Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 141

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."
The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

Our readings today begin with an abbreviated version of Habakkuk 1:2 through 2:4. The full text, comprised of 20 verses, refers to dreadful developments of the sixth and seventh centuries before Christ, incidents long forgotten and of no great interest to us today. Jerusalem suffered an existential crisis as Egypt, its more powerful ally, was defeated by Babylon. They saw in that faraway event their own future destruction. 

These twenty verses ask a single question, "How long, O Lord?" But that is not, "How much time do we have?" Rather the question is, "When are you, our All-Powerful God, coming to save us?"

We often ask the same question but it comes out backwards. Instead of asking God the hard question, we doubt ourselves. We say, "I thought I had faith, but I am plagued with doubts about God's protection. I am terrified when I should be brave. I am scared when I should be confident. I cannot laugh in the face of my troubles." 

Today's Gospel immediately follows Jesus's teaching about forgiveness, "...if your brother wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.” 

Again, with such a demand upon us, we doubt our faith; and the astonished disciples reply, "Increase our faith!" They're not prepared to forgive anyone seven times a day and they know it. 

But Jesus only increases the pressure with a parable, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and cast into the sea, and it would obey you!" 

If that is the case, I have no faith, not even the size of a mustard seed. 

I find it helpful to remember the opposite of faith is not doubt. If I am anxious and troubled about many things -- about happenings around me and troubles within me -- that doesn't mean I have no faith. 

The opposite of faith is not doubt but betrayal. As when Judas betrayed the Lord, and his disciples fled from Gethsemane, and later denied knowing him. If Jesus is impatient with his disciples' fearful doubts, and sometimes berates them as, "Ye of little faith;" he reserves his condemnation for hypocrites and traitors. 

In today's second reading, Saint Paul addresses our fearful doubts:

I remind you, to stir into flame

the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.

For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice

but rather of power and love and self-control.

We know fear. We have heard of Jesus's fear on the night before he died, when he prayed alone in Gethsemane. There was a moment when his knees buckled and he fell to the ground and prayed, "Lord, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me." 

But the fear passed, as it always does. When the mob arrived to arrest him he was ready to go with them. He was not possessed by a spirit of cowardice, but rather of power and love and self-control. 

These are troubled times and we must prepare for a coming trial. Democracy is struggling in the United States and around the world; it may fail altogether. If that day comes there will be no place to flee from rising tides of nationalism and hate. Idolatry will have its day. But we will be ready as we, 

Guard this rich trust of faith with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. (2 Timothy 1:14)