In his reflection on the gospel reading (Luke 17:5-10) at St James’ morning service last Sunday, Simon Clarke suggested that the point of Jesus’ metaphor about the mustard seed was not to quantify faith as much as to affirm its power.
The disciples had asked Jesus “to increase their faith”. Jesus’ response was along the lines “unleash the faith you already have”.
The text of Simon’s reflection can be found below.
AND HE SAID: ‘UNLEASH THE FAITH YOU ALREADY HAVE’
Luke the storyteller has the disciples of Jesus in the first part of today’s reading (Luke 17: 5-10), making a ‘comfort’ or ‘security’ request of him:” make our faith greater”. How many times have we said that! And what does Jesus answer? “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”
Like many of the Jesus examples, this story can easily be co-opted in support of crude theologies of faith. Especially when read literally, it can distort faith into a kind of magic on tap. We can picture Jesus, perhaps sitting under a mulberry tree or walking past one. If they were anywhere near a village there certainly have been mustard bushes around since it was an essential part of the peasant culinary and medical supplies. We can imagine Jesus using familiar everyday objects to illustrate his point. He could just as easily have said “turn this tree into a goat!
So, assuming Jesus is not exhorting us all to levitate objects into bizarre settings, what is the Lukan Jesus trying to say about faith in these verses? Jesus’ response suggests that the apostles’ request is misguided. He pivots from the question of quantity of faith to the question of sufficiency of faith. Faith “the size of a mustard seed” is sufficient for even the most demanding tasks of discipleship. The mustard seed was known both for its miniscule size (1-2 millimeters in diameter) and for the contrastingly large, unruly bush that it produced. It was therefore the perfect metaphor for small beginnings leading to big results. But again, the point of Jesus’ metaphor is not to quantify faith as much as to affirm its power. God works through a modicum of faith to empower us to work for his new world order.
We could summarise Jesus replies simply: don’t overthink it - unleash, expend, use... the faith you already have. For Luke’s Jesus, faith is a style by which life and work are done. It's not a fossil fuel, that must be hoarded and marketed. It’s a way of seeing and a way of being, and, like many of Jesus’ insights, our understanding of it develops (hopefully!)
Looking back, I believe I probably once understood ‘faith’ as something that could be measured by volume or effort. Very much quantity, not sufficiency. If I studied hard or worked diligently or prayed lots, (none of which I was very good at!) I could increase my faith. It was a pleasant surprise to realise, a fair while later, that faith is a practice, not a thing. Just as you don’t measure kindness, you do it, you’re either kind or you are not: in the same way faith is not a thing or a statement. It is an attitude or a way of life. As poet and priest Andrew Greeley has said “There is no such thing as a little faith any more than there is a little pregnancy. Faith is an overwhelming power no matter how weak it may seem”.
It took me a long while to learn that faith ….
… has nothing to do with a set of beliefs or affirmations... even though honest theological thinking is important.
It has nothing to do with providing answers to a set of questions...even though an intelligent religion is more healthy than an unbelievable one.
It has nothing to do with shooting God into the hearts of others … as has been too often done in a distorted view of faith.
Rather, faith invites us to recognise and acknowledge the presentness of God already there!
For faith is an action rather than a commodity and many times it is an action, a launching out, a moving on against what appears to be overwhelming odds. Faith always has a starting point in doubt, and; contrary to the lessons many of us probably learnt, doubt is a very healthy starting point to explore our theology. I like New Testament scholar Brandon Scott’s comment:
“Theology can never begin by assuming that it already has the answer. Any theology that does not begin with radical doubt is basically dishonest” (Scott 2003). For where there is radical doubt, there is also the possibility of new beginnings, of imagination, of hope. Of change. Of growth.
We find out what faith is all about through the living of it. We are always becoming. Becoming more alive, becoming more aware. To be alive is to be becoming. And this is what faith is all about: a way of living, an attitude, a vision, that creates us daily. Like good cheese or good wine, a matured faith is a gradually maturing process. In a culture enamoured by sensationalist news and highlight reels, it is easy to question our faith when it does not feel extraordinary. To be sure, there is nothing wrong with a mountaintop experience. But the most mundane act of faith carries extraordinary potential for transforming the world into the image of its Creator. So even when we feel that our faith is like a small seed particle; remember we have within our grasp a potent life force. Our journey with the risen Jesus is a journey to understand how better to unleash it.