October 2, 2016
Luke 17:5-10 Panzer Liturgical Service
You get to a point in the lectionary season when it feels like you’re preaching or listening to the same sermon over and over. The closer we get to the crucifixion, the more Jesus seems pretty single-minded in his focus. Faith is not about living within a strict set of rules and regulations. Last week we talked about how getting to heaven is not the goal of faithful living. It’s about serving God by serving others.
This week, we see the apostles responding to Jesus’ teaching having realized that perhaps their faith is not up to the task at hand. So they ask him to increase their faith. Now I don’t think that they want him to do it magically. But I do think that they are at a loss for how to go about the business at hand. The rules and checkboxes are all they know. Their plea to Jesus is something like this: If you want us to live differently, then tell us how to do it.
Let’s look at the four verses that preface today’s lesson – four verses that stand between last week’s gospel reading and today’s…
Jesus said to his disciples, “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! 2It 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. 3Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. 4And 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.” (Luke 17:1-4)
In these four verses, Jesus is teaching the disciples about accountability. Basically, he teaches that it is important that we continue to be involved in one another’s lives. If someone sins, then we are to call them to responsibility for their actions (something we’re happy today with abandon - if you ever look at comments on internet posts, you know what I’m talking about…). But at the same time, if they repent of their sin, we are to forgive them, over and over again, for, in the process of repentance and forgiveness, God is working miracles in our lives… this we’re not so good at doing.
Now the disciples surely knew how hard this would be. So they asked the Lord, “Make our faith greater [for we know that we cannot do this on our own.] And Jesus’ reply was something unexpected. He answered with a parable which asked the following question. “Does a servant expect the master to serve him at the end of a long day?” No, the servant expects that the master will still be served, and the servant will always be in service.
In other words: Do your duty. Use the faith you have. You don’t necessarily need more faith, but you do need to exercise what you have.
I know you know this, but here is a reminder: God loved us before we ever even knew who God is – we call that prevenient grace. Salvation and faith are gifts that flow from this love. Many people believe that they must be good or do good in order to be saved. Or they believe that their current or prior behaviors make it impossible for them to be saved. Yet there is nothing you can do to earn salvation. And nothing you ever did will keep salvation from coming. Christ's life, death, and resurrection have already saved us. Nothing we can do, no amount of faith we can generate, makes God love us more or makes us more saved. Being saved is already a done deal, an accomplished fact, a free gift, no strings attached. All we have to do is accept it.
Our responsibility is to respond to God's action in and through Jesus Christ. We are called to a life of faith, in response to God's loving action toward us. We are called to have faith, not to get God to love us or heal us or to get Christ to save us. But we are called to have faith because God loves and heals us. We are called to have faith because Jesus Christ has already saved us.
One of the ways that we acknowledge this grace is through the sacrament of baptism. Now it’s important to remember that sacraments are like signposts that point to God’s character and action. They are rituals that we use to act out what we believe about who God is – not just to us – but in the grand scheme of life. Most of us come from traditions that baptize infants. We do this entirely because we believe that our ability to understand the gift of salvation is not a pre-requirement of being a part of the Kingdom or family of God. And while Charlie and Madeleine are not able to take vows for themselves, their parents and family come to make promises about how they will help these children grow in their faith, preparing them to make promises for themselves at the time of their confirmation or baptismal reaffirmation.
I hope that you will pay close attention to the promises that Chris and Abigail are making today, and to your responses throughout the baptismal liturgy. As in the communion liturgy, we are asked to recommit our lives to Christ and the life he calls us to live.
Our faith does not need to impress God or anyone else. Our faith simply needs to respond to what God has given us. So the next time you are concerned about whether you have enough faith, stop and get in touch with God's love for you. Remember that Christ's life, death, and resurrection already has made eternal life available to you. Become aware of all the gifts God has given you. And know that you are infinitely loved. Respond to God's love with thankfulness and love in return. That is your faith. And that faith, even if it were as small as the tiniest mustard seed, is faith that can transform you and me and the whole world.
I remember when this terrible thing happened 10 years ago - An Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mine, Pennsylvania was the site of a gruesome school shooting, resulting in the deaths of five girls and the injury of five more. Before community members and police could get into the building, the gunman killed himself, leaving so many questions unanswered. The gunman's parents immediately started thinking they would be unable to stay in the community - no one wants a mass murderer's family living next door. But Terri Robert's fears were unfounded; in fact, her Amish neighbors exhibited a trait she never expected - forgiveness.
Within hours, a member of the Amish community came to their door with the following message: The families did not see the couple as an enemy. Rather, they saw them as parents who were grieving the loss of their child, too. He put his hand on the shoulder of Terri Roberts’s husband and called him a friend. A few days later, 30 Amish neighbors came to act as human shields between the Roberts family and press at their son's funeral, afterward offering prayers and messages of condolences.
These Amish Christians continued to invite the Roberts family to community events, and the Roberts family reciprocated, inviting the mothers to her house for tea. They helped to care for Terri Roberts when she came home from the hospital after cancer treatment. They arrived at her house to sing Christmas carols "There is forgiveness," she said, "Of that I have no doubt."
For most of us, the path to forgiveness comes at the end of a long emotional process. But the Amish forgive first and then work through the emotional aftermath. This "decisional forgiveness" is a different kind of witness and is exactly what Jesus is talking about.
Most of us cannot imagine being on either side of this amazing relationship. But maybe it's because we have been thinking about living out our faith in the wrong order.
And the disciples asked Jesus, “Make our faith greater.” And Jesus replied, “You don’t need more faith… you need to use what you’ve got. Even a small amount of faith can move heaven and earth, but faith that is not used will die."
Or in other words, You need to use it or you’ll lose it.
Amen and amen.
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