Dear Preachers:
Prayers are often the result of particular events in our lives. If we are gathered around a dining room table with family for a meal we will offer a prayer of thanksgiving. The sickness of a loved one stirs a prayer of petition. Standing in a quiet forest, or at the ocean, evokes prayers of praise and awe. After a difficult time in our life has ended our prayer turns to gratitude. When we have messed up we pray for mercy. Our life situations frequently stir us to prayer and the resulting prayer isn’t generic, but very specific. The situations prompt the words for our prayers.
So, the question arises: what was going on to cause the disciples to ask Jesus, “Increase our faith”? When we pray a prayer like that it might be because life is testing us and we fear our faith will falter; or is not strong enough to match the trials we face. But what stirred the apostles’ simple and direct plea?
Perhaps we think that having faith means believing certain tenets. If I want more faith is it so that I can hold more firmly to the “truths of the faith?” We need to stop thinking of faith in such stagnant terms. Or, that if we have enough faith our lives will be secure. It’s not about security and stability. What might help us understand the role of faith in our lives would be to think of faith, not as a noun inducing dormancy, but as a verb stirring us to act. In addition, thinking our faith lacks sufficient size can keep us from doing what we disciples are called to do. The disciples must have thought their faith was so small they couldn’t act on it. But Jesus wants his disciples to trust and act on their faith — to do faith.
The alternative to acting out of faith would be saying things like: I can’t take on that responsibility, I don’t have enough faith. I can’t be kind to those people, that will take more faith than I have. I can’t stop drinking, I’m not strong enough. The disciples may have felt similar inhibitions after hearing what Jesus just taught — about not leading others into sin and the necessity to forgive someone seven times a day (17 1-5). But Jesus teaches, “Act on the faith you have. You’ll be surprised what you can do.” His example of the proverbial deep-rooted mulberry tree underlines his lesson about the power of even the smallest seed of faith to work marvels.
It is a parable, so we know he wasn’t speaking literally, since there is no record of anyone telling a mulberry tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea — and then having it happen. We sense what he saying: he’s calling for radical obedience and trust; asking his disciples to avoid leading others to sin (vv. 1-2) and to forgive a person, even for the same offense, seven times a day (17:4). He is teaching that what he asks is not impossible as it first seems, if his followers have even the smallest bit of faith. If we have that faith we can do whatever we must as Jesus’ disciples. Following him asks much of us; but the faith we have, no matter how small it feels, is enough to act on. Remember: faith is a verb stirring us to act.
In his parable Jesus gives the example of domestic slaves. They have just done what they were supposed to do, hence they deserve no special credit. We may find ourselves doing something that surprises us and those who know us. Perhaps it’s a great act of charity; hard labor on another’s behalf; or, as in the preceding teaching, a magnanimous act of forgiveness. Such deeds often win praise among those around us. But despite the remarkable things we disciples might do, we must acknowledge the source of all our good deeds — the mustard seed faith planted in us by God. Realizing this we can say with those servants in the parable: “We are unprofitable servants, we have done what we were obliged to do.” We could also add: “We have only done what our mustard seed faith has enabled us to do.”
Mustard seed faith is planted in us at our baptism. It is watered and cultured by family, friends and the worshiping community and so it grows. But great faith is already contained in the mustard seed. We tend to be preoccupied by size and quantity. We presume that we need a lot of faith to tackle the important issues in our lives and the world around us. This preoccupation can limit our whole-hearted, response to the tasks we disciples have before us.
The prophet Habakkuk might have written today’s passage yesterday. He describes seeing ruin and misery. “Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife and clamorous discord.” Was he with us watching last night’s evening news? Did he download CNN’s news clip yesterday of the suicide bombing in the Iraqi market, or the other one at the wedding in Turkey? Had he also seen the picture of the five-year-old boy pulled out of the bombed rubble in Syria sitting alone and dazed in the back of an ambulance?
If Habakkuk were alive now he would articulate for us what we, who witness such violence, are thinking and praying, “Why do you let me see ruin, why must I look at misery?” Or, tested as we are by such horrors, the prophet might well have prayed the apostles’ prayer in today’s gospel, which we pray as we try to make sense out of the world’s insanity, “Increase our faith!” (The exclamation point is mine.)
How does God respond to the prophet’s lament, impatience and frustration? What will help Habakkuk’s faith that is under so much stress and verging on breaking? He sees misery and destruction around him, and does not see God actively doing anything to resolve the chaos. God does respond to the prophet giving him something to sustain his faith and hope — a vision. Contrary to the current distress, God will ultimately triumph over evil. It is a vision of hope to those who trust in God. As the prophet promises: “The just one because of their faith shall live.”