October 7, 2007 – 18th Sunday after Pentecost
Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4, Psalm 37, 2 Timothy 1:1-14, Luke 17:5-10
Grace and Peace to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
I was reading the other day about the American Revolution and how daring and audacious the Declaration of Independence was. The 13 colonies had a grand total of 2, at most, 3 million people. England had a population of at least 30 million people at that time. In other words they were about 10 times bigger. They were a superpower with a vast Army and Navy, factories, foundries and finances. We were puny and just getting started. To put it in modern terms can you imagine Columbia in South America, or Poland in Europe declaring war on us? It must have taken amazing faith or else those founding fathers were a bit crazy.
God seems to be always about using faith to move mountains. In the Old Testament, David, a teenager, armed with a slingshot, goes up against the Philistine giant Goliath – a man nearly 7 feet tall and as strong as an ox. He was a seasoned warrior carrying a bronze shield which was half the size of David. The whole army of Israel refused to go up against Goliath but David, puny David, armed only with a sling shot and five smooth stones and an inner conviction that God would help him went out to do battle with Goliath. You know the story; Goliath lost his head over the matter.
In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus talks to the disciples about the power of faith. The apostles asked Jesus for greater faith. I have asked the Lord the same thing many times. Our church offerings fall behind and it shivers my timbers. Will we be able to pay all our bills? One of my children gets in trouble or starts hanging with the wild bunch and I would worry. O Lord, increase my faith.
His response is puzzling. “If you had faith as big as a mustard seed, you could say to the mulberry tree, pull yourself up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea and it would obey you”.
Faith is a hard thing to quantify but Jesus was always telling the disciples to have more. When the storm arose on the Sea of Galilee and he slept through it, they woke him up terrified and afterward he said, “Have you no faith?” He often called the disciples, “Oh ye of little faith”. Yet when a man whose son had epilepsy came to him asking for his son to be healed, Jesus asked him the question “Do you believe?” The man replied, “Lord I believe help my unbelief!” The boy was healed. He just needed a little faith – mustard seed size faith.
Faith is trusting not in yourself but in God. Faith is believing that God is loving, benevolent and intends well for you and the world in spite of all evidence to the contrary be that unemployment, global terrorism, climate changes and warming or come what may.
The writer of Hebrews defines faith this way. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, it is the certainty of things we cannot see.” It’s the best definition of faith I’ve ever heard. We have no proof of the existence of God – only faith that this marvel of a planet and the wonder of its beauty is not an accident but the result of the handiwork of a loving God. We have no proof that God is loving except for the word we have about Jesus – about a God who became a person so that the doubters among us (which by the way includes all) could have a God they could see, hear, and most of all touch.
We have no proof of this God, we have only testimony. We have no scientific evidence of this God, we have only the witness of the disciples of the past who ate with Him, sat at his feet while he taught them, watched as he cured the sick and gave sight to the blind. We have ultimately only their witness to his resurrection – of a specific disciple named Thomas who knelt before him and touched his wounded hand and side.
But words of witnesses are mighty things.
They might be as small as mustard seeds but they still move mountains and create walking mulberry trees.
Matt and Jessica Flannery started KIVA.ORG in 2004. They are married and are both sincere Christians. All their lives they have been supporting and sponsoring children through Save the Children, Christian Children’s Fund and the like. God gave them a certain genius for organizing and using the internet, so they created KIVA. KIVA matches individual lender to folks in the 3rd world who need start up money.
These folks are in touch with microlenders in all parts of the 3rd world. These microlenders give small loans to people to help them get started. Maria has a bakery in Ecuador and needs 1000 to expand her business. She is successful so far, but just needs bit of help to grow. With her new improved business she can hire some more people. Mohamed has a taxi service in Bangladesh. He needs 600 for a new used motorcycle. He has been paired with 20 donors from the North America and Europe who have each given from $10 - $30. The internet makes this kind of matching possible.
The Flannery’s at KIVA believe it is better to lend money to people then to simply give it to them. Firstly it makes the relationships one of mutual benefit which is good basis for friendship. Gifts always make you feel indebted; loans make you feel like an equal. Secondly, paying back a loan gives a person a credit history and permits them to borrow again at a regular bank.
KIVA.ORG is helping thousands of people in the 3rd world improve their lot and earn their own living. It is a small idea that has had a powerful impact.
“If you have faith as small as a mustard see!” Jesus said. Increase our faith O Christ, and also help us to put in use the faith you have already given.
In Jesus’ Name.
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