Asking in Faith (James 1:1-11 and Mark 8:11-13)

What seems to differentiate those who wanted Jesus to heal them (or wanted Jesus to heal someone they knew) and the Pharisees was that those who were ill or knew someone who was ill had hope that Jesus would want to heal them.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, had no faith in Jesus and their requests (in today's Gospel, a request for a sign) were merely a test for Jesus. In fact these fellows didn't even make requests for their own healing (not thinking, I suppose, that they were sick) or for the healing of anyone they loved. They were just obsessed with the difference between clean and unclean.

In today's First Reading, James seems to have something to say about that

But he should ask in faith, not doubting,
for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea
that is driven and tossed about by the wind.
For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,
since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways.


If you're going to ask, James says, ask in faith. And the faith that's being referred to here is the faith that Jesus wants to heal us in all our different kinds of brokenness.