“You have to let go of that branch.”
O God be
in my mouth as I speak for you and fill this place with your great grace that
we may leave this place less of what we use to be and more of what we ought to
be through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The
apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The Lord replied, “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.”
How strong
is your faith? Is it enough for the complexities of life? Are you here this
morning to deepen it through worship and service to others?
Sometimes
just having any type of faith is a challenge? Long suffering Chicago Cubs fans
will know exactly what I am talking about this morning.
Of course
putting our trust in God is not always easy either. One of my favorite stories
demonstrates this quite well.
Once upon
a time a mountain climber was going solo up a sheer rock face.
As he was
ascending the mountain, his axe slipped and he found himself sliding down the
mountain toward certain death. At the last possible moment, he reached out and
grabbed hold of a branch. This helped to stop his fall but he had dropped his
axe and ropes. Without really thinking, he let out a cry of desperation, God
Help me….
Suddenly
the sky darkened and a voice from heaven said, “Yes, how can I help you”.
Now this
fellow had never been particularly religious. He usually only went to church
twice a year so he was a bit surprised to hear this voice booming from the clouds.
The
climber said, “God is it really you?”
Yes the
voice replied, I am here, the Alpha and Omega, what can I do for you?
Well the
climber said, “If it is not too much trouble could you get me off of this rock
face?”
God said,
“Sure happy to help. However, you need to do something for me first”.
The
climber said, “Sure I’ll do anything.”
God said,
“Before I can help you, you have to let go of that branch.”
The
climber thought for a moment. Looked back up into the sky, and said, “Is there
anybody else up there?”
Let’s face
it, trusting God is tough. The disciples knew this as well. Prior to this
morning’s gospel passage, Jesus tells them that they must forgive others each
time they repent, even if they are wronged over and over again.
When the
disciples hear this, they come to Jesus and ask him to give them an extra dose
of faith.
How does
Jesus answer this request? Well on one hand, he says that you only need a
little amount of faith to do powerful things like telling a tree to be uprooted
and go jump into the sea.
But on the
other hand, Jesus startles his disciples by taking the discussion to another
level. He realizes that his faith
message might be misunderstood.
Some of
his followers might take his statement and try and satisfy their material
desires, Treating God like a Super Wall Mart. I have superfaith God, so give me
whatever I want.
This why I
think Jesus tells his followers that being his disciple does not really require
much faith at all. What is needed instead from us is a willingness to obey God
and do our duty. As examples he depicts each of his disciples as a humble
servant, a slave who tends sheep and plows fields.
The effect
of Jesus’ teaching is that a true disciple needs only enough faith to serve and
care for God’s people with the attentiveness of a slave.
Furthermore,
Jesus reminds his disciples not only of their duty to be hardworking servants
but to be servants who don’t expect to be thanked.
This is
what faith is all about for Jesus. Those of you who were forced by their
mothers to write thank you notes are probably at this moment rejoicing.
But surely
a call for an unrecognized—unthanked—form of faith is not something that any of
us want to hear. In an age of celebrity worship where numerous folks like
Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali want to claim the title, “The Greatest”, this
counter cultural message is at the heart of Jesus’ gospel.
In fact,
Jesus describes three things that are needed to make our faith the greatest it
can be.
·
Faith is mostly a matter
of duty within relationship.
·
Faith is not
something that we can do alone.
·
Faith is lived out in
our interactions with each other within community.
The
servant serves a master. Without a master there is no servant. Without a
servant there is no master.
Without
our duty to serve each other (promised in our baptism), we will have no faith.
Without
the force of this commitment to all people as part of the Body of Christ, we
easily revert to our own selfish little worlds.
If we are
not careful our faith is little more than a security blanket or as I mentioned
earlier a ticket to get what we want from God, a new car or a better stereo
system.
This makes
our growth in Christ dependant on the ability we have to understand that true
power comes through our obedience to God.
We gain
that type of power when we love God with all that we are and love others as we
love ourselves.
Now the
marketing folks sitting out there might think this is not a good way to grow
the church. What kind of evangelism message is that? Join an organization where
you don’t ever get thanked.
Yet I
would remind those same folks that this is precisely what Jesus did for us.
Remember
our Lord, had his own set of faith doubts. Sitting there on Thursday evening in
the
Jesus did
not want that kind of obedience to God. He knew it would not easy. He knew that
nobody would thank him for what he was going to do.
Yet in the
second part of his prayer he adds the following words….nevertheless not my will
but thine be done……nevertheless not my will but thine be done…..
This is
the key moment in the life of any Christian when we have that same kind of
courage. When we realize we have no choice but to let go of that branch and let
God’s will be done in our lives.
This is
what Jesus did on the cross. He never bragged about what he was going to do. He
never demanded our obedience. He never asked us to do anything that he was not
willing to do himself.
This is
where Christian message gets it power to change our lives.
We strive
today to be servants of each other because Christ became our servant on the
cross.
There will
be times of course, when the going will be tough. There will be times when we
feel abandoned and forsaken, just as Jesus did on the cross.
But our
Lord reminds us that even in those moments, when all seems lost, we are never
really alone.
We have
God. We have each other to see us through the times that we find ourselves
hanging on that rock face wondering if we have enough faith to let go of that
branch.
Maybe
today is your day to admit that you are not God and to hear that voice calling
you and to finally, finally let go of that branch.