The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews is the vicar of St. Hilda St. Patrick. The sermon for Sunday, October 2, 2022, was preached as a response to Luke 17.5-10 and was based on the manuscript below.
Jesus has told the disciples
that you cannot love God and wealth.
His detractors ridiculed him,
given their understanding of their scriptures
Basically supporting a prosperity gospel.
He replied by telling the parable
of the rich man and Lazarus
and how Moses and the prophets are there
for those who have ears to hear
and not even a man coming back from the dead
wink wink
will change some hearts and minds.
Today Jesus has turned back from the Pharisees
to give more directions to the disciples
to his first followers and to us
as he makes his way to Jerusalem
where he will face the cross
before defeating death in his resurrection.
The passage we hear from Luke today
begins with the disciples asking Jesus for more faith.
They’re not asking this out of the blue!
The disciples are asking Jesus for more faith
because he’s asked them to do something they think is impossible:
forgiving the same person seven times a day
which really means infinite chances and opportunities
for forgiveness and reconciliation.
You’d probably start to feel like a chump
if you followed Jesus’ direction,
so they’re saying
“Lord help us out!”
We’ll get to the miracle stuff in a minute
but how often do we
or do we need to even when we don’t
call out
“Lord, help us out!”
As I listened to Conspirituality this week
my heart got heavy hearing about the rise
of neo-fascist and pseudo-populist movements
throughout Europe
from Italy to Sweden
and the new opposition leader in Canada.
Just before Finny was born
I had to step away from my favorite podcast
Strict Scrutiny
because the bad news from the federal judiciary
was relentless.
Maintaining hope
believing and proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand
feels daunting.
Following the directions Jesus gives us for our work
even if we boil it down to simply
though it’s far from simple
loving God, loving our neighbor, and thus changing the world,
it’s a heavy task.
At the College for Congregational Development this weekend,
the weekend director was telling us about how
congregations and systems all have their own cultures and experiences
and that those are even more broadly in the environment around us.
The environment around us right now is on fire.
I mean that literally
with the climate crisis, hurricanes devastating Puerto Rico and Florida
typhoon remnants making it to Alaska
and wildfires degrading our air and ravaging the Western US.
There are mass shootings,
racial reckonings on the horizon with
signs and portents already at play,
and heading into another fall and winter
so more indoor time
with the plague of COVID19 surrounding us.
I’m pretty sure we too would be forgiven for saying to Jesus
“Increase our faith!”
In that moment
I suspect that Jesus would reply to us
the way he replies to the first disciples
who aren’t sure that they can be as forgiving as God is.
“If you had the faith of a mustard seed,
you could say to this mulberry tree,
‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’
and it would obey you.”
What we heard today
from the NRSV
was seeking to harmonize Luke with Matthew.
“If you had faith the size of a mustard seed.”
Even a little tiny bit.
That flattens the contours of what Jesus is saying today.
“If you had the faith of a mustard seed,
you could say to this mulberry tree,
‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’
and it would obey you.”
There are at least two pieces of Good News
that Jesus is telling the disciples here.
The first is a cultural turn of phrase
that’s lost in translation.
Rather than rebuking the disciples for their faith
not even being the size of a mustard seed,
Jesus is encouraging them!
As Fred Craddock says,
‘The Greek language has basically two types of “if” clauses:
those which express a condition
contrary to the fact (“if I were you”)’
and clearly I’m not you
‘and those which express a condition
according to fact (“if Jesus is our Lord”).’[1]
It would be fair translate Jesus’ reply to the disciples
“If you had the faith of a mustard seed,
which you do
you could say to this mulberry tree…”
This is not a “Oh ye of little faith”
or “Why do you fear little flock?” moment.
Jesus is encouraging the disciples,
telling them that they’re following him on the road
and they have the faith it will take
to do the impossible –
whether that’s sending mulberry bushes flying into ocean
which would be pretty silly
or offering limitless opportunities for reconciliation.
Flatting this statement about mustard seeds
merely to their mere size
reduces another contour,
namely the faith of a mustard seed.
How does a mustard seed have faith?
Justo Gonzales says,
‘The “faith” of the mustard seed
is the certainty of its goal.
It “knows” it is to become a mustard plant.
And it does.
In that case, the faith that is required of the disciples
is one that makes them trust in the final outcome of their discipleship
and in the coming of the kingdom,
and to trust in such a way that
they will be able to forgive
those who do not agree with them
or who offend them.’[2]
“The faith that is required of the disciples
is one that makes them trust in the final outcome of their discipleship
and in the coming of the kingdom.”
This is a faith that they and we
already have.
Not on our own
but as a gift of the spirit
strengthened and emboldened
by hearing God’s Word proclaimed
being with one another
and feeding on Jesus’ Body and Blood.
With the climate crisis,
racial reckoning,
gun violence,
global right-wing, anti-democratic extremism,
and this plague that is holding on
like a cold clings to a baby
I’m pretty sure we too would be forgiven for pleading to Jesus
“Increase our faith!”
As we’re gathered here today and every time we come together
that’s basically what we’re doing
And Jesus meets us every time saying,
“If you had the faith of a mustard seed,
which you do
you could do what seems impossible.
Go do it.”
Amen.
[1]Craddock, Fred B.. Luke: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (p. 200). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.
[2] Gonzalez, Justo L.. Luke: Belief, A Theological Commentary on the Bible (Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible) . Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.