Any of you who happen to be
“Facebook Friends” with me, may have noted that there have been a number of
special occasions in my family lately. I think one of you may have even
commented on it. Because between the latter part of August and the beginning of
October, all three of our children’s birthdays as well as Jim and my wedding
anniversary fall. As I was telling someone this week, what that meant during
all those years that our kids were growing up, when we often had a “kids”
birthday party plus a family gathering for each one each year, was that from
the latter part of August to the middle of October there was cake – and lots of
it – at our house.
Of course, my kids are all
grown up now. The youngest just turned 26 the other day. Each year, come this
time, it’s natural for me to take a trip down memory lane and with a good dose
of nostalgia, remember those sweet times when these awesome creatures entered
our lives. Sometimes I go so far as to remember the births themselves, and one
of the things I remember, is that like most women there came a time during the
labor and delivery process, that I just wanted to scream (and perhaps I even
did), “I can’t do this!” I was convinced, in those moments, that I simply
didn’t have enough strength, enough endurance, enough of what it took to get
the job done.
Our gospel lesson for today
starts out with the disciples demanding of Jesus, “Increase our faith!” I think
of this as their own little “I can’t do this!” protest along the discipleship
road. You may remember that in the text leading up to this point, Jesus has
been teaching what the kingdom of God is like. In parables, some of which were
quite challenging and, truth be told, perhaps even a little scary, Jesus has
been teaching his disciples how the life of discipleship looks different from
the life the world around them, because it subverts the values that the world holds
on to with an iron fist. Jesus has been challenging the Pharisees and anyone else
who perpetuates the poverty of the poor, ignores the plight of the needy, and disregards
God’s command that love should guide our actions, interactions and
relationships. Jesus has been teaching his followers that in the kingdom of
God, barriers are broken down and the boundaries that separate us are
eliminated.
Just before this particular
text, Jesus says to his disciples that stumbling blocks within their lives are
sure to arise, a statement he follows with, “woe to anyone by whom they come!” Teaching
them how to live in community, he says that if another disciple sins that they
should confront the offender, and if there is repentance, they must forgive
that person and welcome them back into community, not just once, but over and
over again. No matter how many times they sin against you, you must forgive
them when they repent, he tells them.
And the reaction
from the disciples when they hear Jesus’ instructions? They plead “Lord,
increase our faith”” They
might as well be saying, “We can’t do this!” They are overwhelmed and fearful.
They don’t believe they have the strength, the endurance or the gifts to do
these things expected by God. “We can’t do this! So, Jesus, just increase our
faith.” Because surely, if they have more faith, if they have enough faith,
then they will be okay doing this discipleship thing. More faith will make the
job easier. If we could just have more faith, then we could be better disciples
and could be better at following these teachings, right? But right now, they’re
just not sure – it all just seems too hard.
But this begs the question,
is faith something that is actually quantifiable? Is it something we can
measure, accumulate, or store, something that builds up to a critical mass at
which point it becomes effective? In this gospel, Jesus’ response reminds us,
“You already have all the faith you need to live as disciples of Christ.” Even
if your faith were as tiny as this seed your faith would be sufficient for you
to do great things. It is faith that is fed through relational living, by
following Jesus, and depending on and trusting, even in the middle of doubt, in
God. Believe. Trust. Know, that the faith you have been given is all you need.
Our understanding of how we
get this faith is one of the parts of our Lutheran heritage and theology that I
love. For we believe that faith is given to us - by the power of the Holy
Spirit. It is a gift, tiny as a mustard seed but mighty enough to do wondrous
things which we receive in our baptism. We didn’t do anything to earn it. God’s
favor and blessing and our faith come to us through God’s grace, and aren’t based
on “having enough” of anything, or doing enough good works or being “Christian
enough” for God’s liking. Rather, we are saved by God’s grace given to us as a
living manifestation of God’s love. It frees us to likewise engage the world in
love. And each of us has all the faith we need to walk the discipleship road,
we simply need to exercise the will to do it.
But we know that discipleship
is not easy. The passages just before this one illustrate that fact. Neither
does discipleship, living into our faith, “happen naturally.” Even as
disciples, we remain broken human beings, living in a broken world. But God
takes us in our entirety and teaches us the way to living in relationship built
on grace. Discipleship requires intentionality, demands decisions on how we
will live that are patterned on the Word of God as revealed in the life, death,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jesus commands that our
faith be lived out in love, and discipleship requires choosing to respond to
God’s grace by living and responding to one another in godly, graceful ways. Like looking out for the poor and the outcast.
Like holding one another up, working together for God’s mission, like forgiving
one another when we are wronged, and welcoming the repentant and forgiven ones
back into community. We have all the faith we need to do these things. The
challenge for each of is to make the daily choice to tap into our faith,
discovering as we do pathways in which our behavior reflects the faith that is
ours, and using it to build faith in others. That’s not asking much, is it? And
the people of God scream out, “But we can’t do it! Lord God, increase our
faith!”
I read an old prayer that
goes something like, “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.” That’s the truth of the matter, isn’t it? Because for
faith to become alive and evident in our lives requires some movement on our
part.
I know that even when we
acknowledge that grace is a gift from God, and faith comes from God, there are
still going to be times when we are exhausted and worn out and we doubt that we
really do have enough strength and endurance in our lives of faith to get us
through or to keep us going. There are times when we are tested by our lives
lived in community, whether in our homes or our places of employment or even
here in church. It is in those moments when we are most tempted to shout, “I
just can’t do this! Increase my faith!” And it is in those moments that we are
most in need of God’s grace to work in our lives, revealing Godself to us in
new and surprising ways. And when that happens, we are changed. There is a
movement in our spirit. Our faith becomes alive in a way that we never knew
before.
In his commentary of this
text, Brian Stoffregen asks some questions about what might happen if we got
what the disciples ask for here, and God honored our request for more faith: “Are
we sure we really want more faith? More faith could lead us to stop doing some
sinful things that we really like to do. More faith could lead us to be more forgiving
towards those who have sinned against us – and we really don't want to forgive
some of those mean, rotten people. In some cases, we would like to see them
dead.
“More
faith could lead us to be more like the slave in the story at the end of our
text. That is, we become more dutiful slaves of God. Doing our duties
willingly: Being more dutiful in attending worship services every week. Being
more dutiful in contributing generously of time and money to the church and to
the needy. Being more dutiful in participating in Sunday school and committees
and other church activities. Being more dutiful and doing such duties
willingly, without grumbling or complaining. Could more faith mean sacrificing
one's own pleasures for the sake of the needy? Could more faith mean following
more closely the footsteps of Jesus – which led him to the ridicule and
suffering and death on the cross?
The
good news of the gospel is that even when we fail at doing these things, which,
because we are broken people living in a broken world we will do, our faith
remains, a gift from God. And we are forgiven and restored. The good news of
our Lord Jesus Christ lies in the fact that grace comes to us when we least
deserve it, when we cling to the “I can’t do it,” when we try and fail and rise
to try again. When we are weary, when we cry out “I can’t do it, Lord, increase
my faith,” Jesus responds, “Yes you can, because my faith is sufficient for
you.” And then he feeds us with his body, quenches our thirst with his blood,
and sends us out, freed and forgiven, to love, to serve, and to live in the
name of Christ Jesus. Amen.
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