MATTHEW 17:14-20
Jesus Cures a Boy with a Demon
14 When
they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, 15and said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my
son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the
fire and often into the water. 16And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure
him.’ 17Jesus answered, ‘You
faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much
longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.’ 18And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it
came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. 19Then the disciples came to Jesus
privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ 20He said to them, ‘Because of your
little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard
seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”, and it will
move; and nothing will be impossible for you.’
MATTHEW 19:13-26
Jesus Blesses Little Children
Then little children were
being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The
disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, ‘Let the
little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these
that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ And he laid his hands on them and went on
his way.
The Rich Young Man
Then someone came to him and
said, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ And he said to
him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If
you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ He said to him, ‘Which
ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery;
You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour your father and
mother; also, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ The young man said to
him, ‘I have kept all these; what do I still lack?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you
wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When the young man
heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Then Jesus said to his
disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the
kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ When
the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, ‘Then who can
be saved?’ But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible,
but for God all things are possible.’
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This
morning we continue on with our sermon series on Character Traits that matter
in the Christian life. But the
character trait that called to me also eluded me. I wanted to speak of hope. But hope is such a huge aspect of Christian life. Hope is so
big that it seems too big for a personal character trait. Perhaps, hope is more
a gift of the spirit. I wanted to
speak of optimism. Optimism seems to be the private or personal character trait
that relates to hope. But optimism seemed too secular. It was perhaps more the
arena of slick motivational speakers than preacher of God’s word. These two
quality also seemed too nebulous and ephemera, maybe too wishful. And what if
you don’t have the trait of natural ebullient optimism? What if you are a
pessimist? I am. Perhaps it
is my early life training or perhaps is a lawyer’s mind that always circles
around worst-case scenarios, but whatever the cause I tend to pessimism. What
about people like me? What about pessimists with faith? I started to think
about Whinny the Pooh characters.
Eeyore, the donkey, is exactly the opposite of hope. He is doom and
gloom. A private rain cloud seems to hang right over his hanging, drooping
head. So the opposite of Eeyore
must be hope right? But the
opposite of Eeyore is Tigger. And let’s face it Tigger is an idiot. I don’t
want cockeyed optimism or ridiculous hope. What I wanted was to add in grit and
realism and perseverance to hope. I wanted to add legs to the hope. I want to
talk about a hope that has wings to mount up like eagles, leg to run and not be
weary, and feet to walk and not faint. I want to talk about optimism with guts
and muscle to work.
So
I asked, “How does the bible talk about hope and optimism?” The bible talks
about making the impossible possible. The bible is chuck full of the
impossible. From an old and childless Abraham who was promised descendants that
outnumber the stars, to the wandering children of Israel who overcame giants in
the promised land, to the walls of Jericho that fall when an army of believer
blows some horns and shout; the bible is full of impossibilities. But the king of the impossible has got
to be Jesus. He feeds thousands on a little boy’s lunch. He heals the hard
cases. He raises the dead. He dies and is resurrected. He instills in his
eleven fearful, working class nobodies in a backwater of the Roman Empire the
ability to change the world. And
then in John 14:12 Jesus says to us “Those who believe in me will do greater
things than these.” Talk about the impossible! Evidently, God is inviting us
into the business of making the impossible possible. This is part of what we are asked to do. Doing greater
things than Jesus is part of our charter. Believing the impossible is possible
becomes part of our Christian character.
Ah,
come on. We can’t do that.
Actually that is precisely the situation in our passage today. The
disciples are standing in exactly the same situation that we imagine ourselves
to be. A distraught father has
asked the disciples to do the impossible, “Heal my son.” And they couldn’t do it. So Jesus gives them a tiny lesson on
making the impossible possible. “Why couldn’t we do this?” they ask. Jesus
says, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith
the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘move from here to
there’ and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you.”
If
we want to learn about making the impossible possible we need to consider the
mustard seed. Evidently in one tiny seed there is a gigantic and indispensible
message. This is a tiny/big message. First, the tiny part, the mustard seed is
so small. At Matthew 13:31-32 Jesus is teaching and again using the mustard
seed as his metaphor. Jesus says the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.
Jesus declares a mustard seed to be the smallest of all seeds, but when grown
it grows large enough for birds to nest in it. Actually, Jesus was not a keen
botanist because the smallest seed ever is actually a tropical rainforest
orchid. That orchid seed is 1/300th of an inch, which is smaller
than the eye, can see. But for Palestinian farmers of his day the seed of the
black mustard, Brassica nigra, was the smallest seed they would have sown.
Farmers in that day spread seed by casting the seed with their hands. And the mustard seed would have grown
about twelve feet high so birds could nest in it. As Jesus wasn’t addressing an
international conference of botanists but a more local crowd we can cut him a
break. The point is Jesus is saying it is OK to start small.
The
small tiny start leads to the big part, putting our faith in a gigantic God.
The impossible starts with a small turn in our orientation, a nod of the head,
a willingness to start, that hesitant small desire, the small first step. This
is our start, one step and then another and another and another. Each step is like that mustard seed
plant that almost overnight grows beyond our expectation or understanding. The first step is tiny, but the power
of that step is not simply in accumulating more tiny steps. The miracle of growth, the impossible
that happens isn’t our efforts but God’s.
The hidden potential for growth isn’t our work. The result is God
working in and around and through. I have been reading Elie Wiesel’s classic
about the Nazi concentration camps, Night. As those poor dear sons and daughters
of Abraham suffered they would recite the prayers of the Jewish faith. Over and over they would pray the
Kaddish a prayer for the dead.
This name for God has rung like a bell in my mind. They address God as
Master of the Universe. As the
earth was created, as day and night emerged, as all things came into being, God
is Master of the Universe. As that tiny seed of the mustard plant breaks forth
in luxurious, amazing growth, there is the power of the Master of the Universe
at work.
Often
we forget the most important element of making the impossible possible. We
forget God, Master of the Universe. Here is an example of how this
happens. I was in seminary. Life
was pretty hectic, I had started to work at Calvin Presbyterian Church, but I
was still in seminary. One March I had lots of papers due and mid-term tests. I
was really focused on getting this stuff done. One morning as I was up early. I looked at the calendar on
the frig and suddenly the bottom fell out of my stomach. I looked at the date
and it was my son’s birthday. March Lloyd Frierson born on March 8thin
the middle of a March snowstorm.
For goodness sake, my son’s name is March, named after his birthday
month and here I forgot this important date. Like any reasonable mother I
panicked. But then I remembered a
couple of presents I had set aside to give him at Christmas. So I quickly
exchanged Birthday wrapping paper for Christmas wrapping paper. I made the
traditional birthday pancakes with chocolate chips for the birthday breakfast.
Luckily we live in a day and age when I can get a quick cake with inscription.
I call my sister for an impromptu party. She picked up some balloons. And God
is so good! March’s favorite birthday dinner food is Chinese takeout. The day was saved. My problem wasn’t
that I didn’t love my son. My problem wasn’t that I didn’t know the date he was
born. I remember every detail. I was there. My problem was I had forgotten. We have
the same problem when we forget the power of God, Master of the Universe. We do
it all the time, not on purpose but because we are just too busy. Or we are so
focused on what we will do. The power of making the impossible possible isn’t
by focusing more and more on what we will do but by remembering we serve the
God of the impossible and then doing in simple obedience what is in front of us
to do. The tiny message is start small and then pay attention to what the real
power of God is blessing.
The
tiny part is us, the power of the impossible is Gods. The gospels have other lessons about the impossible. In Matthew, Mark and Luke there is also
the story of the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus and asks what he must do
for eternal life. He already
follows the law and the commandments. But Jesus tells him to sell his
possessions and follow him. The young man sadly goes away unable to take that
step. The young man goes away defeated. Later in discussion with the disciples
Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples ask who then can be saved. And Jesus replies, “for humans it is
impossible for God nothing is impossible.” So often we take away from this
story the cautionary tale of the dangers of money and greed. This is a good
lesson. But Jesus is pointing to a more profound step, that everyone and
everything is dependent on the power and presence of God. God makes our salvation possible. God
makes our healing possible. If we are called to make the impossible possible
then we need to be in God’s company.
There
is a baseball story to illustrate:
Once a boy and his brother went to a St. Louis Cardinal’s ballgame with
their grandmother. Now the truth is that deep down they would have rather had
their dad or uncle take them. But it was a workday afternoon so better granny
than no baseball game at all. So off they went. But on the way they stopped and
picked up another elderly woman and brought her along. Great thought the boys,
in a few more stops they could pick up the whole grey haired prayer group. But
the kids knew something was up when they pulled to the curb at the stadium and
a uniformed man stepped up and opened the car doors and said, “Good afternoon
Mrs. Divine.” They valet parked the car. Then they were ushered to a special
elevator and the attendant, said, “Good afternoon Mrs. Divine.” Then they were
escorted to a private box. The boys realized that Bing Divine, the General
Manager of the Saint Louis Cardinals had a mother. And that they were sitting in his private box with his mom.
All this special treatment was not because of who they were but because of whom
they were with. We are like those boys. Our blessings or successes are not so
much because of who we are, but because of who we are with. We are like those boys in another way.
They thought they were hanging out with another boring little old lady. In the
same way, we think we are hanging out with a toothless, ‘do nothing’ God. Our estimation of God and what God can
do is too small. And so our faith is too small, below the size of a mustard
seed, maybe like that hothouse orchid seed at only 1/300 of an inch.
So
here are some things to think about this day and perhaps through the week. What is your mountain? Sometimes it is not always a mountain
for instance in this same story is in the Gospel of Luke, but the mustard seed
faith moves a mulberry tree instead of a mountain. What is the impossible
relationship or task or addiction or problem? What do you think is beyond the
power of God? Can you make that
tiny movement towards faith? What is the smallest unit of measurement you can
take towards that mountain? Is it a teaspoon of dirt? Or is it a shovel? Could you maybe rent a backhoe? Then
look carefully for what God is blessing.
This is the way to develop a faith that makes the impossible possible.
Amen.
