9-27-22 - Of Mustard Seeds and Mulberry Trees

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

“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." I don’t know about you – I don’t feel like I have faith to command trees to be uprooted and replanted. Yet Jesus says the tiniest amount of real faith could effect such a thing. Was he exaggerating – or are we missing something?

Jesus demonstrated a sometimes disconcerting authority over the natural order. Winds and waves, water and wine, fevers and diseased cells, and, yes, trees, yielded to his command. He suggests that we share this authority by virtue of our participation in the Life of God. I know of one person with strong healing gifts who took that authority at face value and began to pray that fearsome weather systems would weaken and turn, and seismic events settle.

Jesus suggests we don’t need to have a LOT of faith to allow God to work miracles through us. We just need real faith. Perhaps his’ somewhat cranky reply to his disciples’ request to “increase our faith” is to say that, where faith is concerned, it’s not quantity but quality that counts. We don’t have to whip ourselves into a frenzy of faith over “big” things – we are invited to bring our faith, however strong or weak it feels, to bear on any situation that challenges us.

And then we are to trust that the power and love of God that flows through us as children of God can accomplish mighty things, far more than we can do or even imagine. When we join our faith with others in prayer, the flow of power is even greater.

So what’s a BIG thing you’d like to invite the power and love of God to affect today? The effects of climate change? Civil wars and famines? Cancer in a beloved? Your own mood?

What’s a small thing you’d like to invite the power and love of God to affect today? It’s always good to exercise our faith on the small things. As with muscles, faith gets stronger when exercised.

We don't really have to worry about how much faith we have; just step out with what you got. Jesus promised that “where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Mt 18:20) This means that when we invoke Jesus’ name in prayer, we are invoking his presence through his Spirit. This means He is praying with us – and thus one person in the group is praying with perfect faith. Whatever we add to that is sufficient, even if it’s only a tiny little mustard seed.

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