The Tool For Any Challenge

Luke 17:1-6

The Sower, Vincent Van Gogh c. 1888 (Public Domain)

“Now why would you go and do a thing like that?!”

I heard that one a number of times growing up. 

To be honest, many days, I wasn’t really sure just how to answer. 

When I asked my parents to give me a few examples of events that caused them to ask this question for today’s sermon,  they said they couldn’t narrow it down. There were just too many examples to mention. 

As I got older, I found my answer  to this question became a bit more consistent, and the activities which I engaged in became a bit less juvenile, yet no less foolish in the eyes of others, to include my parents. 

I started rock climbing in high school and college, because I was afraid of heights. 

I joined the Marine Corps, because I had heard how terrifying the experience of boot camp was. 

I resigned from an eight year career to attend seminary, because I wanted to explore the greatest challenge one can face…seeking a deeper understanding of my own faith, which had been challenged by so many experiences. 

And many would ask, family, friends, co-workers, you name it; 

“Why would you EVER, do a thing like that!?”

My answer has remained the same for most of my adult life, 

It’s the same reason many climbers give for attempting peaks like Everest

“Because it’s there!”

The pronoun “it” in that response doesn’t refer to a mountain, a degree, or a title. 

The pronoun in that response refers to the challenge. 

That challenge is not always found in some adventure or mischievous endeavor.

Sometimes that challenge is nothing more than simply living. 

Because we are called into this life to take chances, just by the mere fact that we are born into this broken and challenging world with nothing to protect us but a simple covering of the fragile mortal flesh that we are given. 

Life itself can be a stand alone challenge, so why seek out new ones?!

It is a natural response to avoid challenges, let alone seek out our own. 

Yet, there are unique people who seek out a good challenge. 

And while these people may seem brave, I must say that I for one am not, because I am selective about the challenges I will face. 

And when it comes to Jesus’ challenge of discipleship, I fail to live up to that challenge daily. 

And that’s not brave, it is selective cowardice.

~

Today’s Gospel is a bit comical. 

Jesus’ conversation is with the apostles, a group of men, who probably are used to seeking out life’s challenges. 

The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, Raphael c. 1515 (Public Domain)

Why else would a group of men leave their families and livelihoods to follow this prophetic itinerant preacher? 

They must have had an idealistic perspective on what this challenge of following Jesus would entail?

And most of them lived out lives that were fairly challenging, if not adventurous in the first place. 

I would at least assume that life for those who had been fishermen was a fairly adventurous and challenging experience, even before meeting Jesus. 

Yet, Jesus’ assurance that life will be full of snares, traps, temptations, and stumbling blocks isn’t what scares them.

It is the warning not to be the cause of another’s stumbling through life. 

And most of all, the call to forgive anyone who should sin against them, if that person merely claims to be repentant,  that is the challenge that Jesus poses, and it seems to be the deal breaker. 

So, on that note, they decide they don’t really have everything they need to face the challenge at hand. 

And apparently, discipleship in Jesus’ day had a fairly short supply list because the one thing they claim to be lacking in order to perform this task… is faith?

It would seem their request falls pretty flat in Jesus’ response which isn’t meant to deny their lack of faith but to affirm that they have already received the faith that is needed to do ANYTHING. 

Matthew’s account of this conversation claims that faith the size of a mustard seed could move a mountain. 

Luke just claims that a mulberry tree could uproot and take on a life of its own, like that old Disney Halloween cartoon I grew up with, based on this tiny speck of faith that they have. 

Jesus’ claim seems a bit outlandish, because a Mulberry fig tree, which is probably the type of tree Jesus is referencing, given the region, may be just as much of a feat as the mountain that Matthew claims can be moved. 

Mulberry trees were massive and the root systems were as massive if not larger than what could be seen above the soil. 

Even today, one must be cautious where they plant these trees because they can easily destroy property with their roots and they are very drought resistant.

These trees are nearly impossible to uproot. 

It would be pretty safe to assume that Jesus is using a metaphor or an allegory to describe the power of faith. 

This is certainly a safer view to take.

It will keep us from  becoming too disappointed after spending countless afternoons attempting to move those pesky neighborhood trees with our Jedi faith skills. 

And this will only make this gospel that much more frustrating. 

So, we could always do the next best thing. 

Avoid the text all together!

We can use this lesson in children’s sermons and for motivational speeches, but don’t reference this one in any real challenges you may face in life. 

~

You will have to forgive my pessimism, but I became a bit disheartened this week as I prepared for this Sunday. 

I love the topic of faith, and I believe that our understanding of faith is truly what sets us apart as Lutherans. 

Yet, as I read the commentary of many scholars on this topic, I found many merely avoided discussing faith at all. 

More and more I have found that the f-word has become something we have a tendency to avoid. 

As a Lutheran I used to think we were alone in our fear of this word, or should I say THIS WORK?

Martin Luther once said,  “Faith is a divine work which God demands of us; but at the same time He Himself must implant it in us, for we cannot believe by ourselves.”

He claimed that faith was the finest work we could do. 

But our Lutheran bumper stickers prohibit such rhetoric!

It has an air of "works righteousness," and even if we really don’t fully understand what all that means, it sounds BAD, right?!

This is why so many Protestants struggle with the topic of faith,  because if it is a "work" that we do, our condemnation and redemption lay completely within our own control 

And time and again, we know how that one turns out. 

The true seed of faith that Jesus speaks of is the faith we receive from a source beyond ourselves. 

It is quite simple.

It is the way we worship each Sunday when we meet, which is simply a play where we all take part, living out the story we have heard. 

That’s right!

We are all on stage right now!

It’s the Meal that we share that allows us to sit at the same table in that story we hear. 

It is the water that is poured onto the head of ______ as we witness the birth of our sister in Christ, into God’s Church through this community here at St Michael!

And through it all, it points to one common thing, the story we receive that assures us of God’s love through the life of Jesus Christ. 

~

Sisters and brothers, God’s grace is the gift that is assured because it depends upon no work, no merit, no worthiness of our own

And thank God for this, because we are ALL so unworthy. 

It is the gift of God’s unrestrained and unlimited love for us, which is described in such glory that we cannot even imagine it. 

Like a treasure on the other side of an ocean. 

But if God’s grace is a treasure waiting just beyond the stormy seas of life, 

Rainbow, Ivan Aivazovsky c.1873 (Public Domain)

The faith we receive in Christ is the vessel that will take us there. 

It is our call to not only enter into that boat, trusting in it to see us safely to the prize. 

But as disciples, we are commanded to call others to face the challenges of these waters with us, assuring them that the reward is not only the treasure, but the challenge of the journey itself. 

~

Much like the apostles in our Gospel today, the mission we are called to doesn’t always sound like the best use of a Sunday morning much less our entire life. 

But we bring ______ to the waters of her Baptism this day with the intent and hope that she will hold to the faith that clings to the waters of her baptism. 

And we face the challenges of this life holding to the promise of the water that was washed over us. 

And THAT is the faith that will drive us up the mountains and through the Mulberry trees that stand in our own paths. 

~

Years ago, there was a pastor working in a small rural congregation in North Carolina. 

One night, an anxious parishioner came knocking on his door. 

When the pastor answered the only words he heard were, “C’mon, c’mon, he’s gonna kill him, he’s gonna kill him!”

The pastor came to discover that after a family dispute, one of his congregants had decided his only recourse was to shoot his brother dead. 

Foolishly, the pastor knocked on the door rather than calling the police. 

When the brother came to the door with a pistol in his hand and advised the pastor he planned on killing his brother, regardless of what was said.

All the pastor’s theology and counseling classes fell away as he stared blankly into the face of the murderous brother. 

And in the midst of the silence that pastor slowly opened his mouth until the words, “You can’t,” simply fell from his lips. 

“Why NOT?!” questioned the brother, a bit shocked.

Confused as much at his own words as he was at the situation, the pastor simply replied,

“Because you have to remember your baptism.”

~

Sisters and brothers, baptism does not serve as our salvation insurance, it is the offering of God’s grace and that grace is the soil by which our faith grows. 

Our faith is the anchor we cling to when the waves are too high, 

And ______'s parents and sponsors, I want you to know those waves will certainly swell over little _____  as she grows and the years pass by. 

She will be challenged, and many of those challenges will be beyond daunting. 

But in a few moments you will be committing to giving her the anchor of faith to cling to.

And this congregation, you likewise, will be making a commitment to support her and this family in the midst of whatever stormy seas may arise. 

Because that is the call of Jesus in our gospel for today,

Not to seek excuses or avoid the challenges that arise, 

But to face those challenges holding firm to that anchor of our faith+ 

Amen

The Crucifixion, Lucas Cranach the Elder c. 1532 (Public Domain)

Sources

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works Volume 23 Sermons On The Gospel Of St. John Chapters 6-8. Edited by Jaroslav Pelikan. St. Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House, 1959.

Tillich, Paul and Mary Ann Stenger. The New Being. Philadelphia, PA, United States: University of Nebraska press, 2005.