Sermon October 7, 2007

Pentecost 19 (Proper 22)

Lamentation 1: 1-6; Psalm 37: 1-10; 2 Timothy 1: 1-14; Luke 17: 5-10

So much of what we've heard from Luke the last few weeks has to do with stewardship - the stewardship of things, and the stewardship of people, the stewardship of the created order, the stewardship of relationships.

We've even been having Cottage Meetings to talk about stewardship, reflecting on a passage from Luke that we heard in Church on August 5th.

And today the theme continues - though it might not, at first, be completely obvious!

"Increase our faith" the disciples say. Jesus' response is actually often misunderstood - what he really is saying to them is this: "You don't have any faith at all!"

"You don't have any faith at all.....'cos if you did, even if it were the size of a mustard seed - which is as small as a pin head, almost invisible to the human eye) - even if it were the size of a mustard seed, you could perform awesome miracles!"

Seems a little harsh, don't you think?!

And why did the disciples ask? Maybe they had some form of free floating anxiety. Or, Maybe they just felt like you could always use more faith so they just periodically asked for more. Or, Maybe they felt they were duty bound to ask for more faith.

I suppose the context must matter here - what do you think?! Do you think it would be helpful to know what preceded this request?

What happened is that Jesus has just asked the disciples to do something they know they cannot do. He tells them, "If a person sins against you seven times a day and turns back to you seven times and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive."

No wonder the disciples were crying for an increase. Perhaps they could forgive seven times in a lifetime, but seven times a day? Even Mother Teresa couldn't do that.

I think, that as a bishop once said: "The disciples are more like us than we realize. They are willing to do what is reasonable and even exceptional to follow Jesus. They have left their homes and their jobs and their families to travel with their Master, but now Jesus begins to ask impossible tasks and they don't know how to do them. As a matter of fact, they know they can't do them."

When they come to this brick wall, they want him to wave some magic wand. They want him to give them some superhuman powers to do what they know in their hearts cannot be done. They want some blueprint-some clear manual-that offers seven steps for being a disciple.

In short, they want to be transformed, but they don't really believe they can. They have become so accustomed to seeing their world as it is that they cannot imagine the world as God wants it to be. They cannot imagine seeing the people who have wronged them as their brothers and sisters instead of villains.

If we are stewards of creation, however, then it requires of us that we seek to "see with new eyes", to see everyone as a brother and sister - even those who have wronged us, to see the possibility of the world being transformed by God, to see the possibility of creation being made new.

Not easy, is it?! No wonder the disciples asked Jesus to "increase our faith"!

And Jesus knows it isn't easy. So we should hear his reply differently. Not a harsh rebuke but a gentle recognition. "I know where you are!" And "Here, let me help you understand".

But it isn't the answer they expect. When you visit London you discover that no intersection is at 90 degrees! There are no straight roads. To know where you are, to get yourself around, you need a map. And you can buy one - a book, actually, called "The London A-Z". 120 pages of maps. The disciples want a map for getting from point A to point B - they want an "A-Z", but they don't get one. Faith isn't a game plan for solving our problems. It's not unerstanding why things are the way they are. At the end of the day, faith isn't about answers.

"Faith is about the love of God through Jesus Christ. Faith is about being grasped by Jesus so that you know in your heart and bones that your life and his life and the life of the world are mixed together." (The Right Reverend Porter Taylor, Western N. C.) Once that happens, you see yourself and your neighbor and your world completely new.

Once that happens, you know that the only thing that matters is that love and that the only reality is grace. Once that happens, you can forgive because you are a new creation; and, therefore, you see everyone else as a new creation.

But you can't earn it ..... so it's stewardship again. Everything is a gift from God. All we have to do is open up a little and God does the rest. We need faith the size of a mustard seed; that is, we need a small crack in our frozen hearts and God will transform us.

When we think about how we can change the world, we always despair. But let us remember it's not about us, it's about God working through us. We can do little, but is there anything God cannot do? Our task is to pray for faith and to trust in the giver.

And the truth is, it doesn't take much. A word, a touch, a gesture can cleanse our eyes. It only takes a faith the size of a mustard seed for God to transform us.

It's easy for us to get trapped in the same way the disciples did. So much to do, so few people to do it. Jesus reminds us that its not about us, it doesn't matter how few we are, to usher in this new creation.

Margaret Mead, perhaps the most famous anthropologist of her age, said something which, I suppose, might be a modern reincarnation of Jesus' words about the mustard seed - and they're words worthy of our reflection as we think of gifts and ministries. She said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has."
     Amen.