Increase our Faith!

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
October 2, 2022

22 Proper C 

          A week or so ago, our daughter-in-law Leslie sent us a video of our granddaughter Evelyn doing science “appearaments,” which is three year speak for “experiment.”  In the video, Evelyn has a Pyrex measuring cup with a red liquid which she pours into a mason jar that has some kind of white and blue powder in the bottom.  When she pours the red liquid into the mason jar, a vast amount of purple foam pours forth from the jar and onto the cookie sheet that is protecting the counter.  In the video, Evelyn squeals with delight and says “It does make purple!”  Her utter delight in what she has done comes across in her voice, her face, and her body language.  Don and I watched the video over and over again and laughed and laughed.

          I hear that same kind of innocent delight and curiosity in the apostles’ words this morning when they say to Jesus “Increase our faith!”  The apostles have been following Jesus for 16 chapters now, and they have heard many parables and stories about what it means to follow Jesus, many of which we have heard over the past few weeks.  They have heard the parables of the lost sheep and coins, the story of the prodigal son, the story of the shrewd manager, and the story of the rich man and Lazarus.  They are eager to have enough faith to follow Jesus and, no doubt, to please him.

          So I expect to hear Jesus have the same delight in their question, their desire to learn, and their curiosity that I have in Evelyn’s.  But Jesus says “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 has that much faith?  What kind of response is that to people who have given up everything to follow Jesus and want to grow in their faith?  I imagine the apostles being very disheartened by Jesus’ reply.

          However, I do not think Jesus is putting the apostles down for their lack of faith and their inability to cast a tree into the sea with the very command of their voice.  I do think Jesus is telling them that they are making the wrong request about faith.  The apostles are treating faith as if faith is something that can be measured like cocoa or chocolate chips, or something that can be created by mixing red liquid with white and blue powder.  Jesus is telling them that the size of their faith is not what matters; that even with a small amount of faith they can do great things.  The apostles are hardly without faith as they have left their families and their livelihoods to follow Jesus. 

          If Jesus is telling the apostles that they are making the wrong request about their faith, then what is the right request?  And what on earth is Jesus talking about when he goes on about the slave preparing dinner?

          Jesus’ comments about the slave are quite offensive to our ears.  The slave has been plowing the ground or tending sheep all day, presumably without pay.  Now the slave is commanded to prepare supper and serve the master.  And while, in my humble opinion, a thank you is always appropriate, Jesus assumes that no gratitude is needed, much less required.  In fact, putting the apostles in the place of the slaves, Jesus says “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.’”  How is this supposed to make the apostles feel, the apostles who are excited about their faith and want to know how to increase that faith.  They are worthless slaves???

          Jesus’ point about the slave, however offensive we might find his words, is that he was simply doing the work he was given to do.  I wonder if the response to “Increase our faith” is “Do the work you have been given to do.”  The reference to slaves, while abhorrent to our ears, is a reminder that, like a slave, we belong to someone else.  We belong to God.  Perhaps faith, rather than something that can be measured a quarter cup at a time or mixed up in a mason jar, is something more like muscles that grow with use.  Exercising the muscles of faith is done by faithfully doing the work God has given us to do.

          Our baptismal covenant, which we renew each time we celebrate a baptism, tells us how we are to live faithfully, gathering for worship week in and week out, repenting when we fall into sin, seeking and serving Christ in all people, respecting the dignity of every human being, striving for justice and peace, and proclaiming the good news by word and deed.  My friend Rick worked tirelessly over many years for basic human rights for the LGBTQ community in a city that, at the time, really did not care about such rights.  He finally moved a mountain and got those rights established.  My friend Judy worked to establish a domestic violence shelter in a West Virginia town where she was told by those in power that there was no domestic violence.  She did the equivalent of tossing a mulberry bush into the sea and made that shelter happen.  Both Judy and Rick exercised their faith one small step at a time, with many steps backwards in the process, until major changes were made.  Their faith grew, through both adversity and success.  When we live faithfully and do the work God has given us to do, whether raise our families, or help build a Habitat House, or work to assist refugees and immigrants, or get up and go to work each morning, or serve in the various ministries at Christ Church, one small step at a time we grow our own faith as we make a gospel difference in the world. 

The apostles want Jesus to increase their faith.  Jesus tells the apostles and Jesus tells us that we increase our faith when we go about the work we have been given to do, exercising our faith as people who belong to God.  Our faith will grow, amazing things will happen, and we will change the world, one small step at a time.

                                                                             Amen.