The miracles performed by Jesus were designed to encourage faith among his followers.\u00a0 When his disciple Peter tried to imitate Jesus as he walked upon the water, only to sink beneath the waves, Jesus reproached him saying: “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”\u00a0\u00a0(Matthew 14:31)<\/p>\n
Jesus claimed that anyone who had faith “the size of a mustard seed” would be able to move mountains. But what exactly\u00a0was this faith\u00a0that Jesus talked about? In his epistle to the Hebrews, St Paul gives the only recorded reference in the Bible to this question. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)<\/p>\n
St Augustine describes faith as follows: “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” And here lies the essence of what Jesus meant by faith, and the reason why he performed his miracles. They were designed to reward those who believed, and to encourage belief in those who doubted.<\/p>\n
When a woman suffering from the plague was fearful of approaching Jesus directly, but believed that she would be healed if only she could\u00a0touch the hem of his garment, the Bible records that her faith was rewarded. Jesus turned to her and said: “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.” (Mark 5:34)<\/p>\n
And when Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, implored Jesus to heal his daughter who was critically ill, Jesus turned to him and said: “Be not afraid, only believe.” (Mark 5:36) Yet when they arrived at\u00a0his house, they found that his daughter was already dead.<\/p>\n
The response of Jesus was typical. To the disbelief of\u00a0the grieving household, he announced that the child was not dead, but merely sleeping. The\u00a0relatives who had gathered laughed at him derisively. But when Jesus took the child by the hand and called on her to wake up, it was the doubters\u00a0who were put to shame.<\/p>\n
And when Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha was seriously ill, his two sisters sent word to Jesus to come and heal him. Again the response of Jesus was typical. Instead of leaving for Bethany right away, he waited for\u00a0two more days. By this time Lazarus was already dead.<\/p>\n
Once again Jesus remarked to his disciples: “Our friend\u00a0Lazarus sleepeth”. But as he was approaching the house, Martha came out to meet him saying: “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.” (John 11:21-22)<\/p>\n
Again, the response of Jesus was to challenge her faith. “Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, yea Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God” (John 11:26-27)<\/p>\n
Martha’s response was the faith that Jesus was waiting for. Just as in the case of the Roman centurion whose daughter was healed of palsy, \u00a0when he said: “Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee”, so he assured Martha: “Thy brother shall rise again.”<\/p>\n
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