27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Proper 22), Year C

Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace.
~2 Timothy 1:8-9a
 
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
     [God’s] mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
     great is your faithfulness.
~Lamentations 3:22-23
 
“If you had faith the size of a mustard seed,” Jesus tells his followers, you can move mountains, or, in this telling, transplant “a mulberry tree” in the sea (Luke 17:5). Small steps. Perhaps its better we aren’t trying to match Matthew 17:20’s confidence these days. Replanting a simple tree in the sea may feel a big enough lift in these faithless times.
 
But that’s just it. It’s not about the size of faith. A sesame or a watermelon or an avacado seed-sized faith won’t make up the difference in any of these scenarios the gospel tellers imagine. It’s not about that. It’s not so much, “once more, but with feeling.” It’s in the doing—and not so much our doing…”relying on the power of God, who saved us,” relying on God’s “mercies” that never come to an end.
 
Jesus had faith. Real faith. Bigger than an avacado. A Coco de Mer, say (look it up). And he was executed by the power of the empire that could not tolerate the possibilities he spoke of. He was raised to new life. How? In all honesty, we don’t really know, except, by the power of God.
 
This cycle of life is not unfamiliar. Cycles of injustice and unfaith are not unfamiliar. The poet of Lamentations saw it. The gospels see it.
 
Discipleship is a practice. It requires memory and exercise of all sorts. We need reminders of this story for our stories to go well. But the size of your faith is the least of it. And for that we can say together, “Thanks be to God!”
 
Enter into worship. Enter into hope.
 
Readings: Lamentations 1:1-6 † Lamentations 3:19-26 or Psalm 137 † 2 Timothy 1:1-14 † Luke 17:5-10
 
About the Art: Young, Art, 1866-1943. Jesus Wanted poster, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55832 [retrieved September 15, 2025]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesus_wanted_poster.jpg.
 
Background: Art Young was a well-known American cartoonist and writer. First published in “The Masses” in 1917.

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