PROPER 22 (27) Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost Year C October 2, 202
Lamentations 1:1-6 and Lamentations 3:19-26 or Psalm 137 • 2 Timothy 1:1-14 • Luke 17:5-10
When I’m at school teaching children,
at the end of each lesson, I give two students the opportunity to choose
something from the Magical, Invisible and Imaginary Treasure Chest. I think I’ve been doing this the whole time
I’ve been teaching, but can’t remember where the idea came from. I like to think it is something that God
dropped into my mind. Believe it or not,
I have witnessed some children after a lesson fighting over an invisible bouncy
ball. Which made me laugh, and their
next teacher, confused.
Saint Paul writes to Timothy about a
treasure. He tells him to guard the good
treasure entrusted to him. I think we,
unlike children, forget that we have a treasure. We can’t physically see the faith we have and
so we don’t realize the priceless gift that it actually is. Unlike my classroom treasure chest, our
treasure, though invisible is NOT imaginary.
The ancient Israelites, over and over
again, took their faith for granted.
This was a people like none other.
They were a people who were rescued, when they were slaves in Egypt, by
the parting of the Red Sea. The nations
around all heard of the story at that time, and were afraid of them because
they had such a powerful God. Over and
over again, God saved them miraculously and assisted them in battles, but the
people forgot that they had such a great treasure. Some of those people chose to make idols and
worship other Gods. Others simply grew
so familiar with the story that they grew numb to the wonder and the
reality.
You know, I always expect that the
children at school might grow bored of the treasure chest…. But they
don’t. Perhaps it is because it is
presented to them as treasure. Saint
Paul, deliberately presents Timothy with the understanding that his faith is a
treasure. And I’m thinking that we need
this message today also.
We walk this earth, going about our
everyday business, and the pressures of life make themselves a priority. In the midst of these, how much impact does
our faith have in that day-to-day life. We,
gathered at church, probably do turn to God with decisions and problems. We are the people of faith… But do we have
the awe, wonder and gratefulness that comes from realizing the incredible
treasure that our faith is?
In our reading from Saint Paul, we also
read that this faith was alive in Timothy’s mother and grandmother. Timothy had a legacy of faith in his
family. I wonder if your family is the
same.
On my facebook page, posts often pop up
with quotes from Mother Theresa and C. S. Lewis… to name a few – these are my
favourites. These people are those who
have gone before us and left a legacy that we share. As Christians, these people are our family
and they have left us a wonderful gift in their own faith and it helps to shape
ours. In fact, we all play a part in
shaping the faith of each other. We will
leave a legacy for our children and for our community.
In families, often heirlooms are handed
down and they are priceless treasures.
The particular shape of these treasure can influence the direction of
our lives, because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I recently reconnected with an older cousin
who knew our Maltese Grandmother much better than I did. She informed me that our Grandmother would
cook meals and sew clothes and give them to people who she knew were
struggling. My cousin obviously
treasured this generous spirit in our grandmother, the evidence being that her
own work involves advocating for those who are in need.
Do we treasure the faith that God has
given us through Christ Jesus? Of course,
we do… otherwise we wouldn’t be here.
But do we have that same sense of awe, wonder and gratefulness over this
treasure, that those children do when they have the opportunity to choose an
item from the treasure chest?
Do we see our faith as a precious
treasure like an heirloom, worth passing on?
It is certainly a treasure, but I pose the question because when we
consciously ponder what it is all about, passing this faith on is something we will
do naturally and spontaneously.
Gospel means GOOD NEWS. It is Gospel because it is the Gospel
truth. The story of our faith is Fair
dinkum. It isn’t a fairy tale passed on
to keep us in line. It isn’t a
philosophical pondering, conjured up to give us a sense of purpose for life and
death- even though it does give us purpose and does keep us in line. The Gospel is a reality. Jesus was an historical figure and he made
claims about himself that we believe because eye witnesses saw him raised from
the dead and because we too have his Holy Spirit in us bearing witness to his
reality and the truth of God. God is
real. He is Alive, he loves us and died
for us so that we should never need to suffer separation or rejection from
God… we are unconditionally loved and
accepted by God because of Jesus Christ.
Saint Paul tells us that Christ has abolished death and brought life and
immortality. That is no small prize!!!
Those who have gone before us have
paved the way and passed on faith to us, but more than that, they should be an
inspiration, encouraging us to take up this mustard seed faith and move
mountains.
Or do we, like the disciples, feel we
need more faith?
It would seem that the disciples wanted
power. Wouldn’t it be great to lay hands
on someone and see them healed? Wouldn’t
it be great to have the faith to walk on water?
But do we realize that this is a desire for power? It is sometimes a fine line. We want to do God’s will but we would like to
see those things happen because then people would sit up and take notice. If there were obvious miracles, we would feel
we would have the respect of the community.
It's nice to be respected in the community and, as a church, we’ve have
had this for many years – until the Royal Commission into child abuse.
Regardless of public opinion we should
remember that God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but a spirit of power
and love and self-discipline. The power
he gives is the power to love others – when we maybe, would rather not. The power to stop from causing harm and
thinking of others before ourselves.
When we walk in this kind of power we find we have the power to be his
witnesses… the power to stand firm in the face of oppression and persecution. “For God did not give us a spirit of
cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.”
Saint Paul encourages Timothy, “Do not
be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but
join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God,…”
Jesus answered the disciples request
for more faith by reminding them of their place. We are the servants of God. We don’t actually have much in the way of
power, in and of ourselves, but we are children of God who has ultimate power. However, the gift he gives us is faith.
When we say, “yes, God I believe. In you I trust”, God gives us his faith. When we are baptized, we are given the Holy
Spirit, and a gift of the spirit is faith, but what Jesus is telling his
disciples is that they already have absolutely everything they could possibly
need.
Jesus was born as one of us. He was both fully human and fully man. I truly believe it works this way…. Jesus
chose to live within the limits of humanity, though he was God incarnate. Every miracle that Jesus performed was done,
not because he was God and could, but through trust and reliance on God the
father…. In the same way that we can.
Every difficult situation was faced by Jesus through his reliance on God
the father… he faced each one with the limits of humanity – and this is why it
was such a big deal, all that he accomplished for us… he did it within the
limits of humanity, relying fully on God the father. The temptation to take up his Godly powers
would have been enormous, but he went to the cross for you and me, out of love.
A 20th century Bible preacher, Major
Ian Thomas used to say, “All of Christ in all of you. You can never have more.
You need never have less.”
This is our faith. Christ living in us by his Holy Spirit –
Christ in us is the hope of glory. This
is the treasure that we have. When we
were baptized, we were given all. God
has already given us everything.
So, does this clarify that we don’t
need anymore faith? We already have
everything. The important aspect of
faith is not how much… but who. Our
faith is in God and he is powerful – not us.
As Major Ian Thomas also is quoted as saying, “Make sure it is God's
trumpet you are blowing- if it is only yours it won't wake the dead, it will
simply disturb the neighbours.”
Saint Paul tells Timothy to “rekindle”
the gift. This is perhaps our take away message
for today. We have been given the gift
of faith. It is something beyond amazing
and incredibly powerful, but it may need rekindling. To now quote Spiderman, “With great power,
comes great responsibility”…. Our faith
is a powerful gift, but it is given to us for the good of our community. God sent his son because he so loved the
world… that means, there are a whole lot of people out there, with whom God
also wants to impart this gift of faith.
We are his hands and feet.
Our mustard seed size faith is
inconsequential. If I only had a little
bit of faith that my chair would hold me, it would make no difference. The important aspect of faith is what it is
in. If the chair is reliable, it will
hold my weight despite my doubts. God is
reliable. All of Christ in all of us
and that is all we need. Let us rekindle
the gift, by being mindful of the incredible treasure we hold.
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