Where Is Your Faith?

While pondering a very intriguing article at Cranach Institute entitled Objective Justification, while considering the way in which the Lord Jesus challenged His disciples regarding their faith, I remembered especially the occasion where He was awakened by His disciples on account of their fear of perishing in the tempest on the sea. Their Lord was with them in the storm battered boat, and they awakened Him from His much needed rest and accused Him of not caring. ( Matt 8:23-27 ), ( Mark 4:35-41), ( Luke 8:22-25) (Hover here – or click here for the passages) Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, Luke 8:22-25

Matthew records the Lord Jesus saying, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Mark records, “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” And Luke records, “Where is your faith?”

Luke’s record is perhaps the most precise. “Where is your faith?” Where or in what is the faith of you-all?

Isn’t that really the issue?

“Why fearful are you-all little faiths?” is literally what Matthew records. And Mark: “Why fearful are you-all? In the same way, how not have you-all faith?” Then Luke: “Where is the faith of you-all?”

What is the Lord Jesus asking them?

Their response tells all. They ask among themselves, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!”

Their faith is subjective rather than objective. Their God is too small and so their faith is too small to save them. Thus, even though the Creator of all that exists rested peacefully (Sabbathed) in their boat, they feared that they would perish. Why did they fear? Because they did not look to Jesus but to other things. Their faith was not really based upon Jesus but upon what they saw, believed, and perceived.

Faith looks to God alone. Faith is God’s work. Faith does not falter. Thus, their faith, subjective faith, is not faith at all. It is produced by too small of a god. Only the faith of Jesus can save, the faith that He gives in Baptism as He gives Himself to be believed. This is The faith that is renewed and nourished in the Sacrament of the Altar, as Jesus is renewed in the Baptized one in whom Jesus dwells, producing His faith within the person.

Where the Word is, the Holy Spirit is at work. This is the faith that overcomes all. This is the perfect love that drives out all fear. This is the love of God, which generates love for God and likewise for neighbor. When we experience this subjectively, it is only because it has been produced objectively.

Even though the disciples were drowning in their subjectivity, they did turn to the Lord Jesus and were saved. This is the beauty of the objective nature of true faith.