Faith is sometimes about perspective.  There’s the story of a shoe salesman sent by his company to a unique region of the country.  After a couple of days there, he wrote back to his superiors that he was coming back because “no one wears shoes around this place!”

 

A different shoe salesman was sent to the same place a few weeks later. After a few days, he wrote back to his company asking for more order forms. He exclaimed excitedly, “no one wears shoes around this place!” Faith can be about perspective.

 

Jesus calls all those whom he has saved to put their trust in him. He cautions us not to desire big faith, but – even though it is as small as a mustard seed – to have a faith that will do great things.  So the real issue is not the size of one’s faith but the source of it.

And so, it is important for us to understand why the disciples of Jesus so anxiously asked him to “increase their faith.”  We need to read the previous verses which speak of care and forgiveness of others. Jesus says, “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come!  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!  If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive.  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.”

It is with this backdrop that the disciples yell, “INCREASE OUR FAITH!”  I don’t think any of us would have responded any differently.  Given the demanding nature of keeping others from stumbling as well as constantly forgiving those who have wronged us we, too, would like to have as much faith as possible. 

 

How often do we feel uncertain of the journey of faith we are on and inadequate for the task we are called to do?  How often do we feel incapable in modeling the life of Jesus or following his mandate to forgive?

 

 

There’s a brief prayer related to this text.  It goes like this: “O God, I don’t pray for enough faith to move mountains.  I can get enough dynamite and bulldozers to do that. What I need and ask for is enough faith to move me.”

It’s been suggested that many people want only an inoculation of Christianity – just enough of it to protect them from catching the real thing. There is a danger in asking God to give you faith. You might get it – then what?

But let’s make something clear.  Faith is not quantitative.  When the disciples say, “Increase our faith” it is an impossible request.  Either you have faith or you don’t.  Either you trust or you don’t. 

 

Faith and faithfulness aren’t matters of size but of relationship and identity. 

 

Jesus addresses this by saying, “If you had the faith of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” 

And so, the size of your faith doesn’t matter to Jesus. What matters is trusting the enormity of God to affect change.  Again, faith is faith.  Trust is trust.  You either have it or you don’t.  And when you have it – it’s not a result of what you did – it’s because of what God does! 

Every action on our part that results in serving our neighbor, forgiving our enemy, caring for the poor, is an action of faith. In those actions we leave our inhibitions behind and climb on the back of a trusted God to carry us. And, yes, there are times when our words say, “no,” but the wind at our back says “yes,” and we move forward.  Yet, there is often resistance to the wind, to the Spirit.

Every so often I’ll get an email from “Silver Sneakers” a program designed to promote better health.  A recent one suggested four words that are toxic when spoken to yourself – words that defeat healthy habits, words that avoid the wind at our back.  The words:  Can’t, Hate, Should, Must.

CAN’T:   Are self-limitations self-fulfilling limitations? Does “can’t” restrict new ideas?

HATE:  Is the task or mission Jesus has called you to causing dread? Does it harm your relationship to Jesus or others?

SHOULD:  Is guilt over what you haven’t done for Jesus restricting what you can do?

MUST:  Is following Jesus a chore or a privilege?

Remember President Barack Obama’s victory speech in 2008 when he uttered the words, “Yes, we can!”  They were an attempt to unify our country with an emphasis on working together for the common good.  The slogan, first posed by Obama’s campaign manager during his Senate run on a campaign poster, was rejected by the future President as “too corny.”  But, Michelle Obama said, “Not corny.” 

But the slogan originally derived from Cesar Chavez who co-founded with Dolores Huerta the United Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers) and first uttered the words in Spanish– “Si, si, se pueda”   “Yes, yes, it can be done” when told the grower lobby was too strong and efforts to fight it were futile.

 

Dolores Huerta immediately understood the significance of the words and made the slogan the rallying cry for the farmworkers’ campaign in Arizona.”  “Si, se puede!” went on to be “adopted worldwide, inspiring advocates of everything from other labor struggles and community empowerment to civil rights and immigrant rights.

 

I submit that there are many baptized Christians who feel “faithfully challenged” and who feel they fall short of the demands of Christ, saying, “I can’t do it.  I can’t do it.”  Maybe you’re one of them.  Maybe you feel unworthy to carry forth the call of Jesus to forgive someone, to point out wrongdoing, to stand up for injustices, to comfort the grieving. 

 

Yet, it seems that Jesus – while asking for your complete devotion – is not asking you to “go it alone.”  Jesus says, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”  Our baptisms serve as a vivid backdrop to this premise.  We not only have God with us, but we also have the promise of other faithful saints accompanying us on this journey.  “Yes, we can!”

 

Indeed, when are baptized or are affirming our baptism, daunting promises are made:

• Live among God’s faithful people
• Hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper.
• Proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,
• Serve all people, following the example of Jesus
• Strive for justice and peace in all the earth

After all that, sponsors and the congregation, surrounding you, promise to support and pray for you in your life in Christ.  They promise by saying, “We do, and we ask God to help and guide us.”

We must never forget that our Lord, who has the goodwill of God’s people in mind, must also have the goodwill of the people to move justice along.

We must never forget that there is more mercy in God’s love and grace than there is sin and doubt in us! 

So, perhaps we can, with confidence, go out into the world with another Obama mandate.  And that is to be, “Fired up and ready to go!”

 

 

AMEN