Proper 22C 2007

Lam 1:1-6

Luke 17:5-10

Increase our Faith!

When I was a CPE student working with the person in charge of end of life care at St. Joseph’s we often met in her office to discuss cases. There was a little sign that said, Thou Shalt Not Whine! It is so easy to think that if something goes wrong, if one of our friends or family are ill, if one of our loved ones dies, loses a job, or the tree falls on our car that we are being tested. “God will not give us more than we can bear” goes the old saying. I don’t think God gives us things to test us, nor do I think that God inflicts any of the hardships that happen in this world. If God caused bad things to happen, God would not be totally and wholly good. Being with us in whatever state we are in is the witness of faith. The letter to the Hebrews calls faith the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things unseen.

Please remember that the disciples had been with Jesus for some time, they had been sent out to do mission and ministry, and many came back reporting wonderful things. The disciples have left everything to follow Jesus. We can only marvel at their conviction and commitment. So why do you think they wanted Jesus to increase their faith? Maybe they found the day to day grind of being forgiving in unlimited ways wearing. Maybe they got tired of people expecting them to be helpful, kind, compassionate, and well, perfect. Maybe they were whining a little.

Jesus certainly does not seem too concerned about their plight. His answer is closer to a criticism than an instruction: if you had faith as big as a mustard seed, you could say to that mulberry tree, move and it would. Go ahead – confess – how many of us have been out alone and said to a tree, move. If you can imagine saying to a mulberry be uprooted and planted in the sea, without any doubt, you may not need faith but I for one cannot say that with a straight face or with any hope of seeing the tree move. I for one do not think Jesus intended for us to go around telling trees to move. I do think Jesus meant to create an impression and understood that we do need help doing what God commands. It is hard to forgive those who hurt us, especially when the behavior is repetitive. It is hard to stay committed to a project, a parish, if we do not feel appreciated.

Jesus reminded the disciples that faith is the result of our being willing to open to and respond to God’s initiating action. If we cooperate with divine energy and do what God commands, we will find faith where we need it to inspire us to love as we are loved and to forgive rather than retaliate. Earlier Jesus told the disciples a parable about the kingdom of God. “It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in a garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches” (Luke 13:18-19). That is what Jesus has proposed to them. They must make a home for the human continuum, from the weakest who must not be offended to the strongest who must not elicit from them actions as violent as the ones they perform. Jesus’ followers must be a tree of welcome and their mustard seed faith is eminently qualified for the task. They have all they need. That is the point isn’t it? We have what we need. We can be faithful, we can act on our faith!

Human relationships historically have been characterized as the strong trampling on the weak, the first aggression calling forth another aggression until the only way imaginable is reciprocal aggression. The oppression of the weak and the spiral of violence is the ever-present underside of human history. Just as the roots of a mulberry tree are deep in the earth, the roots of this way of human behavior are deep in both the human psyche and social structures.

Faith gives us a new way of being, it plucks up form the former root system and plants in new soil, a soil of love and forgiveness. As Jeremiah put it (1:10) “today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” What looks firmly rooted and unmovable is not. Oppression and violence will obey the higher level of faith.

Faith exposes the impossible possibility. Jesus asked the disciples to reflect on their own experience. If they had a slave and he came in from work, would he just sit and eat or serve those in the house? We are not accustomed to having slaves but we have workers who work for us, employees, that do their jobs, and sometimes are asked to work overtime. We pay them for their efforts but we don’t hesitate to ask them to do more even if we must pay them for their labor. Sometimes we pay only what is required and nothing more. We shave off the benefits to avoid the cost of health insurance, or we limit their hours to be just below the requirement for benefits. We expect service for pay. Rewards are few and far between. Rarely do you hear a supervisor thank an employee for doing their expected work.

Like so, in the kingdom of God we are employees who received the gift of faith to do the works of God in this time and place. We are expected to work with diligence, not looking for reward or thanks as if what we do is extraordinary and deserves acknowledgement. Rather, Jesus assured the disciples that they have all they need to do what is asked of them. They do not need more; they need confidence in what they have.

In an almost sneaky fashion the gospel today reminds us of our place and shows us how easy it is to exchange roles. God is God; we are God’s creatures, no more, no less.

I read somewhere a prayer that summarizes our desire for more faith when we feel we cannot do even those things we ought to do. “O God, I don’t pray for enough faith to move mountains. I can get enough dynamite and bulldozers to do that. What I need and ask for is enough faith to move me.”

We too have resources that we often fail to recognize or use. Jesus is telling us to look within to see that within us is the constellation of talents and resources needed to do the work of the kingdom of God. At the same time we are not to think more of ourselves than we are but to dare to act on all that we have. Each of us needs to engage in the work of discernment to bring forth our hidden treasures and share them in service to the gospel.

What would happen if God answered and gave us more faith? Would we then stop doing some sinful things we really like doing? Would we be more forgiving towards those who hurt us? Would those we pray for each Sunday suddenly recover from any and all illness? Would our dying live for another hundred years? Would our children avoid all trouble and live successful, productive lives? Would our church be full on Sunday because we shared the love of God so well that everyone wanted to come here? Would we share our faith in word and deed? Would the whole world come to know that God is loving and forgiving, welcoming, and affirming? Would the parish life center and the parish hall be filled every evening and every day of the week with people praying, doing bible study, helping others with their daily need for bread? Would the Lord’s prayer come into focus as the kingdom comes among us?

Faith is the ability to let God act in and through us, to form a community of people, affirming, welcoming, and sharing something deeply rooted in our hearts: the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus told the disciples: they have what they need – it is not a matter of more faith but a matter of putting faith into action! We have faith – we believe God, we trust God, and we are capable of serving God here and now!