Sunday 07 October 2007
- Bible Book:
- Luke
"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'". (v.6)
Background
Today's passage comes at the end of a long section of Luke'sGospel that contains teachings about the nature of faith. It is setin the context of Jesus' journey from Galilee, in the north ofIsrael, south towards Jerusalem. This journey is first mentioned asfar back as
Jesus is travelling out of obedience to his sense of what Godrequires of him and many of the teachings are about the meanings offaith and obedience. In these verses he is speaking to his closestfollowers, the disciples (also called the apostles), but possiblyalso in the company of some of his harshest critics, the Pharisees- scholars whose interpretation of Jewish law was often differentfrom Jesus'.
So Jesus has a word for everyone, whether they are anxious orconfident about their relationship with God.
The saying of Jesus in verse 6 may well be based on a traditionalsaying about the power of faith to achieve things that seem to beimpossible (another version speaks of 'the faith which can movemountains'). Jesus seems to stretch the saying to its extremes bysuggesting that even the tiniest ("a mustard seed") amount of faithin God can not only achieve the apparently impossible (uproot atree) but something beyond our imagination (a tree growing in thesea).
Jesus seems to be saying that God can do great things through us,no matter how weak our faith, if we simply respond obediently toGod's promptings
To Ponder
Do you consider yourself to have a little ('amustard seed') of faith or a lot? If your faith seems weak, whatsmall step of obedience to God could you take today?
If your faith seems strong, what in your lifemight need to be uprooted so that you can bring life in newsituations?