even tragic, if it would be said about us: “Jesus was not able to perform any mighty deed for them…because of their lack of faith…It prevented many miracles from happening.”
Allow me to give you another ‘version’ of today’s gospel passage –a kind “applied adaptation” with a “reversal of fortune” that I hope will happen in our own parish community. We are challenged to work on a positive ending to our own story, unlike the conclusion of today’s gospel reading that tells us that Jesus could not perform more and greater miracles in his own town because of their lack of faith. Hopefully, what will be said of us is something like this: “Jesus was able to perform mighty deeds in OLMMP…and he was amazed at their faith.”
Parokya ni Osong 