The Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost - The Rev. Colette Hammesfahr

 

Luke 17:5-10, October 2, 2025

“Increase our faith.” Who here has enough faith? Who here thinks they don’t have enough faith? Who here sits and listens to others talk about their faith and says to themselves, “I wish I had that much faith.” I think probably all of us have asked that question of ourselves. Yes, even priests and pastors.

“Increase our faith.” I found this to be a very interesting statement made by the apostles in our text from Luke. We’re coming off the story last week of the death of the rich man and Lazarus. We pick up today in Luke 17:5. In the verses just before this, Jesus is teaching his followers about temptation, forgiveness, and grace. And then out of the blue, one of the apostles says, “Increase our faith.” Now, this is what I found interesting. Notice that they didn’t ask Jesus, “How can we increase our faith?” They made a statement to Jesus. How did they expect Jesus to increase their faith? How were they measuring their faith? How do we know when we have enough faith? How do we get more faith, or why do we even want more faith? How does that change our life or our relationship with God?

Anna Bartlett Warner and her sister Susan Warner were writers in the late 1800s. They often collaborated on their projects. In one of Susan’s novels, Say and Seal, she wrote a scene where a Sunday school teacher was consoling a boy who was dying. To comfort the boy, the Sunday school teacher recites a poem to him. Susan asked her sister, Anna, to write this poem for her book. Here is the poem she wrote:

 Jesus loves me this I know

For the Bible tells me so

Little ones to Him belong

They are weak, but He is strong 

Do you recognize these words? These words were later put to music by William Bradbury. He added the chorus we now know so well, “Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. For the Bible tells me so.” The song has become one of the world's most widely known and most beloved children’s hymns. It’s one of the first songs children learn in Sunday school. It’s said that soldiers on both sides of the Civil War sang these words to bring them comfort.

When Jesus was “told” to increase the faith of the apostles, his reply was this: "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.” Most have heard Jesus’ famous parable about having the faith of a mustard seed, found in Matthew’s Gospel. The tiny mustard seed grows into a large plant, symbolizing God’s kingdom’s growth. This isn’t what Jesus is talking about today. Today, this mustard seed refers to the quality of our faith.

The apostles wanted more faith. They thought they needed more to follow Jesus. And Jesus says, “No. It’s not how much faith you have. It’s how you live out your faith.” Our faith is rooted in a few simple words, “Jesus loves me.” How do we know that Jesus loves us? Because the Bible tells us so. These words from Anna Warner are our mustard seed. Yes, it seems overly simplified, but isn’t that what Jesus tells the apostles? The tiniest bit of trust in those words is enough for God to work wonders in our lives.

“Jesus loves me.” How powerful are those words? “Jesus came to earth for me. Jesus died for me. Jesus loves me.”

It's not about increasing our faith. It’s about growing our faith. When we increase something, we think about amounts – adding more. We want to increase our bank account by adding more money. A stamp collector wants to increase their collection by adding more stamps. When we grow something, we think about spreading and producing fruit. We grow flowers. We grow our family. We grow our friendships. Increasing and growing are two different things. What matters to God is the object of our faith and what we do with it -- growth.

 Imagine you give someone a little packet of mustard seeds. They hold it in their hand and say, “This isn’t enough. I need more seeds!” But you tell them, “You don’t need more — you just need to plant what you already have.” Nothing will change if the person only wants to increase the number of seeds in their hand. But if they put even one of those tiny seeds in the soil, it will grow, and soon it becomes a plant, then more seeds, then a whole garden.

Asking for increased faith is like wanting a bigger packet of seeds. Jesus shows us that what matters is growing the seed we already have. Jesus said even faith as small as a mustard seed is enough. Nobody is “too small” or “too weak” to matter. Every person has something God can grow.

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” That truth, simple as it is, is what we stand on. Our call is to live it out — to let the love of Christ move us into action. The challenge isn’t: “Do I have enough?” It’s: “Will I plant the little faith I do have?” What does that look like to you? What can that look like for you in the community of St. Thomas’? Where can you grow in and with our church community?

Faith doesn’t grow by getting bigger in our heads — it grows by being planted in our lives. If all you have is the mustard-seed truth of “Jesus loves me, this I know,” then plant that in service, love, community, and God will make it grow.

 

Jesus loves me this I know

For the Bible tells me so

Little ones to Him belong

They are weak, but He is strong

Yes, Jesus loves me

Yes, Jesus loves me

Yes, Jesus loves me

For the Bible tells me so

Amen.