EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodically authorized minister. The journey together these past four years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Oct. 2, 2022.
This week's gospel: Luke 17:5-10
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 The Lord replied, “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.
7 “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? 8 Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me; put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? 9 Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10 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!’ ”
The message:
Here’s a question to ponder …
So, just how much faith do you have?
Would you say that you have a cup of faith? A gallon of faith? … Or maybe if you prefer the metric system, a liter of faith?
Or might you measure it in a foot of faith? … Or a yard of faith?
Ok, let’s look at it in an entirely other way …
Do you have a mustard seed-size faith? … Or maybe something larger? … Say the seed of pumpkin! … Can you picture the difference in sizes of those seeds?
So … Just how big is your faith?
Because, Faith Family, that is essentially what the disciples are alluding to in their thought-provoking question to Jesus in today’s gospel.
They’re asking … first privately of themselves, how big is my faith? … and second, out loud to Jesus … how big does my faith need to be?
Jesus … “How do I increase my faith, Jesus!” … And they ask, because like us, they want to know exactly the faith level they need to achieve to receive God’s glory.
Because we humans … we have to measure everything, do we not? … I mean, if we don’t measure something, how does our brain process it. … Especially something as abstract as faith!
Listen to our gospel again … “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’”
And what was Jesus’ answer: “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.’”
In other words, according to Jesus, while we -- as humans -- are worried about the quantification of our faith … just how big it is!
God and Jesus are far more concerned with whatever amount of faith that we have …
You see … the Holy Trinity isn’t into the measuring game … God, Jesus the Holy Spirit … They aren’t sizing us up.
That’s what we do … Because measuring and comparisons … that is an earthly game.
The point of Jesus’ sermon today … is that God can work with any amount of faith … which is entirely a different paradigm than what we are accustomed to here on earth.
I fully admit that the language in today’s gospel can be a difficult read.
As we’ve seen throughout the Lukan readings this lectionary year, there are some very tough scriptural texts that are difficult to hear because of the language used. … And today’s text is one of them!
The text in today’s gospel includes language about slavery and obedience and masters that in today’s world are abrasive to our ears. … After all, slavery in 21st century America has a far different connotation than it did in the 1st century Middle East.
And, so, naturally, it’s challenging for us to separate out the harsh words of the language … from Jesus’ actual meaning of the words used.
And this can very often be true in a Bible where the books were written thousands of years ago. … They were written in time with different contexts that are hard for us to imagine.
But … despite all of Jesus’ tough language in today’s gospel, I don’t want us to lose sight of his essential message, which is this: … ‘a little faith goes a long way. … Even just a faith the size of a mustard seed.
So, let’s get even a little more specific …
Jesus’ message is that while we humans worry about sizes and quantities and whose is the biggest in everything that we do … because that is how we are conditioned here with earthly concerns … all God cares about is a faith the size of a mustard seed … which, in and of itself, has miraculous potential!
That is all we need … Faith Family … a faith the size of a mustard seed!
There are questions throughout our scripture readings today … in regards to what it is that we need to do to be faithful. … How good do we have to be to be considered faithful? … What quantity of good gets us into heaven? … How do I level up in my faith … as the kids say nowadays!
And the trouble with this concern is that … as we often do being human … is that we are asking the wrong question altogether.
But take heart, Faith Family!
If it’s any consolation, we learned in today’s gospel, our ancestral Hebrew brethren were asking the same wrong question … some 2,000 years ago!
Remember from the gospel … “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’”
Faith Family … the apostles were worried that their faith wasn’t large enough. … Even though they were following Jesus on his journey throughout the Holy Land. … Living on the generosity of other believers, and accepting that they may be shunned in their own communities. … Living on the margins because of their faith already …
Despite that very discipleship that carried them around the Middle East following Jesus, without any worldly goods or any certain future … and they were still worried about the size of their faith.
You see, even 2,000 years ago, humans measured the importance of something in units. … Whether those units were bushels, pounds, gallons … mustard seeds … or any other measure of a commodity.
Because ultimately what the disciples were asking is nothing different than what we still ask today …
The disciples were asking: “Jesus, we follow you around all day long, forgoing any personal possessions, depending upon strangers for food and shelter, serving our savior for the reward to come in heaven. …
But, just in case that isn’t enough … I want to be absolutely certain I have enough credits to get into heaven. … So, how do we increase our faith!”
Faith Family … Just like the gospels who stood right in front of Jesus and didn’t hear his message … we do the same thing after receiving the reassurance of the scriptures. … Sure, Jesus isn’t sitting her in church with us today as he was sitting with his disciples in this text.
But, despite all of the reassuring messages we hear from Jesus, all throughout our gospels every Sunday that we are here … despite all of the texts that tell us what is important is that we have faith, not how much faith … we never fully believe Jesus.
To be fair … the text shows us that the disciples in Jesus’ day never fully believed him either. They wanted proof. … A quantifiable measurement of faith that would assure their entry into heaven.
And they made the exact same mistake as we make today.
I asked you at the beginning of the sermon today .. how large is your faith?
Would you say that you have a gallon of faith? … Or a liter? … A foot of faith? … Or a yard? … A mustard seed-size faith? … Or a pumpkin seed!
Of course, you don’t have to answer that …
Because the truth is that you don’t need to answer the question, which … I guess … makes it a sort of trick question to begin with.
It doesn’t matter how large your faith is … because God will work through it anyway. … Regardless of the size of your faith.
Faith Family … unlike everything else in this earthly world that we are used to, God doesn’t measure how big our faith is … he just cares that we have a faith at all.
And that is the Good News this 17th Sunday after Pentecost … Oct. 2, 2022. … Amen.
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