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.
The disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. But Jesus instead advised them to make use of the faith they already had, however slight. The more urgent need was not so much that they receive something they did not have as that they learned to "stir into flame" the faith that they already possessed. Even faith at a scale so small as to be nearly invisible was enough to do the impossible when it was put to work.
In asking for faith we often mean that we want to be able to live with no need of faith. We pray, "Increase our faith" but mean "Show us, so that no faith is needed". Just as Habakkuk was invited to embrace faith even while he was still surrounded by destruction, violence, strife, and clamorous discord, so too were the disciples invited to believe first in order that they might eventually see, and so too are we.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
Faith gives us the context we need to bear our share of hardship for the gospel. It is the source of the strength that comes from God. It was that strength which would allow Timothy to recognize the fact of Paul's imprisonment, and the real possibility that something similar could happen to Timothy himself, and yet continue to proclaim the sound words that he heard from Paul without fear and without shame, not only without hatred for their oppressors, but with the love of Christ Jesus himself.
It is precisely when we live by faith that miracles happen, mulberry trees are uprooted, and mountains are moved. From an earthly perspective Paul appeared to be imprisoned by the Roman authorities and the spreading of the word of God seemed to have been disrupted. But from the perspective of faith Paul knew that he was a "prisoner for his sake", meaning that he was a prisoner of Christ, not Caesar, and that "the word of God is not bound" (see Second Timothy 2:9), whatever may have been the appearance.
In a situation like Paul's we probably would have prayed from a desire to see him released and the government take a more favorable stance toward the Christian message. But truly living by faith often entails something different than whatever our preference may be. What is required is that we embrace God's perspective on our situation, even if it is hidden underneath the surface of circumstances we do not fully understand. It is then that God himself will reveal the truly miraculous happening in what might otherwise seem to be the mundane. Faith will therefore become a virtuous cycle whereby small acts of trust are rewarded, leading to ever greater trust. This process is not something we are meant to oversee ourselves, for we tend to superimpose selfishness so much so that faith is obscured. Instead we must guard it "with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us".
When you have done all you have been commanded,
say, 'We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'"
Faith allows us to eschew immediate rewards for the sake of the harvest of the Kingdom, and for the care of the sheep. Without faith we tend to become like wicked servant that beats his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards (see Matthew 24:45-51). He insists on a present an evident reward because he is unwilling to wait in faith for the vision that still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint.
How about ourselves today? Is our faith small? Let us put it to work! Does the vision of the Kingdom seem delayed? Let us wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late! Are we overwhelmed by the hostility in the world around us, perhaps even within us, in our own response to that world? Let us stir into flame the gift of the Spirit that we have all been given. Our response need not be hostility, nor fear and cowardice. Imagine if we met the challenges of daily life with a faith like that of Paul, full of power and love and self-control. If we learn to do so we will be shielded from the perils of presumption and strengthened for our part of the mission. Rather than suffering alone in our weakness we will have the strength to bear our share of the hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.
If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
No comments:
Post a Comment