Faith as a Mustard Seed: A Meditation on Luke 17, for the 17th Sunday in Pentecost

Take heed to yourselves:

If thy brother trespass against thee,

 rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day,

and seven times in a day turn again to thee,

saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

And the apostles said unto the Lord,

Increase our faith.

 

And the Lord said,

If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed,

ye might say unto this sycamine tree,

Be thou plucked up by the root,

and be thou planted in the sea;

and it should obey you.

 

Luke 17 opens with several proverbial teachings from Jesus, not all of which are clearly linked together.  There is the severe warning about harming little ones or causing them to stumble into sin; a directive to forgive those who sin against them; and an admonition that even after the apostles had done everything they were commanded to do, they should not glory in their accomplishments, because it was their duty and obligation to serve.  In between these teachings, the apostles apparently despaired, asking Jesus to increase their faith so that they might be able to accomplish what He was directing them to do—to which Jesus replied that if they had even the smallest manifestation of faith (hence the image of a tiny mustard seed) they would be able to call forth tremendous miracles (like commanding trees to pluck themselves up and plant themselves in the sea.)  If faith is the operating principle whereby the teachings of Jesus are kept, it is worth considering exactly how a person acquires such power.  It might also be worth asking why it seems so few people call forth the miracles which Jesus says are made possible by even a modicum of faith.

 

It is of first importance that we affirm what Jesus has said about Himself:  that He alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the only way people find reconciliation and communion with God the Father, just as St. John testified in his Gospel.  What Jesus said in Luke’s Gospel is absolutely true, and it is our duty to receive it as such, even if it is hard to understand.  In the immediate context of all the Gospels, the Apostles did go forth working miracles, both during Jesus’ ministry, and after His Resurrection (as recorded in the Book of Acts.)  The Apostles received Jesus’ teaching, asked for more faith, were told that miracles were possible through faith, and then went and worked miracles by faith.  This absolutely happened, and what’s more, it didn’t stop with them.  Miracles were performed by others who walked with the Apostles (consider the 70 whom Jesus sent out before His Crucifixion) and those who came after them (think of St. James’ teaching, that the laying on of hands by elders could heal the sick.)  And beyond the Apostolic Age documented in Holy Scripture, the history of the Church is flooded with accounts of miraculous deeds done by faithful Christians all over the world, all the way down to the modern era.  Where did the saints and martyrs, pastors and laity, of every generation find the faith to work such miracles and serve so profoundly within their times, places, and vocations?

 

I think Jesus makes this point clear in John’s 15^th chapter, when He says to His disciples:  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.  Because Jesus is the life and power of Christians, faith must come from Jesus, or as He says just a few verses later:  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.  So it is Jesus who is the source of our faith, and His Word the means by which He produces faith in His disciples.  St. Paul would echo this in the 10^th chapter of his letter to the Church at Rome when He declared:  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  The Word of God becomes both the center and ground of our faith, because it is the Word of God which reveals God to us, including His divine will.  We learn from the Word of God what our duties and obligations are, as the Law shows us the righteousness we are called to accomplish.  We also learn from the Word of God why we continually fail to keep the Law, the just consequences of our failure, and the marvelous redemption He has accomplished for us through His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  The Word of Gospel declares to us that our sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake through His Vicarious Atonement, and with this immeasurable grace, the gifts of eternal life and victory over every evil foe.  Thus the Word of God in Law and Gospel declare to us our God, our duty, and our salvation; that we not only have something worthy to believe, but also that through that Word, the Holy Spirit works to create saving faith in us relative to that same Word.

 

If we wonder why we see fewer miracles in the Western Church today, we might ask ourselves what priority we have placed the Word of God in our lives.  The sad truth of the West is that many churches which were historically rooted in the Word of God, have largely discarded those Scriptures, substituting instead political ambitions, philosophies, and conjectures.  Consider how many previously Christian fellowships have abandoned the Doctrine of Creation for Darwinian Evolution; biblical sexual ethics for libertine self-gratification; the natural created order of men and women, for the insanity of gender confusion and unnatural psychoses; the Doctrine of Justification by grace through faith in Christ alone, for ecumenical universalism; objective declarations of truth such as the 10 Commandments, for subjective postmodern suggestions of personal truth; the doctrines of personal accountability and individual dignity, for socialistic Marxism, racial grievance, and class warfare.  The list could go, but it is unavoidable that as the West has drifted further from the Word of God, their faith has also diminished, becoming weak or disappearing entirely.  We know that the Holy Spirit works through the Word to create faith, and by that faith in that Word moves the people of God through the world with divine power to accomplish His will.  If we are feeling powerless, it is not God who has abandoned us, but we who have abandoned His Word.

 

Yet even today, the Word of God still calls to all people, working to create faith in every heart that will repent, believe, and abide in Him.  Faith is not our creation, but His; and as He is the creator of our faith, He is also the One who establishes the Means by which we receive it.  This most fundamental Means of Grace is the Word, both written and Incarnate, revealing to us the will of God and the power by which to accomplish every good work He has established for us from before the foundation of the world.  The point Jesus made to His disciples and to us today, is not that we should send sycamore trees flying across the landscape, but that we must abide in the saving Word of God, where His power will be made manifest through us according to His good and gracious will.  There, as always, in the community centered in and empowered by the Word and Spirit of God, we will see His wonders as He continues to seek and to save the lost.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.