If you had faith (and you do), you would be able to take on the world in all its beauty and ugliness. Even if you are awash in doubt, even if you are barely hanging on to a thread of faith and it feels like you are about to fall into a pit of despair and darkness, you have enough, more than enough to get through.
I know, I know, you may wonder if that isn’t just sanctified self-help language. You may think that is what the preacher is supposed to say, sort of a holy pat on the back, a sacred “attaboy, don’t worry.” Well, I don’t blame you really.
Maybe you are like the character in John Updike’s novel, A Month of Sundays, who reports, “I have no faith. Or, rather, I have faith, but it doesn’t seem to apply.” Jesus would say, even a tiny kernel of faith is more than enough.
“If you had faith,” Jesus says, “You could make this tree be uprooted and planted in the sea.” Don’t get too caught up in what that means. It is not about doing magic tricks. It is not about performing miracles. It is hyperbole, exaggerated speech.
Jesus is making the point that if we look around, if we look inside, we’ll see that we do indeed have enough faith or endurance or courage or honesty or justice or trust or belief to get through whatever this life tosses at us. Jesus wants us to see that the strength for following God, for being a disciple of Christ, comes from God’s very spirit.
Thomas Graham, the dean of a theological school, says that “Faith is reason gone courageous – not the opposite of reason to be sure, but something more than reason and never satisfied by reason alone. A step always remains beyond the edge of light.” Faith, in order for it to grow, needs something more than comfort. It needs the challenge of a life lived in love. It’s not always easy but if you have faith (and you do) you will be able to follow in the path of Jesus named love and mercy.
Grace and peace to you,
