Half-Believing

What does it take to believe?

When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, 'Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.'  - John 4:47-48

In today's gospel reading, John describes a scene that gives us a little insight into the process of believing.

A royal official form Capernaum came to Cana to meet up with Jesus who by then must have been known as a healer.

At first, Jesus seems to want to ignore the man's pleas to heal his son, but Jesus tells him the boy will get well and the man goes away believing it will be so.

Before he arrived home, his slaves met him to tell him the boy lives.  He discovers that the boy's condition improved at the very hour that Jesus told him he would be well, and so he believed.

But didn't he already believe?

Perhaps we believe in stages.  First we accept on faith that the outcome will be real, and then when that is proved true, we reach a level of ultimate belief.

So, what Jesus told the man may be true for all of us.  Until we see the sign, until we experience the power of God's love, we may only half believe.

We want to believe, but we are waiting for proof, the proof that comes when our desired goal is achieved.

So, what if that proof doesn't come?

I believe that we need to stay strong in our faith, trying hard to avoid letting the doubts that come with fear invade our lives.  Once we let doubt creep in, we run the risk of losing our faith.

It shouldn't be that fragile, I know, but many things can happen to cause us to lose hold, to feel lost, to begin to doubt.

The man started on his way in faith, not wanting to think of the possible outcome that his son would die.

I am sure that the news from his slaves calmed his fears and made him break down.  The crisis was over and he could breathe easily again.

This very moment there are people living in that mix of faith and fear.  We can all help, by summoning the Holy Spirit within us to reach out to them and ease their fears, to tap into the strength of our faith to help them walk a  little further down the road until they can come to that place of belief.

Let that be our prayer for them.

More to come...

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