The size of a mustard seed........

Did you ever own one of those necklaces that had a 'mustard seed' encased in a glass globe? (probably none of the guys reading this ever had one.  Pity.) I'm fairly sure it wasn't a mustard seed, but it was a good reminder of this teaching of Jesus in Luke.

"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."  Luke 17.6

Now, I haven't tried commanding a mulberry bush or even a couple of weeds out of my garden and into the trash heap lately and I doubt that I will ever try it.  It just seems like a silly experiment that isn't worth the effort.  Somehow testing out our faith is an oxymoron:  if you are testing it, it isn't faith.  If it is faith, it can't be proved.

But that doesn't mean it isn't powerful and life changing.

Let's start with our lives together in the church.  What do we need to receive in faith?  That is, what teachings can never be proven but are held to be true through the faith of the believer?  Here's my short list:

#1  The faithfulness of Christ: that Jesus had the authority and the power to keep the promises he made

"For God so loved the world" is the foundational promise: that God sent Jesus into this world out of great love to bring life to all - and not to condemn and taunt it.  Our lives often leave us wondering if this is true; we wonder if we are being punished.  We wonder if we will be 'good enough.'

"This is my body given for you"  Luther said the most important portion of that promise is the words 'for you' because we need to believe that Jesus' love and sacrifice included us.  We are the ones for whom Christ died.  We are the ones that Christ loves.  Me - you.

 "Where I am you will be also"  is the most powerful one: that after we are placed in a tomb we too shall see the light of new life again and live in the glory of the Creator. This promises that in the deepest darkness, the most horrible of suffering, God is at work bringing forth new life - in this world, in our communities, in our neighbor and in ourselves.

Looking at this, I know that on good days, a mustard seed of faith is all that I can manage in the face of such promises which are, in fact, too monumental, too wonderful, and sometimes too overwhelming.

'Trust' Luther tells us....even if only a mustard seed's worth.