Lord, Increase Our Faith

I’m an editor by trade. Ok, that’s one of the things I do. I have waded through hundreds of manuscripts, fiction and non-fiction, trying to use the right words to help the author say what he really means to say. It’s not that authors are dumb. Well, it’s not that all authors are dumb. Sometimes they are thinking of something, but just don’t quite translate their thoughts into words. A section is missing. And it is my job as an editor to point out that there is something missing.

If I were editing today’s Gospel reading, Luke 17: 5-10, I would circle this passage in red and send it back to the author with a note reading, “Help me understand how these two thoughts connect, please.”

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”

⁶ The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!

⁷ “When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? ⁸ No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ ⁹ And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. ¹⁰ In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’” (Luke 17: 5-10 NLT)

We have a teaching on faith, and a teaching on being a servant. How is this all one conversation? How do these thoughts go together? If we back up a few verses, add in verses one through four, we can get a better picture of how all of this goes together. That’s what the author would have told me, the editor, to do. So let’s look at this passage from the top.

¹ One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! ² It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. ³ So watch yourselves!

“If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. ⁴Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”

⁶ The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!

⁷ “When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? ⁸ No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ ⁹ And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. ¹⁰ In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’” (Luke 17: 1-10 NLT)

Now we get a better picture of why the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. He had just told them that 1) if they cause another person to sin, it would be better if they took a deep-sea swim with a heavy rock around their necks, and 2) there is no end to the number of times we must forgive people who do terrible things to us.

Impossible. What Jesus was saying must have seemed impossible, or at least extremely difficult, to those listening to Jesus. So they did the reasonable—and wise—thing: They asked Jesus to help them. “Show us how to increase our faith. We are going to need a lot more faith if we are to live like this.”

Jesus, of course, once again turns their attention from themselves to himself. “It’s not the size of your faith,” he says, “tiny faith will get the job done. It’s in whom you place your faith. And that can only be me.”

With me so far? Now, how do we connect the comments on faith to those about servanthood? Again, we have to start at the top of Jesus’ discourse. He has just given the disciples a very hard task: Don’t tempt others to sin, and live a life of constant forgiveness. Now Jesus is anticipating what might happen should the disciples actually pull this off. Could it be that they start to see themselves as something special? As, perhaps, better than those who don’t forgive so readily? Better than those who are always leading others into sin? Could it be that Jesus is saying, “Look. Even if you do as I have taught you, don’t go thinking you’re all that and chocolate chip ice cream. Your Master doesn’t owe you a thing. You are just doing what you are supposed to do.”

Today’s reading is not one to give us the warm fuzzies, is it? Knuckle down, do what you are supposed to do, and don’t get above your raisin’. Well, there is that one interesting verse dealing with faith. That verse that says even with tiny faith we can tell a tree to pluck itself up by the roots and take a flying leap. There is that. Does Jesus really mean this? What is this faith thing anyway? We will be taking a look at the topic of faith over the next few days, starting this evening.

Closing Prayer

While morn awakes with wondrous light

We come to thee, O Lord, in prayer;

Guard thou and guide our steps aright

And keep us in thy holy care.

Lord, let our tongues be free from blame,

Nor utter words of guilt or strife.

Lift up our eyes from deeds of shame,

And all the vanities of life.

Our hearts be purged and purified

That naught of evil shall remain.

From worldly vice and fleshly pride

Our souls by temperance restrain.

So keep us, Lord, from evil free,

Till fades in dusk the sunset flame,

That we unstained may come to thee

And sing the glories of thy name.

Ambrose