Fifteenth Sunday After Trinity, September 8, 2024
Fifteenth Sunday After Trinity, September 8, 2024
“O you of little faith” (Mt. 6:30). Jesus bestows a title upon those who have gathered to hear what has become known as his Sermon on the Mount. The title calls into question whether they are true believers or not. In bestowing the title, Jesus expresses doubt as to the quantity or quality of their faith. Jesus infers that it is but an minuscule thing. Jesus makes the same judgment upon the disciples terrified by the storm as they huddle together on the boat in the middle of Galilee’s Sea, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” (Mt. 8:26). Again, he tells his disciples gathered in their failure to cast out a demon and they ask “Why?” Jesus says, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Jesus speaks directly to Peter sinking like a rock in the waves, saying “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Mt. 14:31).
Yet there are times, like the one with they Syra-Phoenician woman, when Jesus commends faith, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire” (Mt. 15:28). Similar instances occur (Lk. 18:42; Lk 7:50; Mk. 5:34 among others) where it seems that Jesus attributes the healing accomplished in the person before him by commending “your faith.”
When Jesus bestows the title “little faith” upon his disciples and others gathered before him, he quantifies the effectiveness of the faith they possess in and of themselves. In other words, Jesus assesses their loyalty, their dependence, their trust, etc. in their Lord and God, namely himself. When Jesus commends those who have been healed with the acknowledgement “your faith” has made you well, Jesus uses the title “your faith” as a self-referential title. That is, he in his very person… he in his own presence and ability… Jesus himself is the faith that has made them well. He, standing before them, is the faith that has made them well. Jesus is the faith that has come to possess them. The faith possessed in and of themselves is a meager and puny thing.
Prayers from those who still grasp after a faith of their own rather than receiving the life of Jesus and his faith…
Eternal Father, Jesus has come to be our life; grant that, as he is our life, our righteousness, and our faith, we trust not in ourselves but in him who is the Lord of all creation. Give us such life! Amen
Eternal Father, Jesus has come to be our life; grant that, as Christ is our life, we come to have the fullness of the new creation with all its abundance. Give us such life! Amen
Eternal Father, Jesus has come to be our life; grant that, as we enjoy the abundance of the new creation, we distribute that abundance among our neighbors and so it would useful for them. Give us such life! Amen
Eternal Father, Jesus has come to be our life; grant that, as Jesus comes to be the life of its faculty, staff, and students, the Institute of Lutheran Theology is able to live from the abundance of the new creation rather than the scarcity of this world broken by sin. Give us such life! Amen
Eternal Father, Jesus has come to be our life; grant that, as we are held in the life of Jesus Christ, we await his arrival in glory all the more eagerly. Give us such life! Amen