10/5/2025
Luke 17:5-7
Michael Mitchell
Luke tells us about a conversation between the disciples and Jesus where they ask Jesus to increase their faith. It comes in the context of a group of sayings about things Jesus says the disciples will need to be able to do. Earlier in this chapter Jesus says the disciples will need to know how to teach new followers how to follow Him without causing them to stumble. They will need to know how to teach Jesus’ followers to be aware of the need to change when they are not on track with His teachings. And the disciples will need to be able to forgive when people harm them, even if a person causes them harm 7 times a day. At the end of this chapter, the disciples are told they will need to be God’s faithful followers even when they are exhausted and do so without reward. And soon, the disciples will need to face death with Jesus, for Jesus is headed to Jerusalem for the last time.
In this context, the disciples ask Jesus, “increase our faith.” How does Jesus respond to this request? He says, “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you will be able to say to this tree, Be uprooted and plant yourself in the sea, and the tree will do it.”
The word faith here is the Greek word “Pistis.” It can mean faith, trust, or faithfulness. Here it is translated “Faith.” Jesus indicates by his response that faith is an attribute or substance that is not just about belief or trust in God, but it is a power to make things happen. When Jesus healed people, he often said to them, “your faith has made you well.” Faith has the power to heal illness, to bring love into unlovely situations.
What does Jesus’ response mean? Numerous commentaries suggest Jesus is chastising the disciples for their lack of faith. If only you had faith as small as a mustard seed, you could uproot and replant this tree by telling it to. But you don’t even have faith as big as a mustard seed. (Even a drop of water or a single popcorn kernel would be the size of many mustard seeds.)
Fred Craddock, in his commentary on this verse (Harper’s Bible Commentary, 1988), suggests that Jesus may not be chastising the disciples at all, but rather, encouraging them. “It only takes the smallest amount of faith that you already possess to do wonderous deeds,” he could be saying. Now the therapist in me likes this second version of Jesus’ possible meaning.
Whichever meaning He is suggesting, Jesus appears to say that God’s power within us can grow our faith. Faith becomes a collaborative experience between ourselves and God. We have a measure of faith through our interactions with God, a basic trust in and faithfulness with God, maybe small at first. Remember, only a little faith can accomplish a lot, says Jesus. This faith opens a window in us through which God moves and increases our faith, and in turn, opens a wider space in us for God to shine love and grace through us to others.
Do we have enough faith? Will it help us go through life situations we will face? Do we find ourselves asking Jesus to increase our faith?
It is through our faith that we meet the presence and power of God. In this place where faith resides inside of us, our fears, our needs and wants, our woundedness and pain, our suffering, as well as our hopes and dreams, our love and compassion, our closest relationships all meet God and God’s love and power. Faith is the place within us where healing takes place. In this place where our faith resides, God calls us out to the world to do God’s work.
When I was twenty, my faith was small and easily overwhelmed. At 72, my faith has become a little stronger over the years as I have experienced how God has gotten me through all manner of scrapes and disappointments. God has blessed me along the way. I learned that when my faith appeared way too small, God stepped in to make up the difference. And God has grown my faith. You, no doubt, have experienced this too.
What challenges in life are you facing, making you wonder if your faith in God is strong enough to carry you through? Some of you are working your careers and meeting challenges, sometimes stressed beyond measure. Some of you are raising children and wondering if you can balance work and family well enough, wondering if you are up to the challenge of meeting your children’s needs. Some of you face health challenges. And some of us are looking ahead and noticing that there are far fewer years ahead of us than behind, wondering if our faith is strong enough for these challenges to come. And then there are the needs of our country and world where the Church (that’s us) must reach out to our neighbors with love and grace and care.
It makes us ask Jesus the same thing His disciples asked: Jesus, increase our faith. The Good News is that we have some faith in God. The Spirit already planted the seeds of faith in us. Small or large, the Spirit is growing our faith, and God is making up the difference for what we lack. God surrounds us with fellow believers who are on this same journey of faith. We connect with God through the faith we have, and God widens the window and doors within us where the Spirit rushes in to heal us, gives us courage, loves us, and guides us through the challenges we now face. Jesus promises he is walking through life with each of us, being our life companion. Remember, Jesus says that even a very little faith can do wonders. We have that much faith. And when our faith appears way too small, God steps in to make up the difference. So, God has us covered.
AMEN