CEC News
… Father Riley will lead us in Holy Eucharist October 13; 20. Mrs. Jane Barnett will lead us in Morning Prayer October 27.
… The Rev. Canon Dr. Stephanie Spellers presented “Episcopal Evangelism 101” at
17 PENTECOST, PROPER XXII -
C- 19 LUKE
17. 5-10
One of my favorite movies
from the late 80s was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It was one of those
action adventure films directed by Steven Spielberg and co-written by executive
producer George Lucas. It was third in a series of Indiana Jones movies that starred
Harrison Ford.
In this particular, one Indiana
One by one they over come the
various devices only to find themselves standing at the edge of a great abyss
that separates them from continuing their quest. Indiana
With that, the father steps
out and into what appears to the naked eye to be empty space that would lead
directly to one’s fall into the abyss, but in reality is an invisible bridge
that connects the two sides and enables the two seekers to continue their
journey.
In today’s gospel, the
disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith, as if it were as simple as that.
Their request comes on the heels of Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness and how
often we need to forgive each other. In addition, Christ has also given a
warning to those who would knowingly lead another astray.
Maybe it was after hearing these conditions of
discipleship and warnings that his followers felt the need to ask for an
increase. Jesus’ response to their request would suggest that their faith at
this juncture in their relationship to him was less than the size of a mustard
seed. In other words, pretty small.
“If you had faith the size of a mustard seed,”
he told them, “you could say to the mulberry tree, ‘be uprooted and planted in
the sea, and it would obey you.”
What is faith, how do we
define it? First, it is a gift from God. It is that which enables us to believe
when our eyes and or our intellect tells us otherwise. Faith opens our eyes to
see God in all that we do, in the world around us, in the face of friend and
stranger.
Faith teaches us to trust in
God, and enables us to do the work we have been given to do. Faith opens the
door to receive other gifts from God. The Holy Spirit distributes those gifts
according to one’s faith.
As we read the gospel
accounts, we see the disciples growing in their faith in proportion to their
relationship to Christ. It was not faith, however, that initially drew them to
want to follow him, but his personality and the way in which he talked about
God and the kingdom.
They were drawn not only by
his words but also his actions. He had the power to give sight to the blind,
heal the lepers, the lame, and to raise the dead. Their faith grew gradually
with each moment, hour and day they spent in his presence. Nevertheless, even
after three years of following him, their faith failed them in the dark of the
night when Jesus was arrested in the garden and taken away from them.
Fear overcame them. Fear is the opposite of
faith. Their fear caused them to abandon him. Like fear, doubt likewise is an
enemy of faith. Doubt can drain our faith. On more than one occasion, doubt
clouded their belief in him even when they heard the first report of his
resurrection. True faith has no room for doubt only belief.
Faith that is not tested, on
the other hand, is no faith at all. Sometimes our faith is tested to the
breaking point as was theirs. As long as we are in this life, there is no
escape, no way to avoid it. How much faith does it take to be a Christian?
More than most of us think
that we have. With each test, our faith is tempered like that of steal. Have
you ever watched a blacksmith work?
The metal is heated to
red-hot and then cooled and hammered.
Then heated and cooled and
hammered again and again until finally the desired shape is accomplished. Our
faith goes through the same process. With each test, it is hammered and by God’s
grace becomes stronger.
Nevertheless, the day comes
for each of us as it did for the disciples, when our faith, or lack of it, will
fail us. That is when we have to be humble enough to come to Jesus, as the
father did at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration confessing our unbelief
and asking for God’s help.
What is important is not the
quantity but the quality of our faith. What the disciples had to discern, and
what we have to discover is the quality of our faith, whether it be the size of
a mustard seed or that of an oak tree.
Nowhere in the teachings of
Jesus does he ever give us a simple definition of faith. However, the totality
of Jesus’ teachings makes it clear to us that faith is our unconditional
acceptance of Him.
It is our “yes” to follow
Jesus, who died and rose again, whose death and resurrection has opened to us
the way to eternal life, that gives us the courage to step out when it appears
we cannot go any further and enables us to continue the journey.
Paul’s words are given to us,
then, in the same spirit as they were given to Timothy, in the same spirit as
they have been given to others that we have known in our witness to Christ. As
Christians, we must be concerned with the quality of how we live our lives and
not the quantity the modern world wants us to consider.
Faith begins and ends with
Hope - hope of eternal life, the promise of Jesus to all who believe in Him. In
the final analysis what will be eternally important to each of us is God’s view
of the life we lived and not the worlds, a life lived in Faith, Hope, and Love
in service and witness to others in the name of Christ and for the sake of the
gospel. AMEN+
No comments:
Post a Comment