Sermon on Luke 17.5-10
Originally given 02 October 2022 at St. Alban's Church, Coventry
Jesus seems to have a thing for mustard seeds. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus talks about a mustard seed five different times. One of those times is in today's Gospel reading. It's a verse I've heard spoken into various problematic situations. People like to use the idea of only needing such a small amount of faith to do the impossible, but in practice this line of thought seems to backfire. For example, some people said if my friend Rachel had enough faith, she could have prayed away her colon cancer and survived into her 30s. Others might have told me my faith was simply not strong enough to prevent having a miscarriage. And then this leads on to the other horrible theologically abusive idea that everything happens for a reason. No, some things just happen, and they're awful. But God remains.
So I go back to this obsession with mustard seeds. If Jesus isn't criticising his disciples for their lack of faith, what is so special about a mustard seed? I think we could go two directions with this. First, looking at the seed itself, then looking at what it becomes.
The mustard seed is tiny. So when it is planted in the ground, there is a lot that can go wrong. It may not get enough nutrients from the soil. It may not get watered properly. It may not have the right amount of sun to help it sprout. But throughout the Gospels, Jesus never actually talks about what he's talking about. In other words, it's not about the mustard seed, but about people. The mustard seed could be seen as the least among seeds, so Jesus is referring to the least among people. People lacking money, resources, and relationships. People who are most in need, fully impoverished. Last week, Barney preached on Lazarus, the poor, homeless man who had nothing on earth, but everything after death. He inherited the Kingdom of God, because he was one of the least among people on earth. So in telling us to have the faith of a mustard seed, Jesus is once again reminding us to be humble and obedient to the Lord. It is a reminder that the last will be first, that whatever we do to the least, we do to the Lord. A reminder of the 'upsidedowness' of the glory of God.
Having the faith of a mustard seed is about having faith when the odds are against you. But it's important to note that faith is not blind, it requires an object. And the object of our faith is Jesus Christ. Our faith is powerless, unless our faith is Christ-centred, focusing on the will of Christ not our own. In the Epistle reading today, Paul says, 'I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.' (2 Timothy 1:12) Having faith does not mean praying for the things we want, but trusting in God to make all things good. Having faith means knowing that despite all the suffering and trials, God remains.
So now that we've thought about the mustard seed, let's think about what it becomes. In three of the five times Jesus mentions a mustard seed, he talks about a mustard tree, but my limited research (Google) suggests it would be more accurate to describe it as a plant or a bush. That being said, a mustard bush can reach up to 12 feet high, which is why it's often called a tree. Just after the time of Jesus, Pliny the Elder described mustard saying, 'It grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: but on the other hand when it has once been sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once."
So here we have this tiny seed that must struggle in order to grow into a bush, and does better in a nurturing environment. But once it gets started, it can grow on its own and spread like wildfire. Does that remind you of anything? Jesus began his ministry with a handful of disciples, who were persecuted, beaten, and murdered by the government and other religious leaders. But in spite of the difficulties, their message took hold, and in communities that nurtured each other the faith grew so that two thousand years later the Gospel of Jesus is spoken around the world. So that even now, God remains.
Another observation of the mustard bush is that although it's big, it's not really majestic or beautiful. It's sprawling and twisted, it's kind of messy. So maybe when talking about mustard tree faith, Jesus is also teaching us to have a messy faith. A faith that doesn't have all the answers. A faith that can be challenging and sometimes feel impossible. After all, how is it possible to keep faith when everything seems to be going against us? When we don't know where our next meal will come from, or how we'll keep warm in the winter? Or what to do when our best friend is dying, or when we feel we'll never have that rainbow baby? The answer is there is no answer. Faith is not about knowing the outcome of the impossible, but in trusting that God is with us. And messy faith means through all the messiness of life we still know in our hearts that God remains.
So what can we learn from mustard seeds and mustard bushes? Mustard seeds teach us that even if we are fighting against the world to thrive, we are never fighting alone. And mustard trees show us that there is room for all the messiness of life. Because in our life, whatever challenges come before us, whatever questions are left unanswered, God always remains.
No comments:
Post a Comment