C, Post-Pentecost 17, Proper 22 - Luke 17:5-10 "Faith in Flying Trees"
Luke
17:5–10 (ESV) The apostles said to the
Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain
of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted
in the sea,’ and it would obey you. “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing
or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once
and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me,
and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will
eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So
you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy
servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”
It is an amazing thing to see a tree flying through the
air. Dad, my brother, and I had great faith that the tree would fly that day,
as we stood out in the middle of the cultivation. We were careful in our
preparation; we drilled a hole deep down into the base of the tree as Dad
prepared an inch piece of gelignite with a detonator and fuse wire. Now, this
would not lift anything out of the ground, let alone a forty-metre-high gum
tree. But it did make a nice reservoir down inside the base in which we could
deposit the motherload of explosives.
My brother and I had great faith that the tree would fly
that day as Dad slid stick after stick, down the inch hole into the reservoir,
surgically giving each a prod with an old broom handle. I lost count after the
twelfth stick of gelignite was delicately poked into the hole. Finally, Dad got
to the last piece—another inch piece of gelignite, with detonator embedded and
enough fuse wire running from it to ensure a safe escape once lit. We had great
faith the tree was going to fly that day.
Dad fumbled with the matches. He must have known what havoc
he was about to unleash in the quiet valley, only broken by the occasional
aark-aark of an old black crow. He got a match to burn, grabbed the end of the
fuse wire, and held the flame just under it. The yellow plastic around the fuse
began to melt, and then all the sudden the wire began to hiss, warning us that
the spark was on its way to the motherload. With great faith, Dad sprung onto
the back of our old 1954 Land Rover and yelled, “OK, let’s get out-a-here!” He
had great faith the tree was going to fly!
I turned on the key and hit the starter button—click click
went the starter motor, and then nothing. My brother’s eyes grew to the size of
saucers as I repeated the process again, only to hear the same click click.
Just out of the corner of my eye, the hiss of the fuse disappeared down the
hole, like a brown snake retreating down its hole. The fact that the fuse was
now only three feet from its destination was not lost on the others as Dad
alarmingly yelled, “Give her one more go and then we’ll have to run for it!” He
had great faith the tree was going to fly!
I, on the other hand, didn’t have much faith in the old
Land Rover. This old farm bomb had been through the wars—and a number of
gates—when the brakes had failed to work. But there was no problem with
stopping that day; rather, the problem was starting. This old farm bomb was
about to go boom if we couldn’t get her to move.
But with the tension of an action Hollywood movie, I hit
the starter button and two of the four cylinders sprung to life. I shoved her
in gear and gave her a gutful of juice as I slammed my foot on the accelerator
and took off. We had just enough time to get down the paddock, turn the Land
Rover sideways, jump out and take cover behind it. With eyes wide, we
watched—an almighty sonic boom reverberated up the valley as the tree began to
defy gravity and lift from the ground like a spaceship taking off for the moon.
We saw the tree fly. It was only for a moment until gravity took over once
again and limbs, leaves and trunk came crashing back to earth. It was over. Now
we had the tiresome task of picking up all the sticks scattered like shrapnel
across the cultivation. But we were not disappointed! In fact, we were relieved
that we lived to tell the tale of the tree that flew.
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a
mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in
the sea,’ and it will obey you.”
The poor apostles, bewildered as usual, asked for an
increase in faith. And why did they ask for it? Well, just before this text,
Jesus tells them about the rich man and Lazarus, whom we heard about last week,
and then he instructs about sin by saying to them, “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that
person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the
sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these
little ones to sin. So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and
if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and
seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” Then the
apostles said to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:1–5)
This must have put the fear of God into them. In fact,
Jesus gave them the law and it scared the living daylights out of them. The law
showed them who they were; it showed them they were trapped in their old
vehicles of sin, not going anywhere, while the fuse of life was burning to its
end.
So, they asked for an increase in their faith as if this
would cure all their problems. As if faith was an antidote for sin. Their faith
was not one which saw the tree rip out of the ground and plant itself in the
ocean; rather, their faith was one which foresaw the tree ripping from the
ground and killing them. Their faith was a faith in their own ability to get
themselves going and avoid ruin from the flying debris of sin. Just as Dad, my
brother, and I put our faith in an old faulty Land Rover to take us out of the
path of an exploding gum tree, they sought to place their faith in the
faultiness of their sinful natures.
In Paul’s letters to the Romans and the Galatians (Rom
3:28, 5:1; Gal 2:16, 3:24), he talks about being justified by faith. What is
being justified by faith? And weren’t the apostles seeking to do just that—to
be justified by faith, to be made right by an increase in faith? Many churches
today speak of being justified by faith but, like the apostles, lose sight of
what this faith actually is, its source and destination, and what the word of
God says about it. In fact, it is your problem too! So often our faith is one
in which the mulberry tree—or the gum tree—is removed from the ground through
the action and genius of me and you. Where is the faith in God?
Jesus knew the apostles’ wonky ploy; he saw their desire
for justification through faith—but without grace. Jesus saw their desire for
self-righteous justice rather than mercy through the grace of God. So, he
showed the apostles, his right-hand men, the servants that they are, and
replaced their question for an increase in faith with a servant’s plea—begging
for mercy.
We don’t ask for faith that makes us powerful over sin. The
speck of faith God gives us is enough for us to do the work he has called us to
do and then look to him as servants still in need of mercy. The speck of faith
God gives to us may be smaller than that of a mustard seed, but it enables us
to look to God and trust in his grace.
In Ephesians 2:8–10, God’s word tells us, “For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works,
so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
We are justified by a faith not of our own, given to us as a gift by the Holy Spirit when we hear God’s word, and true faith always points us to the foot of the cross—our tree of life, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners (Gal 2:17); we are unworthy sinners; we are unworthy servants. However, through his power, we are severed from sin and are planted in the waters of baptismal life, where we can continually live by mercy in this stream of God’s grace. Amen.