Luke 17.5-10
The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ 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.
‘Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, “Come here at once and take your place at the table”? 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”? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 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!”’
I have a confession. I have never thought of myself of having a lot of faith; the kind of faith that you hear about when people go off on mission all over the world. The kind of faith of the Saints, the kind of faith where you’re praying and praying in faith that somethings going to happen, despite all evidence to the contrary; and then amazingly, it happens.
Somebody once said to me, faith is a four letter word. R I S K. faith means taking risks, it means trusting, and it means trusting completely. And faith in God is something more than that, I think. It’s not like lending a friend a fiver knowing that they will pay you back; it means trusting something else with all that you are, heart, soul, body and mind, up until the time we pass from this world and indeed beyond this world, into eternity..
But as I said, I’ve never thought of myself as having much faith. I am not sure why that is, I think it’s because I like to question, I question, and I doubt and I have concerns about all kinds of stuff. I had some really good teachers when I was in school, both of them priests, who lt me question and who didn’t judge me for asking the difficult questions about God and about faith.
But I know, that I have a long way to go on this faith journey. I look at some of our brothers and sisters and see their faith and, I confess, I get jealous. They seem to have a big faith and amazing things happen.
The disciples say to Jesus ‘Lord, increase our faith!’ that’s a dangerous prayer. It can be a dangerous thing to pray anything to God, it’s like asking God to ‘increase my patience!’ How does he do it, not by waving a wand like a magician. No, he does it by putting us into situations where we must learn how to be patient; where we slow down, take deep breaths and not lose our temper. And when we’re in those situations, we need to keep praying for that patience, again and again, otherwise we will end up right back where we started. Praying for patience is hard work, and a dangerous prayer.
And praying for an increase in faith is a dangerous prayer too, because if we really want to increase our faith, God will put us in situations where our faith in him and our endurance is tested; because ultimately, having faith is about trusting that God will indeed come through for us, that we will land on our feet, despite all appearances to the contrary.
There is a sense in this passage, that Jesus is drawing us into humility, into that place where we go beyond all the ‘I’m going to do this,’ and ‘Lord I want to do this amazing thing’ and all that stuff. He says no to that.
Jesus tells us that we don’t have to be some ultra-spiritual person, or some kind of superhuman (that’s a common myth these days) to live a life of faith. It’s not about how great our faith is, not at all, it’s about how great the God we follow is; for we follow an amazing, infinite God.
‘The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ 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.’
Pray, pray just a little bit, just have that tiny bit of faith that something could change, that God could come through for you, and see what happens
The last past of the passage is a real kicker I think, and seemingly strange to have it following what Jesus has just said. The gospel writer has gathered various sayings of Jesus together, and again, it’s about humility. No matter how much we do, a God is never in our debt, he never owes us anything. Somebody once told me, ‘God is God, and we are not.’
‘God is God and we are not.’
I remember recently, I think it was the end of last year, there were quite a few difficulties in mine and my family’s life. You know when you pray and pray for relief and nothing seems to happen. Yet you pray that you just have some respite from what you’re going through.
And as I was distraught and praying, I was saying ‘come on God, give us a break! I’m doing all this stuff for you, surely, I’m ‘owed’ something back? Surely, I’m owed something back.'
I know, not a very pious prayer, especially from a priest but there we are. And here’s the thing, God knows what it means to be human; he knows what it’s like. He knows how difficult life can be. I know so many people who are going through real difficulties, who just need some relief. Who just want to say to God ‘stop the world, I want to get off.’ But that doesn’t happen, life continues, and the struggles don’t stop coming.
And then, after praying that desperate prayer a few days later, relief came, in the most amazing way, in an act of generosity from a friend, completely unprompted and unexpected. This act of generosity brought such relief to our situation, that it made the difficulties just that much easier to cope with. It reminded me that God is there, and he does listen, he does care, and even when we are not good to him, even when we are ungrateful, even when we just need that little smidgin of faith, but life gets in the way. He is good to us faithful, and he is kind and he is loving.
As I said, the end of the reading looks rather harsh on one level; but Jesus says this also in the gospels, this is from the famous sermon on the mount, Jesus says
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Sometimes, we don’t have to even ask nicely! He still gives!
So, I am encouraged by this passage; I don’t need to look to the great paragons of Christianity and say ‘I wish I had their kind of faith.’ God will do his work with me in time, he will grow my faith; he will grow our faith in time. But sometimes, all we have is a mustard seed of faith; and sometimes, that'll do. And I am encouraged, that no matter how small my faith is, that it’s not about that really, it’s about the incredibly kind and generous God that I pray to.
I am encouraged, I hope that you are too.
Amen.