Luke 17:5-10; 20th Sunday after Pentecost C, October
6, 2013
Grace and
peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, Amen.
Jesus said,
"If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this
mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.”
Doesn’t this sound a bit odd coming from Jesus? I realize he is using hyperbole
here, but why would we want to uproot a mulberry tree and plant it in the sea? I
have heard that mulberry trees are an invasive species, so I get why someone
may want one uprooted. But why should it be put in the sea? What good does that
do? I’ll be honest: I don’t have an answer to that one.
And yet,
when I read this lesson, I can’t help but think of the Once Upon a Time season
opener from last Sunday. This fairytale based fantasy show takes the audience
to Neverland, the place where Peter Pan is forever young. “Faith, Trust, and
Pixie Dust” is all that Pan needs to fly. In this episode, Henry and a new
friend are at the edge of a cliff, desperate to escape their attackers. His
friend shows him some pixie dust but fears that it won’t work.
Henry said,
“Everyone knows pixie dust is for flying.” His companion said, “Don’t you
remember, the dust doesn’t work!” Henry replied, “That’s because you have to
believe.” His companion responded, “I definitely do not believe.”
“That’s ok,
because I do.” Henry said as he jumped off the cliff with his companion in tow.
They fly off, safe from their enemies.
Sometimes,
I think we expect faith in God to be like this. The disciples say, “Increase
our faith,” as if what they really want is some pixie dust. They don’t
necessarily want to fly, but they do want some physical evidence of their
faith. They want something that they can use to make their faith stronger,
better, more reliable. Like in the tv show, they want to have a little tube full
of dust hanging from their necks. Then all they would need is more dust to show
the world how great their faith is.
But, as
often happens, the disciples don’t really understand the dynamics of faith. They
want faith to be like magic, but it isn’t. The magic of Once Upon a Time is
quantifiable. In the show, they perform magic with spells, potions, and pixie
dust. They can increase their magic, and pixie dust can be measured. But magic
is fake, only existing in our imaginations.
Faith,
though, is real. Faith uses the Bible, water, bread, and wine to develop our
relationship with our one Lord. These elements of baptism and communion do not
increase our faith, but develop it. We can count how many times we have
received communion during our lives, but that does not amount to how much faith
we have. For faith is not quantifiable. Faith as small as a mustard seed can
move a tree into the ocean, but faith as large as the tree can’t move a seed.
I am sure
that many of the characters in Once Upon a Time have the ability to move trees.
When they came to Neverland, that wasn’t what they came to do; they came to
save Henry. They are Emma Swan, who is Henry’s mother, Captain Hook, Snow
White, Prince Charming, and the evil witch – quite an odd combination. When they
arrived on the coast of Neverland, Emma gave them a pep talk before they
ventured into the island.
She said,
“This land is run on belief. All of us have been too busy at each others’
throats to be believers. I was as wrong as anyone else, but it is time for all
of us to believe. Not in magic – but in each other.”
The witch
replied, “You want us to be friends? After everything that has happened between
us?”
“I don’t
want or expect that,” Emma commented, “I know there is a lot of history here, a
lot of hate…We don’t need to be friends. What we need to know is the only way
to get Henry back is to cooperate.”
Charming
interjected in disdain, “With her? With him? We need to do this the right way.”
Emma
responded, “No, we don’t. We just need to succeed. And the way we do that is by
just being who we are: a hero, a villain, a pirate. It doesn’t matter which
because we are going to need all those skills whether we can stomach them or
not.”
The witch
sarcastically responded, “And what’s your skill, savior?”
Emma
concluded, “I’m a mother, and now I’m your leader. So either help me get my son
back, or get out of the way.” Then, one by one, they drew their swords and
followed Emma into the forest of Neverland.
To Emma,
pixie dust was just a fairy tale. Magic would get her nowhere, just as magic
can do nothing for us. Yet, Emma knew that faith and trust were what mattered
most. Not faith and trust in magic, but faith and trust in each other. They
needed to trust each others’ strengths and overcome each others’ weaknesses to
reach their united goal – to save Henry.
Emma knew
that faith is a behavior, not a possession. She has no need to own pixie dust
to save her son. What she needs is to believe that she can save her son with
the help of her four companions. When these people trust in themselves and in
each other, they can work together to complete their common goal.
Isn’t it
funny how a common cause can throw out our complications so that we can work
together? Sometimes, our faith in each other keeps us going through the best
and the worst. Yet, our faith in each other only goes so far. Our faith in God
is what we truly need. And the best part? Our faith is a gift. God gives us
faith. God gives us more than we need.
When the
disciples said, “Increase our faith,” they were being foolish because they
didn’t need to have their faith increased. None of us ever should feel like our
faith isn’t enough, because you can’t quantify faith. Faith is not dependent
upon believing certain facts in the Bible. Actually, doubt and questioning are
important parts of faith.
Also, faith
is trust. We live out our faith when we trust in God, when we trust that God is
in control, when we trust that Jesus has already saved us through his death on
the cross. The amount of our faith is irrelevant because God has already given
us what we need. God has given us new life in Christ. What is more important
than that? Amen.
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