Messages, Meditations, and Musings on the Life of Faith by Rev. Dr. Scott E. Olson, Interim Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Preston, MN

Sunday, October 6, 2019

"Doing is Believing" - Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Doing is Believing
Pentecost 17 – Lectionary 27
October 6, 2019
Grace, Waseca, MN
Luke 17.5-10

This past Wednesday night one of the Confirmation students asked me about my favorite sport to watch. I responded, “golf,” mostly because I try to learn something about the sport I play regularly. I also told him that I follow the Twins and Vikings though they have crushed my heart in the past. But I think that another reason I said I liked to watch golf is that, although I love to watch many sports, I don’t like to see “showboating” or excessive celebration. In golf the most you see will be a hand clutch. Maybe it’s my stoic Scandinavian nature, but I think it’s because I don’t think you should make such a big deal out of something you get paid to do. One should act like, “I do this all the time; it’s no biggie.” Yet, our culture is so much into rewards and “look at me,” as evidenced by this Kwik Trip Rewards card in my wallet. It’s not the only one I have.

In our Gospel reading today from Luke, Jesus’ closest followers ask for something that sounds reasonable: more faith. Who wouldn’t want more faith, especially in light of the cautions and demands he has laid upon them a few verses earlier. Jesus has just warned them about stumbling along the Christian life, to rebuke those who do, and to forgive those who repent. That sounds like an overwhelming demand on the lives of those who follow Jesus and so they ask for faith. Who can blame them? Jesus’ response is curious, if not off the wall: he looks around, spies a mulberry tree and tells them the tiniest amount of faith could do wonders beyond imagination. He then tells a parable about servants who should not make a big deal of doing what they are supposed to do.

When approaching a text like this, especially with parables, we want to ask some questions. For example, why did Jesus give this teaching to his followers and why did Luke think it important enough to include in his Gospel? After all, we don’t have everything that Jesus said and did, so why this? And Luke had to make choices about what he collected, so why did he included these sayings. Furthermore, as we explore these questions with Jesus’ parables, we also want to remember that Jesus’ parables are not puzzles to be solved but mysteries to be entered; they are designed to open us up more than be opened. So, here’s one hypothesis: I think Jesus tells them (and us) that asking for more faith is not the right request in response to his call on their lives. Rather, he invites them to imagine a Christian life in a more ordinary, yet more life-giving kind of way.

We moderns tend to think of faith as those things we believe to be true about God, Jesus, etc. Now, the things we believe are an important part of faith, but they are a smaller part than some people want to admit. The biblical story in general and Luke in particular are more concerned about faith as trust, a trust that gets expressed in how we live our lives and then grows through exercise. In other words, “Doing is believing.” Faith is more about a relationship with Jesus than it is about a list of propositions we have to subscribe to. Faith as trust in God grows as it is exercised, in response to what God has already done in us.

Jesus tells his followers that he has already given them what they need to live the life of faith. He tells them that faith doesn’t have to be heroic. Most often faith is just doing what needs to be done, what is right in front of you, what may seem ordinary and even mundane, without thought of a reward. As Lutheran followers of Jesus, we are reminded that we don’t do these things to earn our salvation or to get rewards (we don’t swipe our cards). Jesus has taken care of that already. Because Jesus has healed the breach between us and God, we can grow into that relationship right now.

These past few days I’ve been learning some of the ways the people of Grace “believe by doing.” I’ve heard how the quilters send tangible expressions of love to high school seniors and the needy. I’ve heard about Pine Ridge, mission trips and the food shelf ministry. I’m sure there are many more I’ll be hearing about in the time ahead. Through our baptisms, God has called us all to lives of meaning and purpose. With the gift of the Holy Spirit, God gives us what we need to live out our baptisms in our work, play, school and families. And if that isn’t enough, God gives us his very self, body and blood, in Holy Communion to remind us and strengthen us.

So, does this mean that there is no place for joy or gratitude or thanksgiving in the life of faith? Of course, there is, but that’s the sermon for next week, so you’ll just have to come back. Meanwhile, look for the ways that God is doing God’s work in the world in, with and through you, however ordinary they may seem to be. We are an ordinary people but with an extraordinary God. Amen.

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