How Much Is Enough?

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

How often have you whispered those words?  Or at least thought  something similar? 

This request came, from the apostles, after they just heard Jesus warn against being a stumbling block.  That is a warning about speaking or acting  in any way that could cause someone else to doubt the truth of God.  Or that might cause someone to waver in the faith they have.  

So Jesus gives this harsh analogy:   

2 It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble…be on your guard.”

With that kind of warning it would be only natural to request an increase of faith.  Right?  

Imagine the panic this millstone image must have created in their minds.  To me, the thought of drowning that way would certainly create the need to pray for "HELP!"  Help me not to be a stumbling block, in any way, to others.  Give me strength to trust you to work in me.    

So Jesus offers them hope!  He tells them it is not the size of your faith.  It is that you have faith at all.  Even faith as tiny as the smallest seed. 

As I have moved through twenty-nine years of ministry; I have found that one of the most common concern is lack of faith.  Not feeling the strength of God working within their hearts!

This concern is the cause of great anxiousness.  Most especially when someone is in crisis of some kind or another.  This passage, from Luke, has come up often in such conversations.   Mostly because it offers people some encouragement.  Jesus’ words are precious information to those who doubt their ability to believe “enough.”

All you need is tiniest seed of faith! 

That tiny seed is the simple ordinary desire to have to trust in God’s truth.  

The tiniest hope in God’s activity in our lives.  Yes, and in our world!   God will do the rest in you!

That seed, Jesus talks about, is part of each of us.  All of us who want to believe.  It lives in our DNA!  It is the part of us that tries, really tries, to walk through our lives by faith. 

And it is that tiny seed, planted within us, that can transform our weakness into strength. That can grow into possible!

I’ll be so bold as to suggest that it is like a supernatural power that can accomplish great things.

Or, as Mother Teresa would say, it can accomplish “small things with great love.”

Just think about that!   Small things with great love!  

Then think about all of the wonderful and profound changes that have taken place because people of faith have dared to take action.  

Martin Luther for one!

Bishop Desmond Tutu for another!

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.!

Crowds, of ordinary individuals, walking the streets of Dresden East Berlin in defiance of a Communist rule.  

Ordinary people bring down an ancient wall of hate, that so long divided a small German City.

Or, on a much smaller scale, parents sitting down with their children talking together about values, God and faith.

Athletic coaches who  build character and confidence in young boys and girls.

There is something amazing, and extremely powerful, that occurs when that tiny seed is allowed to grow.  Allowing God in!  Rather than letting it remain dormant in the dark damp soil.

There is such possibility in that little seed planted in us at our Baptism.  

“Lord increase our faith!”

The possibility — the growth — begins with that simple request.  The acknowledgment of the Planter of the seed!  

It is so parabalistic!   I made up that term(;

But it is parabalistice!  Because two truths are in one story. And we so often miss the hidden meaning in Jesus’ words.

Because faith, and its growth, are not the result of some personal self-help program to ‘greater faith.’   But rather the acceptance of God’s possibility in us!  It is God who nurtures and cultivates that fragile little seed for us. 

It is the Spirit of God “guiding us into all truth.”  That enables us to walk the walk of faith.

It is the promise of God’s power, God’s ability, and  God’s most gracious offer of possibility.  In us!

That is what Jesus came to give us.  All the way down through history.

1 Jesus said to his disciples, "Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! 2 It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. 4 And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, "I repent,' you must forgive.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 6 The Lord replied, "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.(Luke 17)