Gospel Reading for August 09, 2025 – Matthew 17: 14-20
WATCH LIST
A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said, “Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.”Jesus said in reply, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour the boy was cured. Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
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Although the father had GREAT FAITH, it was not enough to heal his son because the healer needed to have GREAT FAITH too. How can you give something you don’t have? Truly, the father’s faith and compassion was so impressive. It surely touched Jesus’ heart that he explored all possibilities to end the suffering of his son.
Probably, the disciples were resting on their laurels. They thought they had mastered the art of healing and forgot that their success was highly dependent on their own faith.
Sometimes, we are like them. We think that because we are “highly religious” or we are among those who deeply value and actively practice our faith as in regular attendance at religious services and gatherings, frequent prayer or meditation, and strongly believe in the importance of religion in our lives, we will never falter. This is a wrong notion because such people are on the devil’s WATCH LIST – these are the ones worth tempting! We need GREAT FAITH in God!
Lord Jesus, teach us how to fight the devil like you did during your 40 days in the desert!
