October 7, 2007
19th Sunday after Pentecost
7Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here at once and take your place at the table'? 8Would you not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'? 9Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"
Tossing Mulberry Trees
Part of my family have traced themselves back to
The hammer throw, the stone toss (which is akin to the shot put of today), and especially the caber toss. The caber toss was my favorite to watch. These burly Scotts would pick up a huge tree at its base, run, and toss it out into the open air where it would fly end-over-end. The point is to have your caber do a 360 degree revolution, and land facing away from you as if pointing to 12 as the hand of some great and giant clock.
It’s a fascinating game. And I always wanted to caber toss, but didn’t think I could ever do it. My legs aren’t that big, my arms aren’t that big, and my Scottish accent makes a mockery of the language. I can’t do it.
When I read today’s gospel message, it reminded me of the caber toss. Jesus says to his disciples that faith the size of a mustard seed can cause a Mulberry tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea. Immediately I thought of the caber toss, this burly Scott grabbing the Mulberry Tree and hurdling it end-over-end into the sea of Galilee, disrupting some unsuspecting fish as it lands upright, roots sinking deep into the sand.
But then I read the verse again. And I realized that Jesus never mentioned the faithful person touching the tree. Jesus only mentioned the faithful person speaking to the tree. At the sound of the faithful’s voice, that tree would uproot itself and plant itself in the sea. That sounds even more impossible than caber tossing. Not only are the arms and the legs not strong enough for this feat, but the voice is lacking as well. No one’s voice can make such a thing happen. No ones except God’s. We look at this text and we say, “Speak to the tree and make it move? We can’t”
But perhaps we need to approach this gospel text from another angle. Perhaps we need to approach this gospel text not from the angle of “we can’t,” but from the angle of “we haven’t.”
This gospel text comes on the heels of some very harsh words from Jesus to the disciples. Before this text, what we didn’t read, Jesus warns the disciples of not leading young people of the faith astray. If they do that, it would be better to throw them into the sea with a concrete block around their neck. At hearing this, the disciples immediately cry out, “Increase our faith!”
“Increase our faith.” Why? The implication is that a small faith will lead others astray. A small faith will not profess God correctly, a small faith will not spread the Good News effectively. The implication is that the disciples believe their faith is too small, too inadequate, too little for them to even begin to utter a word to anyone, and so, before they are going to start telling people about God, before they are going to start feeding the poor in the expectation that hunger will be no more, before they are going to start throwing down idols and power structures in the hopes that God’s reign will be recognized, they need more faith.
They believe that the size of their faith correlates to their effectiveness and Jesus tells them it just ain’t so.
“Faith?” Jesus says. “Faith? Faith of the smallest measure can just speak things into happening. Impossible things. It’s not faith you need, it’s fidelity. It’s faithfulness, that is, faith put into action.”
And then Jesus tells them a story. In that story he in effect says, “Faithfulness is what you need. Faithfulness is not found in the master lording over a servant, being in control of everything. Faithfulness is found in a servant doing the work expected of them. And at the end of the day, do they expect to be the master? No, they simply expect that they have done what they were asked to do. This is what faithfulness is, do what is expected of you.”
You see, the disciples wanted control. They wanted to be in the driver’s seat. They wanted to make sure that, before they acted they would know the outcome, and so they say, “Increase our faith!” Increase our faith to the point that we would be in control, that we would know what was going to happen.
That kind of thinking works in economic policy. That kind of thinking works in the financial world. But in the world of the church, in the world of faithfulness, that kind of thinking only causes inaction.
If the disciples had waited until all their ducks were in a row, until they felt they had “faith enough” to succeed at their mission, we might all be somewhere else today reading a different scripture.
You see, the good news is that it’s not the size of the faith that makes things possible, but the size of the God behind the faith that makes things possible. The disciples needed to act on the faith of God, not on their faith in God. This God, who speaks things into being, who speaks the impossible, who asks us to love our God and love our neighbors as ourselves, to love justice, show mercy, and walk humbly with God. This God who’s love is big enough to give to everyone, who’s faith is big enough cause trees to move, to cause cosmos to swirl, to cause babies to be encircled in the waters of baptism as a sign of love, this is the God we serve.
And we are to go and act in faithfulness, in service to this God, not because we think that we will somehow be greater because of it, but because God and God’s purpose for humanity is greater to begin with. That is why we faithfully feed those who are hungry because we know God can take hunger, that mulberry tree of hunger, and drown it in the waters of baptism through that faithfulness. That is why we faithfully clothe the naked because we know that God can take poverty, that mulberry tree of poverty, and drown it in the waters of baptism and raise people to new life through that faithfulness.
So how are we, at
You know, I was in a wedding a few years ago as a groomsman. The groom gave us all a gift, this small paper-weight etched here. The words on it say, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail.” I like this saying, it’s both challenging and affirming. But if I waited to do anything until I knew it was a sure bet, I’d stay in bed all day.
But I don’t, we don’t, because we know that it’s not the size of the faith that makes things happen, it’s not the quality of assurance that makes things happen, but it’s the size and quality of the God behind the faith that makes things happen. And this is a God who does not fail.
So how are we, at
When I would look at those caber tossers, I would be amazed. But I always thought that I’d never be able to toss a caber myself: my arms aren’t strong enough, my legs aren’t strong enough, and I’m not built for that type of sport. But, then again, I’ve never tried it. What would I do if I new I could not fail? I would probably start tossing mulberry trees into the sea.
There is ministry to be done, and we must act in faithfulness for a God who loves us, supports us, and has a better vision for humanity, for this world. We may not be in control, but that’s ok. God is. So let’s start tossing mulberry trees into the sea. Amen.
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