Scripture Reflections

On Sunday, we heard the disciples say to Jesus (in Lk. 17), “Increase our faith!” My guess is that most of us, at some point or another, have thought or prayed the same thing. Our faith in God can feel very weak, at times.
 
Jesus’ response is strange. “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you.’” I don’t know what is weirder—the fact that only a smidgeon of faith is needed, or the idea that anyone would want a mulberry tree to be planted in the sea. Suffice to say that Jesus’ response leaves us with more questions than answers.
 
But what follows in Luke 17 is critical, because Jesus immediately clarifies what matters more than the amount of faith we have. Or perhaps a better way of saying it is that he clarifies what it means to have a little grain of faith that grows.
 
In verses 7-10, Jesus tells his disciples that what matters most is their willingness to obey God. We are unworthy servants, and God wants us to just say “yes” to him. In other words, he cares more about the willingness to submit to him than he does to how strongly we feel our faith. Or, again, perhaps a better way of saying it is that we grow in faith by submitting to him. Obedience is the way to grow in faith.
 
But Jesus isn’t done, because immediately after this, we see an object lesson. Jesus cleanses 10 lepers, and one returns to give thanks to him (Lk. 17:11-19). Jesus looks at the one who returned in gratitude, and says, “Ten were cleansed, but only one worshiped and gave thanks; your faith has saved you.” In other words, our faith is exercised in thanksgiving and adoration—it grows that way. Giving thanks to God for what he has done is more important than how big our faith feels.
 
Obedience and thanksgiving. They are more important than how strong our faith feels; they are the means of our faith growing. They are the muscular exercises of faith, the way that it increases in us. We want to feel deep faith first, and then respond in obedience and thanksgiving. But Jesus says, in effect, “If you have a mustard seed of faith, then submit to God’s word and give thanks. In doing so, you will find yourself made whole by the faith growing in you.”
 
In Christ,
 
Steven+