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October 7, 2007
Willing Beyond Wanting
Luke 17:5-10
Several years ago, I had a good friend who played one of the leading roles in the play, Steel Magnolias, in Chicago, which meant that I saw the production several times. On one level it is a fluffy little comedy of manners set in a women's beauty salon. (My friend played the part of Truvy , the owner of the beauty parlor). Like most of real life, however, there is more going on in the human interactions you witness between these characters than first meets the eye. One of the characters Annelle , is a young woman who has recently found Jesus. In a very winsome way, she tries to insert her newly discovered religious fervor into the midst of the constant chatter which occurs in the beauty parlor.
If you haven't seen the play then probably you saw the movie with a wonderful cast including Sally Fields who plays M'Lynn and a young Julia Roberts who plays her daughter Shelby. At the start of the play the event which is energizing everyone's life in the beauty shop is Shelby's impending wedding. Beneath the trappings of a southern garden wedding in an upscale Presbyterian family, however, is the constant worry over the fact that Shelby has a critical diabetic condition. Over the course of the few years depicted in the play, she has a child which worsens her condition and she dies.
Near the end of the play and film, M'Lynn is burying her daughter, dead at the age of 27 years old, leaving a young child without a mother. M'Lynn , surrounded by her friends at the cemetery is enduring the crush of grief. Annelle , the born-again Christian, tries to comfort her with the words, “Shelby is with her King now.” M'Lynn's anger explodes as she shouts, “I understand that in my head, but would somebody please explain it to my heart!”
That is or will be the crux of the matter for most of us at some point in our lives. We know what we should believe – we know, in fact, that we want to believe it – but it just isn't enough. Faith is more than having theologically correct answers to our life questions isn't it? In the midst of life's interactions, its joys and disappointments, there are moments when what we believe just isn't enough to heal our broken hearts. (John Jewell, University of Dubuque Theological School).
The Disciples said to Jesus, “Increase our Faith” in the portion of Luke's Gospel which we read this morning. “Increase our Faith!” and Jesus responded first with an aphorism – “if you have the faith the size of a grain of mustard seed you can pick up this tree and move it to the sea.” So his first response is this: “faith is not a commodity that can be quantified.” A little faith or a lot of faith, that's not the issue.
If Jesus had stopped there, it would have been puzzling enough, but then he goes on with the little parable which follows about how silly it would be for a master to invite his slave to dinner when the slave's job is to make and serve the meal. (Luke 17:9-10) “Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'” Faith is not measured in quantity, it seems, but it is measured in service – doing.
There is an old sermon illustration which came out of the time of rationing during World War II. A man walked into a diner, sat down at the counter and ordered a cup of coffee. The waitress brought the familiar porcelain brown mug and set it before him.
“Cream or Sugar ?, ” she asked. “Sugar.” he replied.
She reached beneath the counter for the precious substance -- sugar was rationed, you will recall -- produced the sugar container and a spoon, and watched as the man poured not one, but two heaping teaspoons of sugar into his cup. Giving the coffee a gentle stir he placed the sugar down on the counter, and sipped his coffee. Not sweet enough, he reached for the sugar a second time. The waitress's eyes widened in disbelief as now, not one, nor two, but three heaping teaspoons were measured into the cup. No sooner had the man put the sugar down than the waitress snatched the container away and returned it beneath the counter for safekeeping. Sipping his coffee, the customer was still not satisfied. He asked for the sugar again. With steel in her eyes and indignation in her voice the waitress replied:
“Stir up what you've got!”
Stir up what you've got. That is what Jesus says to his distraught followers.
“Lord, increase our faith!” On their way to Jerusalem, these last several chapters of the Gospel of Luke have shown us the disciples on a journey with their master; have been listening to Jesus as he has talked not only about God's passion for lost things -- sheep, coins, errant brothers, even dishonest managers -- but the cost of following him and the onus of taking up a cross ourselves. Who of us then, does not join the disciples in responding, “Lord, increase our faith!”?
Jesus replies “Stir up what you've been given.” They are asking for more. He is telling them to use what they have been given. For faith is not something we possess, but something we do. In the grammar of theology, faith is a verb, not a noun. 1
As William Willimon , formally Minister of Duke University Chapel, says, “The tough work of being a Christian is the constant, daily, increasing challenge to take Jesus a little more seriously and myself a little less so. Against all definitions of Christian discipleship as a matter of having Jesus do nice things for us, Jesus hurls this little story.” It is basically a story about duty – not about getting what we want, but about willingly doing what is required of us. If you don't recall ever hearing this parable before, it is no wonder for it runs counter to the mantra of popular culture which tells us that life is about fulfilling our dreams and being authentic. We do not speak much these days about altruism, giving of ourselves for the joy of giving, but we focus on the question, what's in it for me? Popular religious language tells us that all we have to do is let “let the Lord Jesus come into our lives” and we will be rewarded by a blessed life filled with joy.
As Willimon says, “Through a sort of theological slight-of-hand, even Jesus - even the one who declared that I find my life by losing it and that I receive only by giving - is transformed into a benevolent therapist who helps me find ways of getting what I want.”
We are so used to the image of Jesus the shepherd, Jesus the one who washes our feet, Jesus the servant that we have forgotten that discipleship – faithfulness – means being servants ourselves willingly with no expectation of reward. The amount of our faith, the quality of our faith, the depth of our faith, that is not the issue with Jesus…that is our issue and our worry. Reformed theology, however, taking its lead from Paul, says all that worry is wasted energy – we are not saved by worry or by belief in this or that – our service is not what saves us either. What saves us is grace – God's will to love us so that we can willingly love in return.
Stir up what you've got. All that we have, we have not because we deserve it, but because God graciously placed it in our keeping. Doing faith means using our gifts, our resources, our energy and the creativity of our hearts and minds to serve. We reach out to neighbor and community and world through our church and its mission – and in serving we serve the master. We serve not because we want something in return, but willingly because we know we have already received in abundance.
Stir up what you've got. In a world so badly divided and so violently afflicted – ‘doing' faith means acting out of love even when the wisdom of the world advises otherwise. This morning as Christian men and women gather to share communion at many different tables, we do so not only with our heads – but hopefully with our hearts – understanding that God in Christ grieves the world's pain and hunger and calls us to be about the works of love that the world and its children may be healed. Amen.
1 The Rev. Dr. Fred R. Anderson , The Madison Avenue Pulpit, “Building Faith for the Future” October 4, 1998.Go Back
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First Presbyterian
Church of Cedar Rapids
310 Fifth Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org
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