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    Oct 02, 2016

    Extend a Hand

    Passage: Luke 17:5-6

    Speaker: Rev. Vivian McCarthy, Pastor

    Category: Faith

    The disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. He told them that even a little bit of faith can produce amazing results!

    Watch a video that is a visual portrait of the mustard seed metaphor:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSB_At4H8kA

    Imagine that you are Peter, James or John, travelling with Jesus during his ministry, and you have just come from the Mount of Transfiguration. It was truly a mountain-top experience – a little scary, but you know that this was a deeply holy moment. More than anything, you want to emulate the Master – your Rabbi – who is able to do amazing things. People in the crowds have begun to come to YOU for help and healing – but your efforts at healing don’t meet with the same results as those of Jesus.

    As you approach the waiting crowd, a father approaches Jesus, and you recognize him as the who brought his son to you for healing. He tells Jesus that you were unsuccessful and pleads with him to cure his suffering son. Frustrated, Jesus reaches out to the boy and cures him. Imagine how you felt.

    To their credit, Peter, James and John found a private moment to ask Jesus why they were unsuccessful, and he tells them that their faith was too small. “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for you.”

    This story is told in both Matthew – as I’ve just shared – and also in Luke, and in both settings, Jesus is teaching the disciples.

    Luke’s telling is really very different. Look at the 4 verses that come just before our reading for today:

    Jesus said to his disciples, “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! 2 It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

    3 Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. 4 And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.” (Luke 17:1-4)

    Now that’s a seminary class! Jesus is sending these guys out in his name to preach and to minister, and he’s showing them that it won’t always be easy. There will be problems – obstacles. Just don’t be the obstacle yourself! And don’t forget to forgive – a lot!

    Can’t you imagine what is going on in the disciples’ minds? Whoa! This is serious – and not easy! And what do they ask? Lord, increase our faith!

    They can see immediately that they won’t be able to do this on their own – they will need more faith than they can even begin to imagine. I can imagine that they are at least a little bit afraid that they aren’t up to the task.

    Did you notice that in both gospels, the focus is not on the disciples getting something they want? They see clearly that having the faith to do ministry – to do something that is outside their normal skill set – that requires stretching their hearts and minds and abilities – is a leap – a risk – and just maybe more of a risk than they ever imagined.

    It takes faith to move into uncharted territory
    • to take on a new ministry
    • to reach out to people that we don’t know
    • to commit to something that requires financial sacrifices
    • to commit time when we’d really rather be watching NCIS.

    The mustard seed – the tiniest seed in all of Israel’s agriculture – produces a huge plant. Faith – even in tiny amounts – can produce enormous good. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:6: I planted, [others] watered, but God gave the increase!

    Safiyah Fosua wrote the poem Extend a Hand for World Communion Sunday, reflections on what might happen if we had faith the size of a mustard seed:
    If I really had faith the size of a mustard seed,
    What would I do?

    Would I wave a hand to hurl Mount Kilimanjaro into Lake Victoria Just to prove that I could?

    If I really had mustard-seed faith, what would I do?
    Would I start by extending a hand of peace
    To the church across the street
    Whose sign says something different from  mine?

    Would I start by extending a hand of peace
    To the Ol' G that terrorizes the old people down the street?

    Or to the grizzled homeless man who sits on the corner with a sign?

    Would I start by extending my hand of peace
    To those who brawl on schoolyards
    And to those who brawl on battlefields
    In search of a future with hope?

    Maybe I could begin by just taking my hand of peace
    Out of its hiding place
    Long before the moment
    That I cup my hands to receive Communion.
    O, Lord, Increase our faith!

    Credit:  Extend a Hand: A Meditation for World Communion Sunday, by Safiyah Fosua.  From http://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/extend-a-hand