Proper 22C, October 6, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Lamentations 1:1-6 Her priests groan, her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter….nobody goes to church any more.
2 Timothy 1:1-11 I am reminded of …a faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice…rekindle the gift of God that is within you.
Luke 17:5-10 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
O God of all, grant us the strength, the wisdom, and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may and cost what it will.
I have some show and tell for you today. While my helpers are passing out mustard seeds, I want to say something about the cantata placement today. This cantata was written to bracket the sermon. So we are offering it today as Bach intended. Thanks to everyone who made the complicated logistics work. I love that phrase “as Bach intended.” It’s not completely as Bach intended though – because Bach also intended that the pitch be higher, the lights be dimmer, the preacher to be a man and for the sermon to last for at least 45 minutes (which sounds like some good nap time)! I don’t think you’re going to have time for a nap this morning.
The preacher on Bach’s first Sunday in Leipzig, when this cantata was first offered, would have had the “God is love” passage from 1 John and the story of the rich man and Lazarus before him. They’re fresh in my mind too – the reading from 1 John was a part of a wedding ceremony in Lindsey Chapel yesterday, and we heard the story of the rich man and Lazarus last week. Luke’s audience would also have it fresh in mind because it’s the story just before our Gospel lesson for today, but with a few critical verses missing. And as you know, I like to mind the gap.
Did any of you hear the apostles’ plea this morning and wonder why apostles were asking for more faith? Well I’ll tell you. They were asking for more faith because Jesus had just given them some impossible directions about how to deal with frequent, continuous sinning against them by other disciples. You know, people in the community were sinning against one another back in the olden days. Here are the verses between the story of the rich man and Lazarus and our Gospel portion today.
17:1 Jesus said to his disciples, “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! 17:2 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 stumble. 17:3 Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. [so far so good…but then this] 17:4 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.”
They must have been thinking to themselves “Oh come on!” They must have been thinking that they did not have what it would take to do that. And I don’t blame them – I have a hard time forgiving the same person even three times in one day – forget seven!. Increase our faith, they say. We don’t have enough. We need more faith.
And what Jesus said next is easy to hear as kind of sarcastic – but I don’t think that’s the intention here. Referencing mustard is invoking mischief and nuisance. Mustard is like kudzu seed and it’s a little funny unless you’re a gardener or landowner. What he says is, you know the size of a little mustard seed? That’s all you need to do amazing and seemingly impossible things. Jesus knew that they all had at least this much faith (or they just had nothing left to lose), because, after all, they were following him weren’t they? They were showing up to hear him tell stories. I wonder if their faith was really smaller than a mustard seed whether they would have been there at all. But maybe some of you today are thinking, “I definitely have less faith than this!” Maybe you’ve already lost hold of your tiny mustard seed!
Perhaps you have seen the series of AT&T commercials where a guy is sitting with a few kids asking them questions like, “which is better, fast or slow?” The disciples in this Gospel passage seem to be answering the question, “which is better big or small?” And all the small kids say “big!” We need more! Bigger is better. But Jesus seems to be telling them that they don’t actually need more faith. A little tiny bit goes a long way! Even a tiny amount can wreak havoc! (I mean moving a mountain could possibly be a good idea, but planting a mulberry bush in the sea is not good for the mulberry bush or the sea.) Jesus seems to be saying, “Stop worrying about how much faith you or anyone else has. Stop fretting about not having more.” Turns out if the measure of your faith is smaller than the mustard seed you’re holding (if you’re still holding it), it’s perfectly find. And the unspoken message is, if your faith is bigger than a mustard seed, great! Don’t lord it over others – just get to work!
So if more faith isn’t needed, in order to forgive, what is? Humility, attentiveness, and compassion – to self and others. It’s so hard to forgive people for not being the way we think they should be. It’s so hard to forgive ourselves for not being the way we think we should be. It’s so hard to forgive people for not behaving the way we wish they would behave. And it’s so necessary to our wellbeing and the wellbeing of the wider community. It’s our responsibility – when we are humble and attentive and compassionate, we are just doing our job, according to Jesus.
You’ve probably all heard before the breakdown of the word responsibility – as response and ability. The ability to respond. Jesus is saying that with the ability to respond comes the obligation to respond. Imagine the healing and reconciliation possible when we are able to respond – to be humble, to pay attention and to be compassionate, to participate in feeding and freeing people who are hungry or oppressed. Imagine the healing and reconciliation possible when we are able to ask for and give pardon.
I long for us to hear this and every Gospel story as communicating, provoking, and encouraging acts of loving kindness. This may be a surprising idea to some who have heard of, or experienced, Gospel readings being used in other ways. So I’m going to say it again. I want us to hear this and every Gospel story as communicating, provoking, and encouraging acts of loving kindness. If we don’t yet hear the Gospel that way, let’s tune our ears. Let’s tune our instruments – which is to say our bodies, our hearts and minds. You know, tuning is not a once and done kind of job. Instruments must be frequently tuned, especially on a rainy day like this one. Let’s tune our instruments, so that at the end of the day, at the end of this day, at the end of any day, we can say that we have been played with love and for love, capital L.