NOTES for Mar 16:15-18

These words about those who have believed often frighten us deeply, because they imply that there are almost no believers among us. But often we do not know about certain things happening in our life. Casting out a demon is not always the healing of a demon-possessed person. Very often in our life we encounter, for example, the demon of malice or envy. People are arguing; you quietly pray to yourself and try to reconcile them, and you succeed. You have cast out the demon of malice, of anger. A person who sees no gifts in himself and lacks confidence envies a friend who, as it seems to him, is more talented. You quietly pray to yourself and explain to him that he is valuable in himself, that God has given him other gifts, that he should not compare himself with his friend but should look to God. The person believes you, which means you have cast out the demon of envy.

You are a missionary, or simply someone who is not afraid to bear witness to Christ. You find yourself in unfamiliar company, with its own rules of behavior, special words, and so on. You find the manner of behavior and the words by which you will be able to tell them about Christ. They listen to you, and someone receives Christ into his heart. You may never even learn about this; it is not important. But you have spoken in a new language. We often ask God to deliver us from danger, but rarely thank Him for all that we have avoided. How many times a day a brick or an icicle does NOT fall on us, how many times a day we do NOT break a leg, do NOT become infected with a dangerous disease; we do not know this, but in reality perhaps we are constantly picking up snakes and drinking deadly things, and they do not harm us.

The main thing is that this is God's action, not ours. We lack faith so much that we do not notice the miracles that the Lord sometimes works through our own hands. Therefore we perceive these cases as happy accidents, and therefore we do not work miracles as the apostles worked them. This does not mean that times have changed and become worse. It does not even mean that we ourselves are worse than the apostles. What we have forgotten is not how to believe, but how to see and hear; we do not notice God in ourselves, in one another, in the world around us. We are like Mary Magdalene at the tomb: we think He is the gardener, and we do not always even hear when He calls us by name.