MAY GOD INCREASE OUR FAITH

 Reflection on the Word for the Sunday of October 2, 2022
MAY GOD INCREASE OUR FAITH       
Luke 17:1-5
He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no occasions of stumbling should come, but woe to him through whom they come!  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"  Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, Peter famously went to Jesus and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I don't tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven."
Jesus' answer belongs to the category, which in the minds of his contemporary disciples or of the contemporary audience might be defined with the Hollywood slogan, that his request demanded a mission impossible.

We can not assume that Jesus did not know the very word of impossible, because for sure he did. However, it looks like that his disciples meant by the word of impossible as an impenetrable barrier, but Jesus considered the term of impossible as an equivalent of the lack of faith.

The two approaches are not necessarily exclude each other, as his disciples asked Jesus that please increase our faith. With that the apostles acknowledged that they knew that in order to overcome solid obstacles on the path of their apostle-hood they should acquire extraordinary faith to do so, where these obstacles are normally impossible to be subdued according to the general human experience. It looked just impossible unless Jesus would increase their faith.

Nonetheless, the Gospel story turns into more incredible by their acknowledgment of the impossibility of the task in front of them. Because, asking for more faith in order to walk on the water, or stop the tempest, or turn the water into wine, or turn the stones into bread, or to feed five-thousand people with five loaves, or heal the lepers, or resurrect some from the dead, (asking for more faith in cases like these), can be mysterious of course, but at least understandable.

However, we should acknowledge that all these are external miracles, and they are great, and they were visible at that time, often seen by a great multitude, still the wonders and the miracles God works inside of the very the hearts of the people, they are the greatest miracles of all. The change of the heart for the better, a single step toward the Heavenly God, it is the greatest mystery on Earth. When the disciples faced the issue of forgiveness, they met the divine requirement designed, depicted and given in the Lord’s Prayer, as it is written, that : “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.”

Normally, like Martin Luther, we are occupied with our sins, regarding that mostly we are actively looking for forgiveness, as we feel the burden of our sins, which usually do not tend to be dissolved by the mere passing of time. Although there are some people whose remembering are very selective, and used to forget their sins or oppress the painful memory, sometimes their moral level does not let them know that they sinned at all, still the burden of our sins, without forgiveness, it grows, if not exponentially, but constantly day by day, year by year.   

Thus, naturally or normally, we feel the desperate need of forgiveness to ease the pain on the mind and in the heart. Nonetheless, it takes a further step to understand, that the ultimate reality regarding forgiveness is as Jesus summarized it right after the Lord’s Prayer, that “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Looking for forgiveness or giving forgiveness, seems to us two different things, but not in the Gospel. In the Gospel they are intertwined, or at least there is no forgiveness of personal sins without forgiving the sins of others.

And that looks like a major problem for most. Sometimes it is hardly possible to forgive ourselves, but it is almost impossible to forgive others. Nonetheless, it is easier to justify our conduct, even the most wickedly blood-stained dictators try to explain that they are plausibly righteous in their deeds. However, to really forgive the mistakes, the errors and the sins of others, that it is close to impossible.

To put extra emphasis on it, that the offering of forgiveness to others is a central issue regarding redemption and salvation, Jesus told them that “If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” Certainly it happens all the time that people make the same mistake again and again.

It might be impossible to forgive even once to a stranger, that is why Jesus pushed it, that it must happen not by chance, or a case by case judgment,  but by principle. You have to forgive even seven times daily, if your brother repents.

Repenting, however, was a little bit more at that time than simply saying sorry. It involved a complete change of life, making amendments, and it might have involved also temple rituals. Still Jesus said it, that you have to forgive seven times. The Apostles, hearing that, became desperate, saying, please increase our faith, because what your are asking for, sounds impossible.

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, Jesus makes it even more sharp and stark when “Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.

One thing is sure, that Jesus intentionally was raising the bar, some think for too high, in order to make it clear, that giving forgiveness definitely requires faith a lot, about which we know that faith is a free gift of God. That is why the disciples turned to Jesus, that whatever we do, it can not increase our faith, so please, Lord, increase our faith.

Once Jesus asked the father of a possessed boy, suffering possibly by epileptic seizures, that do you believe that I am able to heal your son? The boy’s father exclaimed, in the Gospel of Mark, that “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Actually, some reluctant people think that faith occurs occasionally, when God whimsically decides time to time to open the treasure box, and to give away a little faith to this and that. However, it is not so. God’s gifts, including faith, are like the permanent sunshine, radiates through the whole world without a pause. It is like a timely , comprehensive rain to all plants that need to drink. So is the soul and the human heart.

The only obstacle between us and God’s gifts is our unbelief. Faith is given by God abundantly and without a pause, but we have to become receptive. In order to open our heart to receive faith, we have to pray day and night often with words and more often without words, that Lord, help me overcome my unbelief.  

Please, may You increase my Faith for your always greater glory, for your name’s sake according to the eternal will of God, by the always flaming holy Spirit,  
Amen.