On this fourth weekend of the Great Fast, we also celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation and truly remember John Climacus, one of the great Fathers of the Eastern Church. As my readers will recall, St. John was the author of the Ladder of Divine Ascent which I have been using as the basis for my article on the Spirituality of the Christian East.

The readings we hear today are taken from Paul’s letter to the Hebrews and Mark’s Gospel. In Hebrews Paul reminds his readers that God made a promise to mankind through the Chosen People, Israel. Paul writes this:

God, wishing to give the heirs of his promise even clearer evidence that his purpose would not change, guaranteed it by oath, so that … we who have taken refuge in him might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope which is placed before us.

Of course the promise that God had made to Israel was that He would send a Messiah Who would free people from the bonds that kept them from the fullness of life.

Today’s Gospel story, while it relates the cure of a possessed boy, truly highlights the faith of the father who brought the boy to Jesus. This faith is shown in this interaction between Jesus and the boy’s father. Here is the interaction:

[The father says] If out of the kindness of your heart you can do anything to help us, please do. Jesus said, If you can? Everything is possible to a man who trusts.

The father then makes this absolutely, beautiful response to Jesus’ challenge: “I do believe! Help my lack of trust!” These words are so appropriate and highlight something very important, namely that while we say we believe in God’s great love for us, do we really trust that He will always act out of love toward us.

God has made a promise to us through Jesus. That promise is that He will be with us through all the struggles of life if only we trust Him to keep His word.

Perhaps the problem is that when we are confronted with life’s challenges and we pray to God to be rescued from these challenges and He doesn’t rescue us, our trust in Him is diminished. We must trust that God will always act in our best interest. When St. Paul asked God to rescue him from a problem he was having, God’s response was not to rescue Paul but remind him that His grace was sufficient for Paul to endure the challenge and learn from it.