October 5, 2025

I speak to you in the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Show of hands.  Is there anyone here who doesn’t want more faith?  Anyone?

“Increase our faith”, the disciples say this morning.  Many of us – maybe all of us – sympathize with that desire.  And if we do, Jesus’ response probably distresses us.  “If you have even this much faith”, he says, “the size of the smallest seed there is, you’d be able to accomplish anything.” 

It’s easy to hear those words and think that we might be failures.  It’s easy to hear them as shaming us – as condemnation from Jesus.  To hear them as a reminder of how we constantly fall short of the mark.  Especially if our spirits have been formed in ways that make Christianity all about guilt.

So if this passage makes you feel guilt or shame, then I’m going to encourage you this morning to take a look at Jesus’ words with new eyes.  With a different perspective.  To imagine that Jesus isn’t clucking his tongue and shaking his head over the disciples’ supposed lack of faith.  Let’s re-imagine this not as a tale of scarcity, but as one of abundance.  Let’s imagine that Jesus is offering words of encouragement – and even hope – that God has provided everything the disciples need – that we need – to be faithful followers of Jesus.

I think there are two questions at the heart of this reading.  There’s the question we focus on – the tempting one at the surface of this story – “how much faith is enough?”  But the real question here – the important one – is: “what is faith for?”  And that’s what I want us to go away thinking about today.  “What is faith for?”

Our reading leaves out the first four verses of this chapter.  That’s unfortunate, because I think they provide some vital context.  So let’s hear them, too:

Jesus said to his disciples, “Occasions for sin are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come!  It 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 sin.  Be on your guard! If a brother or sister sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive.  And 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.”

Now, let Jesus’ words sink in for a moment.  Discipleship means being accountable to one another.  It means drawing on a limitless well of forgiveness when someone wrongs us.  It means it would be better to drown in the ocean than to do something that causes a fellow believer to go astray.  No wonder the apostles think they need more faith – the ask here feels astronomically high.  This is hard stuff.

And then Jesus gives us words of encouragement and hope.  He compares the disciples – and us – to slaves who merely carry out the master’s demands.  Which, on the face of it, doesn’t seem hopeful or encouraging at all.  Especially in a society like ours – where slavery is rightly condemned as barbaric and cruel.

But consider this master.  The one in Jesus’ parable.  The master who sends the slaves into the fields so that they might plow or tend to the sheep.  Think about what the master provides.The plow.  The field and the seeds to plant.  The sheep and the sheep-pen.  A place to graze and eat.  Everything that’s needed for an abundant harvest.  The slave takes his or her part by providing the labor.

And the same comes when the day is over.  The slaves prepare and serve a meal for the master.  But the master has supplied ample food and drink.  The fire over which to cook.  The dwelling and the table.  The slaves provide the labor – but when the master has finished, they too eat and drink to their heart’s content.  The master ensures that their needs are met.

In this parable, Jesus describes a relationship between master and servant – between God and creation – that’s marked by mutual accountability and expectation.  The master expects the servants to perform their duties, and the servants, in return, expect – even trust – that when their work is done, the master will give nourishment and rest and protection.

This parable reveals a reality that is properly ordered.  Where we are not in charge.  Where the goodness and flourishing of the world are not completely dependent on our efforts.  Where God’s favor and blessing are not something we earn based on our own work and merit, but through God’s free gift of grace.  God is working in the world – providing everything that’s needed for an abundant harvest of reconciliation and justice and healing.  All God requires of us is to take our place in that work.  To have even a speck of faith – a speck of trust – is enough to move mountains.  To accomplish God’s purposes.  In grace, God has given us enough faith.  Our call is to put it to use.

And that, my friends, brings us to the important question – the real question of the day: what is faith for?  Faith serves many purposes.  It goes beyond just giving our assent to a set of beliefs about God.  Faith is more than an intellectual exercise.  It provides meaning and purpose for our lives.  It offers comfort and hope, especially in difficult times.  Faith assures us of the things we hope for, but have not yet seen.

But ultimately, faith’s end – it’s purpose – is to lead us into service.  To actively living out those beliefs.  What is faith for?  Faith is for nurturing trust that strengthens us to make that “leap of faith” – to step outside our comfort zones and hand our lives over to God – so that the Spirit can work through us to accomplish things that defy ordinary human experience.  Things that we don’t take credit for, because we’re simply doing what God, the Master, has instructed.  Things we use instead to glorify God.

Jesus’ Good News to us this morning is that, in faith, we no longer need to be trapped in the false promise of trusting in our own merits.  Jesus’ Good News to us this morning is that, with even a mustard seed of faith, God has provided everything we need to live the challenging life of discipleship.  Jesus’ Good News to us this morning is that a faith-filled life of dutiful service and willing obedience promises us a place at the table alongside the Best Master of All – the one who comes to set us free from the power of evil, sin, and death through the abundant harvest of justice, peace and love.  Amen.