October 2, 2022

Sermon title:  "Increase Our Faith!"

Scripture:  Luke 17:5-10

(Other lectionary choices include Lamentations 1:1-6, Psalm 137, and II Timothy 1:1-14.)

Luke 17:5-10

5The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 6The 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'? 8Would 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'? 9Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10So 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 sermon title reminds me of an earlier sermon I preached this year. The disciples had asked Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray", and then Jesus gave them the Lord's Prayer as we find it in Luke. So, I preached on the Lord's Prayer. In today's reading, it's almost as if they are saying, "Thanks for teaching us to pray. Now please increase our faith!" And Jesus responds by telling them the rather famous mustard seed comparison.

          Just in case you didn't know......the mustard seed Jesus was talking about was extremely small. But it also produced a HUGE plant! So perhaps what he was saying is that whatever smidgeon of faith you have, it should also have the ability to grow into a much larger and more mature faith. But the main thing is to have SOME faith, even a trace, even a glimmer. And guess what:  then God can do the rest!

          You may recall that I have said before that in the Middle East of Jesus's day, it was customary to use language in a most vivid way. What one scholar says this passage means is that "even that which looks completely impossible becomes possible, if it is approached with faith. We have only to think of the number of scientific marvels, of the number of surgical operations, of the feats of endurance which today have been achieved and which not so very long ago would have been regarded as utterly impossible. If we approach a thing saying, 'It can't be done', it will not; if we approach it saying, 'It must be done', the chances are that it will. We must always remember that we approach no task alone, but that with us is God and all his power." I believe that, and I hope you do, too.

          So, will we always get the result we want if we have enough faith? Well, of COURSE NOT! My mother died of breast cancer at the age of 69, and she prayed until the end that she would be cured. She wasn't, but she wanted us all to pray for her and keep the good thoughts. We did, and she did, but she still died. And she was a wonderful woman of faith. I have faith because SHE had faith. But remember, too, Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane prayed that God would remove that "cup" from him that he was about to drink......but Jesus also said, "Not my will but THY will be done." And we know that even Jesus's faith did not keep him from being crucified. So have faith and trust God. And never stop praying! But in the end, our prayer must be what Jesus said:  not MY will but THY will be done. So, our faith does not make us bullet-proof, but isn't it nice to know that God is with us in WHATEVER we must endure? Let our faith be strong enough so that we always know that God is with us, regardless of the hand that was dealt to us or regardless of the path we must follow. What does the 23rd Psalm say? "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with me." Let us all remember those words.

          After the Scripture about "Increase Our Faith!", what seems to me a non-sequitur follows. Jesus suddenly talks about slaves, and he makes the point that a slave can NEVER put his master in debt to him. While that may be true, why have that passage back-to-back with the Scripture about increasing our faith? Maybe some of you will have an idea in our question-and- answer session. The point I want to make first is that remember how the Gospel accounts of Jesus's life came about. As you may recall, what we have is not really an eye-witness account. It is thought that Mark's Gospel came first and was written about 65 A.D. Well, we know that Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea from 26 to 36 A.D. So, if Jesus was crucified sometime between 26 and 36, Mark's Gospel and the others weren't written until some 30 years later. So, what we have are memories of Jesus from people who knew him, and who then passed on what they remember to the author of Mark and then later to the authors of Matthew and Luke.

          One way to say this - or another way to say this - is to say that the Gospel accounts are what the early church thought about Jesus. That doesn't mean they are unreliable, but it DOES mean that what the Gospel writers wrote came from the church's memories of Jesus or came from members of the first believing community. Again, that doesn't mean the stories are unreliable, but it DOES mean that what was written down was not witnessed first-hand by those doing the writing!

          Why do I think this is an important point? Because it may explain the apparent non-sequitur of talk about faith being followed by talk about slaves not being able to put their masters in debt to them. Here is what I think happened:  Jesus DID tell the story about the mustard seed, and he DID say that slaves cannot put their masters in debt to them. Both are good points, and the author of Luke wants to be sure that he writes both stories down. But what I'm thinking is that one does not necessarily follow the other.......but Luke couldn't find another place to put the second story about slaves, so he put it in here. Am I wrong? VERY possibly! But I can't figure out any other logical reason for these two stories being back-to-back. Again, maybe we'll get an explanation during our question-and-answer time at the conclusion of this sermon.

          When Jesus talks about slaves never being able to put their masters in their debt, that may sound strange to us, because we don't have slaves. We have a sense of fairness that may make it hard for us to understand, but slaves were OWNED by people, and whatever their masters wanted was their command. The reason Jesus may have spoken about this is that he was trying to make a point between the Law and love. As far as the Law is concerned, one could conceivably fulfill what the Law requires - but one can NEVER fulfill all that love requires. The Scottish scholar William Barclay puts it this way:  "When we have done our best, we have done only our duty; and those who have done their duty have done only what, in any event, they could be compelled to do." I am reminded of what public officials or first responders have said after doing heroic things:  they were only "doing their jobs" - and sometimes they say that anyone else in their position would have done the same thing. Maybe that's true, and maybe it isn't. But the point is that the Law requires only certain things, but love involves going above and beyond the call of duty. Barclay quotes a verse from Isaac Watts's famous hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross". "Were the whole realm of Nature mine, That were an offering far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all." Barclay concludes, "It may be possible to satisfy the claims of LAW; but every lover knows that nothing can ever satisfy the claims of LOVE." Amen.

Pastor Skip