Increasing Faith
David C. Myers
October 7, 2004
World Communion
II Timothy 1:1 - 14
Luke 17:1 - 10
Texts: "If you had faith the size of a mustard see, you could day to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." . . . from Luke 17:6
". . . join with me in suffering for the Gospel; relying on the power of God. Who saved us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace." . . . from II Timothy 1:8 and 9."
When I was younger and before I actually began studying the Bible, there were a number of things I was told that Jesus said. Things like, "Well, you know what Jesus had to say about that - 'God helps those who help themselves.'" And things like, "Well, you know what Jesus had to say about that, 'Don't get mad, get even.'" And occasionally I still hear people say things like that!
The problem is that Jesus never said these things. We wish He had because they are more reflective of our own thinking than some of the things Jesus did say, but the fact remains that Jesus didn't say them. And wishing Jesus had said them doesn't make it so. On the other hand, there are some things Jesus said - or implied - that I wish He hadn't. Things like . . .
• "I love you the way you are." (implied in the Parable of the Prodigal Son)
• "Love others as I have loved you."
• "Love your enemies."
• "Whatever you do to the least of these, you do also to Me."
These are things that challenge, disturb, and upset the way I think about God and think about God's Will. It is not that they are new to me, for I have heard them all my life. No, it is taking them seriously that is a challenge to me. And when I take them seriously as God speaking a Word about Himself and a Word about how I am to live my life as a disciple, I find myself thinking, "I wish Jesus hadn't said that."
When my grandmother ran across a portion of Scripture that ran against the grain of her own thinking, she would dismiss it by saying, "They must have copied it down wrong." She did not like the Parable of the Prodigal Son because she thought that the overtly wayward child got off too easy, and that the older faithful son got a raw deal! Thus, "they must have copied it down wrong."
And today, we meet some more of those words. Words, no doubt, where grandmother would think the editors "goofed".
The setting finds the disciples asking Jesus for increased faith for they just don't find themselves adequately equipped to meet life's circumstances and how Jesus would teach them to respond. This arose out of Jesus' own followers expressing concern after He sternly commanded them to beware of causing little ones to stumble, but at the same time to be generous in extending forgiveness even to chronic sinners who continue to repent. For once the disciples seem to have grasped the difficulty of what Jesus is teaching.
Wanting to follow Jesus' instruction, they plead with Jesus, "Increase our faith." This literally means, "add faith to us."
We can all identify with this. After all, we do want to be disciples of Jesus - isn't that why we're here? And wouldn't it be easier to be a disciple if we had a little more faith? I mean, "what's wrong with that?"
So what does Jesus do? Jesus replies rather mysteriously, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea', and it would obey you."
"Well, actually Jesus, while I do want more faith, I ummm . . . thought I had more faith than the size of a mustard seed."
And then, almost because that is not mysterious enough, Jesus tells them this parable of servanthood that concludes with, "So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done.'"
Boy, I wish Jesus hadn't told this parable!
Isn't it a nice thing to be thanked, to have gratitude shown - especially when we know we have done something worthwhile or done something nice for someone that we didn't have to do. "Jesus, are you implying that we simply call ourselves worthless slaves?"
"Jesus, I know this discipleship thing is tough. First you insult me by telling me I don't even have a mustard seed size amount of faith, and then you tell me to be a servant, doing all that you ask, and expect no gratitude in return; and then recognize that I am but a worthless slave." "Boy, I wish Jesus hadn't told this parable!"
However, the truth is most of the people I know have lives crushed by too many duties and too few hours. As I prepared to enter the ministry, the advice a retiring pastor gave or class of ordinands, was "Be gentle with people. They are carrying more than you know." I am aware of how much so many of you carry on your plates, and am constantly amazed at how much mission, caring and visiting, Christian Bizarre, rummage work, education and study, singing, and meetings still get done in this church! Let's face it; most of us work pretty hard. Pulled in too many directions at once, lots of us feel exhausted most of the time. Our lives are as full as they can get.
How could Jesus dare to tell us to keep on keeping on, when we are so tired, when we are stretched in so many different directions? The other parables of Jesus are better than this slave one. We want to hear about the Messianic Banquet where we will get our reward. But Jesus tells us instead, "You are a slave. Your labor is not your own. You and whatever you do belong to the master. Just keep serving Him, and when it's over say, 'I am nothing, I only did my job.'"
Faith is no easy thing. It is not easy to accept many of the doctrines of our church - to believe in a savior who was brought into our world in a cradle of straw and hay, only to be crucified on a cross some 30 years later. It is not easy to accept that Jesus' way of doing things is almost entirely opposite of our way of doing things. It is not easy to accept that Jesus came to serve the poor, the weak, and the marginalized. It is not easy to accept that Jesus' seemingly impossible instructions for living are actually within our capabilities. It is not easy to accept that Jesus is a physician more powerful and miraculous than modern medicine. So we cry out, Lord, increase our faith!
The discipleship that accompanies faith is not easy, either. It is easier to accept the Christian label than it is to live a Christian lifestyle.
Faith is not easy.
Well, perhaps that is because faith isn't about capacity. It is about orientation. Faith is not measurable. In some ways faith is like a joke. With a joke, you get it or you don't. There is no measurableness of how well you get the joke! And likewise, you have faith or you don't; and having it, Jesus suggests, is like being a slave who simply does what is commanded, who knows what needs doing.
Jesus replies by telling the disciples they do not need more faith. They simply need some faith. There is no "more" or "less" of faith. There is just faith. Genuine faith the size of a mustard seed allows God to work in our lives in ways that conquer and defy our ordinary experiences - like a seed that goes from nothing into a marvelous plant.
Jesus pricked the balloons of the faithful religious people of His time. He broke all pretensions that even His followers had. Faith is not a matter of pious expectation or heroic will power. Faith is the miracle of God given trust. It simply believes that "God Will Take Care of You". And with that belief, we simply go about doing what needs to be done - caring for, serving, and loving one another.
The second letter of Paul to Timothy echoes this thought. Paul invites the believers to join in suffering. The older Paul writes the younger Timothy, "Join with me in suffering." If you have ever been through suffering - and who hasn't - you can testify that almost any pain can be borne, when it is borne together. Pain is at its worst when we must suffer alone.
I think this is one of the important ministries of the church - to spread some of the pain around. I expect that is one reason why some of you stick with the church, despite all of its faults. You went through some period of pain in your life - maybe a divorce, a serious illness, the loss of a loved one - and the church stuck with you, and became your fellowship of suffering. You said to the church in effect, "Join with me in suffering," just like Paul said to Timothy, and the church stepped up suffering was eased because it was shared. Through the church and its compassionate members, God will take care of you.
But note that Paul says even more in this verse. Paul says, "Join me in suffering for the Gospel . . . relying upon the power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our work, but according to his own purpose and grace" (II Timothy 1:8-9).
I don't know, maybe it's kind of an "altar call" we ought to give at the end of every Sunday service. I ought to, like St. Paul, stand before the congregation and say, "If there are any of you who are visiting today and you like what you have heard, I invite you to join this church, join our fellowship of suffering! We are going to make you more miserable than you have ever been in your life! Come, accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, follow Jesus and He will lead you to be a servant and to do things like feed the hungry, clothe the naked, set free the imprisoned, and set at liberty the oppressed. Of course, you might suffer some if you get serious about doing it. You might have to give up something that you like doing or have wanted for a long time. Just have a little faith - not much, just the size of a mustard seed. That amount of faith can uproot mulberry trees and plant them in the ocean. It can move mountains. It might even help others and help ourselves. Please come down to the front as the organist softly plays our last hymn "God Will Take Care of You."
I don't know. These teachings of Jesus these past few weeks, have been difficult to carry out. We have to give up our riches, we have to see how disrespectable Jesus was, and now we are nothing more than a slave and can't even pat ourselves on the back. Is there no end to Jesus' demands? Is there anything in it for us??
Today we join with Christians around the world as we symbolically together take the symbols of Jesus' death and resurrection - the bread and the wine. Today we talk about having faith the size of a mustard seed - just a little; and we learn that the little morsel of bread and those few drops of grape juice will both nourish us, and assuage our deepest thirsts. May that's all we need, as we do the Gospel work - feed the hungry, clothe the naked, set free the oppressed - and be the bread for the world.
You are invited to Table of our Lord, where "God Will Take Care of You!"