It Is Sufficient*

October 5, 2019
17^th Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 22

Luke 17:5-10, Habakkuk 1:1-4. 2:1-4
2 Timothy 1:1-14

The last part of the gospel reading –

The parable about the slaves

Is difficult to hear in our 21^st century context

It makes my skin prickle a bit

Clearly Jesus’ crowd of poor fisherman---and the like

were not slaveholders

But in the Lukan community
there were those who held slaves

This week I learned that in 1^st Century Rome

Up to 40% of the population was made up of slaves

And the majority of those slaves were from the consequence of war

But the point of the parable seems to be 

that WE are the slaves…or servants…of Christ

The parable seems to warn us against trying to ‘just get by’

With the least amount of effort

No…let’s give it our all

Do more than what the master expects

Christianity is no place for minimalists

It’s the first line of the reading that really grabbed my attention.

We hear from Jesus’ closest friends

They are begging and pleading

INCREASE OUR FAITH!

Jesus has just finished giving them further instructions on the life of discipleship:

1.   Make sure no one stumbles

2.   Offer correction to those who are offensive

3.   Forgive those who repent---not just once but over and over again -infinity times!

No wonder

No wonder they ask for more faithfulness

My guess is that all of us have had that plea on our lips a time or two

I have certainly wished for more or deeper…more steadfast faith

And then…Jesus’ reply

What does he mean?

I don’t think it is a scolding

BUT it is an ABSURD reply 

…a bush can’t be planted in a sea!

He’s messing with them…he must be

Because Jesus criticizes magical thinking 

and the need for signs...throughout the gospels

…this is not what he would want his followers to be about!

To me…it sounds more like he’s telling them 

that they are asking the WRONG QUESTION

IF FAITH…or faithfulness…

If it WAS a commodity

If you could measure 

And quantify it

And so INCREASE it

IF THAT IS WHAT FAITH IS (but of course it isn’t!)

Then all you would need is a mustard seed

This made me think of the story of the rich young man in Luke 18

He asked Jesus “What must I do to POSSESS or to GAIN eternal life?

And Jesus answers by subtly switching the verbs:

“If you wish to RECEIVE eternal life…”

Eternal Life/Faith

He switches the verb in order to teach about the nature of faith

It isn’t possessable

It can’t be stored in bigger barns

Or behind a locked gate

It’s not like money in a bank

One of my favorite spiritual writers,

Ron Rohlheiser likened faith to the air we breathe

it is free…it is everywhere

So when we are confronted with that sense of not having enough

It isn’t because of a lack of faith…or air

But rather…it’s the health of our lungs!
…or our soul

I believe Jesus is answering the disciples' plea- sympathetically

I think it’s a vote of confidence

“LOOK...You already have all the faith you need

Don’t worry about what you think you don’t have

Just keep spending what you do have

You’ll see

It’s amazing…it will be like when we had five loaves and two fish 

And, remember???
…there were leftovers!” 

Rather than focusing on quantity

Jesus holds out sufficiency

This short reading from Luke’s Gospel poses the mystery 
of faith and faithfulness

Our reading from Habakkuk and Paul’s 2^nd Letter to Timothy

also have something to add to this pondering about faith and faithfulness

The first 4 lines of the Habakkuk reading

Are in the form of a prayer

A prayer raised in desperation and grief:

O Lord---How long?

Why do you make me suffer so???
Why so much evil all around???

In a way it is also a plea for help

And God answers:

Wait. Trust. There is a vision.  It WILL come to be.

This reading from 2 timothy has always been one of my favorite passages

I used to use it when I did preparation with young couples who were bringing their children to baptism

I love it because it is so concrete

It testifies to a 

relational faith

In a relational God

In a very real sense

Any ability I have to recognize the love of God

Is made richer by my experience 

of loving and of being loved

These experiences are founded in trust

If I was unwilling to trust

If what I expected from relationships 
was betrayal and deception and being used

I would negate the very possibility of friendship or love or trust

Without trust...I could not possibly have faith in a loving God who I cannot see.

Paul longs to see Timothy

He longs to see the concrete faith made visible in him

It fills him with joy

But what Paul sees is more than Timothy
He sees deeply…he sees behind 

He sees Lois and Eunice

He sees the gift and transmission of faith

I love-love-love that Lois and Eunice are named…specifically

This is faith that is alive in people…real people

People with names

It is like a virus

It is caught

And it infects…and it spreads

It stays alive…maybe even it gets more alive
in the transmission

Which seems to take us back to the Gospel.

We have all we need.

We share it and pass it on.

And in the passing 

We experience the miraculous sufficiency of 5 loaves and 2 fish

Over and over again

It’s not a math problem

It’s a mystery…

But, it is a mystery that we experience concretely

We do…don’t we

Right here

whenever we gather 

to share whatever faithfulness…deep or wavering

whatever is within reach on any given day

And...All of us leave blessed and strengthened

I’m hoping that some of you are familiar with the hymn

It is Well with My Soul…because WE are going to sing;) 

It was written by Horatio Spafford in 1860-something
He was a prominent lawyer in Chicago

And was active in the abolitionist movement
He and his wife Anna lost a toddler son to scarlet fever
then in the great Chicago fire he lost his business and property
His wife and four daughters sailed to France for a needed fresh start

He was to catch up with them after he settled his business

On the crossing, their ship collided with a steamer and 290 of the 307 passengers were drowned.  All four girls. Anna Survived.

ON his journey to join his wife,
as the ship passed the place of the collision

Horatio Spafford wrote this hymn.

To me it sounds like someone trying to pray himself back into belief

The last time I sang this in church 

I noticed that I was standing next to a woman…I didn't know her name. 

But I did know that she had recently lost her husband to cancer.
I thought…How can she sing this song? 
How does she even get the words out?

Perhaps that’s when

We just do it

we just sing the words

Even with no strength to believe

Perhaps then it is the one nearby

The one who has the strength 

Who picks up the slack

In the community singing

We all rest a bit closer to the faithfulness that is sufficient

That is always present

That is the air we breathe

C’mon down make-shift mini choir…let us sing.