Saint Matthew 15:[10-20] 21-28

In her hey day, advice columnist Ann Landers received more than ten thousand letters a month; nearly all of them from people who were burdened with problems. Asked if there was one predominant theme in her reader's requests for help, she replied, "Yes there is: fear. People are afraid of losing their loved ones, their health, their wealth. People are afraid of life itself."

Fear makes us humans believe the worst. And obsessive fears can transform even benign and beneficial objects into symbols of deadly terror. People who live in constant fear of the possibility of sickness are capable of transforming an ordinary itch into a symptom of some terrible disease. We call them "hypochondriacs." There are technical names for others who fear such things as being alone, water, high altitudes, closed-in areas, crowds, etc. Obsessive fears themselves are called phobias.

After many years of air travel, a Businessman suddenly developed an intense fear of flying - "Never again," he said, and for five years he didn't go near an Airport. Then he decided to tough it out, and for his next lone business trip, instead of a Train ticket he bought an Airline ticket. As he drove to the Airport, his worst fears began to surface. And he wondered why the sign directing to his point of departure read 'terminal.' Then he remembered the many times he had heard the Pilots announce to their Passengers, "We are approaching our final destination." And he couldn't help remembering a line from a popular Comedian, who said, "More than at anytime in history, mankind faces a crossroad. One path leads to hopelessness and destruction. The other to total extinction. May we choose wisely." At this point, the fearful Businessman made what he believed the wisest possible choice. In a fit of panic, he made a quick u-turn and headed for the Airport exit.

"Fear is useless. What we needed is trust," Jesus tells us. "Do not be afraid. Only have faith," says the Lord. Jesus' crucial advice rises above our phobias and everyday concerns. Jesus is proclaiming the Good News that God loves us so much that He will never abandon us. But merely saying it is not enough. For the Good News to transcend our every day, ordinary concern, for the Good News to enrich our lives, as Jesus intended, nothing less than a great leap of faith is required. Inevitably, we face a crossroad - one path leading us to hopelessness and despair, the other leading to new life in Christ. "Choose Wisely," faith tells us. "Choose the way of the Lord."

Jesus does not respond immediately to the woman's request for help, but she persists until, finally, Jesus says to her, 'Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And, "From that moment," Matthew tells us, "Her daughter was healed instantly" (Matthew 15:22). We can see how that Mother's great faith was manifested. She persevered when Jesus did not immediately respond to her pleas for help. And she waited at the feet of the Lord until He had mercy. Such faith always prevails! And her daughter was made whole. In Mark's Gospel we are told that when the mother arrived home, she found her daughter no longer raving or in convulsions, but lying quietly on the bed, healed in consequence of her mother's faith and prayers.

In providing us with this and other accounts of Jesus' miracles, the New Testament writers are teaching us that faith and trust in the Lord enables us to live in the sure expectation of ultimate victory over sickness, death and evil in all its forms - "The blind will see, the lame will walk, the deaf will hear, the sick will recover, the dead will rise." Our Christian faith offers us no illusion that we are a people chosen for exemption from pain and suffering. It holds no promise of a trouble-free life of easy comfort. It grants us no immunity from evil and its consequences. Rather, our Christian faith provides us with the Spiritual equilibrium and the moral stamina we need to face up to the burdens and the evil and the fears that overtake us, often in the most unexpected ways.

The story is told of a Missionary who went to a far off land to preach and teach the Good News of the Gospel - There he began the difficult task of translating the New Testament into the language of the natives. Very quickly a problem arose concerning the word 'faith.'  The native vocabulary included no single word for faith. One day, while grappling with this problem, the Missionary sank into his favorite chair. "How wonderful it feels to lean your whole weight on something, when you are tired," he thought to himself. And suddenly, he realized that this was the image he had been searching for. Consequently, as he worked on His New Testament translation, whenever he came to the word that spoke of faith, he used the phrase, "Lean your whole weight on God."

In this moment of Grace, you can discover that God will lift tears from your eyes, drive out your fear, and bring His gentle, merciful healing Power into your life - if only you will have faith. The Apostle John has written, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear" (I John 4:18). In this moment of Grace, you can discover that God loves you with a love that is perfect. Your great leap of faith propels you into a sharing community in which the Good News cannot be contained. It has to be shared. This is true of Christianity in every age. Every age is a changing time. And, in every age, God is at work breaking up old structures and old ways of thinking. God does this, of course, not to confuse us but, ultimately, to enable us to see Him more clearly.

God is constantly bringing new things into being in order to accomplish His good purposes. And, very often, it takes a great leap of faith to trust in them. "Fear is useless. What is needed is trust." You need to trust in God. Especially in these times of rapid change. Trust in God and your faith will cure you of your useless fears. There are many places in the Bible where the true meaning of the word we normally read as 'Fear' is best understood as 'awe 'or 'reverence.' Ordinary fear makes us believe the worst. But awe and reverence for the Merciful Father of us all makes us believe the best, as we learn to lean on Him.


We become faithful Christians not by earning God's Love, but by accepting it, and then reflecting it in the way we live, and the way we love. It is impossible to truly accept God's Love and not reflect it in your love for others.

So which will it be - Fear or Trust? Choose Wisely!

Thanks be to God!!!!! Amen!!!