Stunned by Jesus’s command to forgive, the apostles said, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). After all, even Jesus could not expect them to rise to such superhuman heights of mercy as to forgive a brother or sister seven times in a single day; it is just not natural!
They need more power from him. Jesus, however, replies, “If you have faith as a grain of mustard, you might say to this sycamore tree, ‘Be rooted up and planted in the sea, and it would obey you.’” (Luke 17:6).
Unfortunately, the limitations of English obscure his reply. Jesus does not here rebuke the apostles for their lack of faith. They have already admitted that and claimed it as the heart of their problem.
Instead of nagging them about it, Jesus says that their diagnosis is wrong. The Greek construction of his reply clearly conveys the following idea: “If you have even a little faith (which you certainly do), you might (if that were the sort of thing that faith did) say to this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ “and it would obey you” (even though such a situation is most unlikely).
In other words, they do not understand the problem. They have plenty of faith, but they have not yet applied it in the proper arena nor understood its implications. They do not understand what it means to be a servant of the living Lord. So Jesus tells them the parable of the sycamore tree.
Too often we repeat the apostles’ mistake (or make our own by thinking that God is in the tree-transplanting business). God has delivered up his Son for us all.
Instead of demanding more from him, we must believe that he cares for us. A little faith goes a long way, especially if we focus on the business of obeying the Lord’s commands. Jesus said that when we obey him, we can say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty” (Luke 17:10).
Brian Giese
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of The Kewanee Voice.
