“‘The
apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!’”
Luke
17:5 (Common English Bible)
This is a plea that has become
increasingly uncommon today, “Lord, increase our faith!” Though it is unfair to
claim to know the heart and soul of people we pass on the street there seems to
be indicators that faith - or the pursuit of it - has fallen in recent years.
Some ninety-percent of Christian churches in the United States today have
stagnated or are in decline. One magazine, The Christian Century,
recently said that, on average, nine churches close their doors for good each
day. There simply seems to be little passionate quest for faith in the living
God.
Certainly these statistics are
discouraging. Yet, careful attention to the words of our Lord seems to suggest
that Jesus saw this current spiritual condition coming, “But when the Human
One comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?” (Luke 18:8 CEB) Throughout
the teaching and action of Jesus Christ this is the key word that defines and
shapes his work; faith. In every encounter with women and men, whether they
were sick or well, resistant or receptive, hostile or gracious, faith was the issue. When the
ministry of the disciples produced fruit Jesus commended their faith. When it
did not, Jesus asked, “Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25 CEB)
It may be well that we pay closer
attention to what Jesus actually asks. Jesus never asks that upon his return if
he will find a flourishing church with attractive facilities and robust
programing. The question is “faith.” Will Jesus find people whose hearts are
moved with compassion and a deep longing to know God? Will Jesus encounter a
movement of persons actively seeking to harness both energies and gifts for
ministry to advance a new community of people defined by common concern and
welfare? Jesus isn’t looking for massive church buildings. Jesus is looking for
a massive engagement in what God is doing in the world.
Here, in Luke’s Gospel, the apostles do
not ask for faith. What they ask is that Jesus increase their faith; increase
their capacity for doing what it is that God has already placed on their
hearts. The subject isn’t the absence of faith. The subject is “equipping” them
for doing more with the faith already present. Perhaps the present sad state of
churches today is not the lack of faith. Perhaps, just perhaps, it is that
churches are failing to adequately equip people for their God-sized desire to
be a part of something larger than their own small lives.
Joy,
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