On the day Abraham Lincoln was born his older cousin Dennis Hanks went over to see the newborn baby. Later he commented:

“Folks often ask me if Abe was a good-looking baby. Well, he looked just like any other baby — like a red cherry pulp squeezed dry, and he didn’t improve none as he growed older.”[1]

That may be a typical cousin’s reaction, but admittedly, Lincoln never was photogenic and he probably would not have made it in this age of television with all its glitz and style. Nonetheless, it is the considered opinion of our nation’s professional historians every time a poll is taken Lincoln rates as the greatest president of the United States. From these humble and unpromising beginnings, something great happened. Small things do make a difference.

Our biblical passage, Luke 17:5-10, actually contains four distinct sayings of Jesus on four different topics: causing temptations, forgiveness, faith, and obedience.

Jesus’ first saying regarded placing a temptation in place of “little ones” — a phrase that usually means those young in the faith. Jesus showed the seriousness of this dying by giving a rather vivid picture of the offender having a millstone around his neck and then being tossed into the sea.

The second saying involves forgiveness. Even within the people of faith it is possible for disciples to sin. If this happens there is need for forgiveness on the part of the one offended, even if this happens seven times. There should be no limit to the forgiveness.

The third saying is on faith, the heart of this particular sermon. We will elaborate more on this topic later.

The fourth saying concerns the matter of obedience. A slave in this parable even though he had labored in the field all day long, should not feel that his work was done. He may say to himself, “Now is my time to eat and be served by someone else, but Jesus says that his servants should see the situation differently. He has domestic responsibilities and must serve the master first before eating himself.

Back to the third issue of “faith,” which is our main concern today. We may wish to become mature Christians overnight, but spiritual growth takes time just as it does in the world of education and of nature.

Mustard seeds are not considered the smallest seeds in the Near East, as it is often claimed, but the mustard seed is tiny and eventually grows into a large plant or tree. Furthermore, birds are fond of the little seeds, and a cloud of birds over a mustard plant is a common sight. In the Hebrew scripture this image of the birds flocking to the trees was often used by the biblical writers as a sign of God’s great coming kingdom. For example, in Ezekiel 17:23,”In the shade of its branches, the birds of every sort will nest” the prophet looks forward to that day of God’s great coming kingdom. It was the grand dream of the Hebrew prophets that someday God’s kingdom would include not only the covenant people of Israel but the Gentiles too, that is all the other nations of the world.

After hearing the first two sayings of Jesus is it any wonder that the disciples should ask, “Increase our faith”? Jesus countered by saying: “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’”(17:6).

Matthew and Mark in their telling of Jesus’ saying used the word ”mountain” instead of “mulberry tree” but the result is the same: God has a way of doing the impossible if there is sufficient faith. More correctly, what is needed is not greater faith but simply faith in a great God. When we have this kind of faith we are attached to a power that can do anything.

In this third saying, Luke has Jesus giving a kind of “show and tell” lesson of the tiny mustard seed and its potential to reach numerous people around the world.

As we sit in the congregation in worship today we may not be aware of the dynamic possibility for change and growth in our individual lives and in the church as a whole. All God needs is a beginning, however small. Our Lord can take small beginnings and change them into great endings.

Our particular congregation in northeast Ohio has a practice on Rally Day as we begin a new year in the fall. At the end of the worship service, the whole congregation adjourns to the parking lot behind the church building to participate in a balloon contest. Each person, young and old, is given a balloon to send up into the sky to see how far their balloon can possibly go. My balloon did not go very far because it became entangled in the wires above the parking lot. My wife had a different experience with her balloon. Her balloon escaped the wires and continued on its way toward Pittsburgh. Attached to each balloon was a note identifying the church, the name and address of the sender, and a scriptural blessing for anyone who might find the balloon.

We waited and waited and soon reports came in from people who had found some of the balloons. In the case of my wife’s balloon about two or three weeks later we received a letter from a young couple in Rochester, New York. Their letter told how much they enjoyed receiving it. It seems that they had been hiking in a state park just north of Pittsburgh and found the balloon and note there. It was a small gesture but was much appreciated.

How does spiritual growth happen? First of all, in understanding the dynamics of growth we need patience.

When James Garfield was president of Hiram College in Northeast Ohio (later he would become president of the United States), he was approached by a father of a boy seeking admission to the college. The father asked Garfield, “Can’t you simplify the course? My boy will never be able to take all that in. He should be able to go through a shorter route.”

“Certainly,” Garfield replied, “I believe I can arrange that. Of course, it all depends upon what you want to make of your boy. When God wants to make an oak tree, he takes a hundred years. When he wants to make a squash, he requires only two months.”[2] The most important things in life cannot be hurried.

Nelson Mandela had to wait in prison for 27 years before his hope for a new South Africa could be achieved. In 1996, he saw the future of South Africa in its children when he dedicated a Children’s Village in Capetown. He called for patience: “It is my hope that within this community a culture of understanding, acceptance, and love can be nurtured. Let this Children’s Village be an example of tolerance and reconciliation so that we, as adults, can learn from these children.”[3]

In the world of nature we note the sun rising and setting in its good time. In winter we wish that the warm weather would come, but we cannot force it. In the fall we long for the coming of the colorful warblers, but we cannot hurry them. They migrate when they will.

Likewise, within our own lives, God is at work within us, leading the way toward a specific objective. God is at work within us as a child, as a youth, and into our adult years even though we may not always be aware of his presence and direction.

Patience is needed in dynamic spiritual growth, but something else is needed too. We might call it cooperation.

We cannot compel growth to happen, but we can cooperate with it. Think of our own gardens, we plant seeds, water the soil, fertilize the ground, provide light and shade, prune, and control weeds.

Likewise, we can grow in our spiritual life, if we cooperate. We do this by using “means of grace”, that includes regular worship, constant prayer, regular Bible reading, and serving others. These are “seeds” that God uses to effect change in our lives. Only God can really alter our lives, but we can cooperate.

Leo Buscaglia has often been called “the love doctor” for his emphasis upon love and his belief in the potential of every human being. He said that no one can count on what he is going to say. He prides himself in his unpredictability as a professor. He cooperates with the growth process. “When my students raise their hands and say, ‘That isn’t what you said Tuesday.’ I say, ‘I know I’ve grown since Tuesday. Do you expect me to be last Tuesday’s Leo today?”[4] Buscaglia cooperated by improving himself from week to week.

Spiritual growth involves patience, cooperation, and finally what I call surrender. We must give up our old ways and seek something radically new. To be blunt, we must plant seeds, die, and wait for resurrection.

Literary scholars often consider the Russian novelist Feodor Dostoevsky’s greatest novel to be The Brothers Karamazov. What interested me most about this novel was its scriptural epigraph attached to the book. It is John 24: “Verily, verily I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (KJV)

 Eugene Peterson, pastor, scholar, and translator, took time off from his pastoral schedule as a young mission pastor in Maryland to study the writings of Dostoevsky in depth, and he wrote of this experience with perception.

Dostoevsky had a troubled personal life. His marriage was in shambles. He gambled compulsively. His epilepsy crippled his writings. But he created. He planted seeds. He lived expecting that God would do something in his life. He was passionate in his relationship with God. He believed he could create nothing significant unless he depended upon God’s grace working silently, patiently in his own life.

“He planted seeds. Then he died to his aims and wishes. He waited for resurrection. And it came. We benefit immensely today in reading his works. They are filled with pain, disappointment, and anguish of everyday living but also with example after example of those who died to an old way of life only to find God has something better for them. But such transforming power can only happen if we are in touch with God.” [5]

If we depend solely upon ourselves, we will not grow spiritually, but if we keep in contact with what Dostoevsky calls “other mysterious worlds” we will grow indeed. Many people prefer to glide through life with little effort, and they may think we are crazy to attempt the hard work of spiritual growth, but we must not be turned away from our goal.

Amen.

---