How Much Faith is Enough?

[I have to thank John Jewel in his published sermon for the basis of these ideas expressed here. As usual, i never really have an original thought...]

“How Much Faith is Enough?”
Sermon for Sunday, October 7, 2007
Luke 17:5-10
Rev. Darin G.E. Elvemo

How much faith is enough? Have you ever had a time when you were faced with an incredible obstacle or a heart wrenching burden and thought, "If only I had more faith!"

I very clearly remember the anguish of a mother I met while working as a hospital chaplain during my seminary studies. I have since forgotten her name, but I will never forget her daughter’s, for she kept repeating it over and over again as she rocked back and forth in her chair.

Jennifer Lynn (not her real name, of course) had a rare degenerative neurological disease for which there was no treatment. Jenny—as her mother called her—was only 2 years old at the time I spent those final days of her life with her and her mother. Jenny was a precious little girl, small for her age, but she had the biggest smile you’ll ever see.

Jenny would smile through even the worst pain. And when the doctors and nurses had to do more tests on her, she would smile. The pain going on inside her mother was rarely evident on little Jenny herself.

But as the days wore into weeks, even that golden smile began to fade from Jenny’s eyes. The degeneration was getting too much for her to take. She was fading fast.

I grew to care for that family during those frequent visits. And I can recall how I would raise my fists to God in the privacy of my own seminary dorm room and holler. “Why, why?” was sometimes all I could muster. Other times, when my prayers were more detailed I can recall how I raged at God, asking how a loving God could allow this to happen to a little child?!”

I don’t think it was any one particular part of this relationship I had formed with Jenny’s family that made me nearly lose it when her uncle came to visit. It was more likely the combination of a particularly tiring day and the callousness I detected in his voice hidden under the guise of his religious certainty. But when he said what he did, I very nearly punched the man’s lights out.

Jenny’s uncle, Jim, took me out of her hospital room into the hallway and smugly said, “You know Chaplain, the reason Jenny isn’t going to recover from this is because her mother hasn’t prayed with enough faith.”

Despite my best attempts at forming a “Poker-face,” I think my expression gave me away. Or maybe Jim just liked hearing himself talk. For he went on to say, “You know—I am sure—what it says in the 17th chapter of Luke.”

"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." [Lk17:6]

Thankfully my hands were held at my side so that Jim couldn’t see them. But I was concerned nonetheless that if I clenched my fists any harder I might draw my own blood and therefore I attempted to gather my composure and say something enlightened at the same time.

I don’t think I succeeded on either front.

“I don’t think God works that way,” was all I could mutter. Then Jim looked at me with these piercing testing eyes and said, “You believe this, don’t you?”

And that's exactly my question for you today. Do you believe this?

Do you have enough faith to uproot a 35 foot mulberry tree, or cause a mountain to be cast into the sea? How much faith is enough faith? Although it's a tad embarrassing to remember it now, I recall quite clearly the time I asked God to move a mountain.

It was the summer after my first year of college. I was working at a Youth camp in the mountains of Colorado and some of us had been discussing this Bible verse the night before. As I was out running the next day, I don’t know if the altitude made the oxygen level to my brain too low or what, but I recall asking God to move a mountain peak I was looking at.

I was all alone. I stopped running, I closed my eyes and I prayed that God would move the mountain. When I opened my eyes—yes, you guessed it—the mountain was just as firmly planted in the same spot it had been for thousands of years.

Frankly, I was a bit disappointed -- and somewhat relieved. Relieved because it would be an awesome and scary thing to experience that kind of prayer power. Disappointed because my inner adolescent logic told me that either Jesus was wrong, or I did not have enough faith -- and given that choice, I knew it had to be my faith that was lacking.

Of course, when I look back on it now I see how frivolous my request was that day. And though I didn't know it at the time, it fell under Jesus' injunction against putting, "... the Lord your God to the test". [Mt. 4:7]

There are times when you and I do face mountains -- or deeply rooted issues in our lives we would dearly love to see removed. Any parent of a sick child knows the agony Jenny’s mother went through. And I know how often she prayed for Jenny to be cured of her disease.

Perhaps for you it is the prayer you are making for a loved one who has recently been diagnosed with cancer. Or a youth fighting a losing battle with drugs or alcohol. The life issues are different for all of us, but the result is similar. When our prayers seem to be of no avail, it makes us feel as though we fall into the category Jesus aimed at when he said, "O ye of little faith!" At times like this, I join the disciples in today's scripture pleading with Jesus, "Increase my faith!"

Jesus response is interesting. Instead of saying, "Okay guys, here's more faith," he says in effect, "Faith isn't something you measure by quantity -- it is measured by quality. You don't need more faith... you need the right kind of faith.

Faith isn’t a commodity that can be measured. It’s not like I can show you how much faith she has but he doesn’t. The genuine life of faith consists of trusting God's ability. Our prayers in the face of tremendous burdens are our attempt to direct God's ability to the problem and trust God for the outcome. It is not so much, "God give me more faith," as it is "God help me to trust you in this!"

Jesus’ next words can sound a bit harsh. But when we consider them in connection with the other parts of this reading they begin to make sense. What Jesus seems to be concerned with here is similar to the issue of “how much faith is enough?” If we do things in the hopes of getting a reward we are missing the point. And that is the same whether we are talking about taking out the garbage or living a perfect life. If we do so for the benefits, we are off base.

So the next time you come to a really difficult time in life and you wonder if you have enough faith—try praying something like this, "Lord, help me trust in your ability to work in this situation. I lift it up to you—I give it to you—and I pray for peace that your purposes will prevail in the end. Amen."