Readings for Proper 22C:
Habakkuk 1:1-2:4, Ps. 37; 2 Tim. 1; Luke 17:5-10
October 7, 2007
The Rev. Karen Faye Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino, CA
Jesus said: “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.” [Luke 17]
“Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Her family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans. Miraculously, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor’s home while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them. It was during those endless hours of unspeakable terror that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having truly discovered the meaning of unconditional love- a love so strong that she was able to seek out and forgive her family’s killers.”*
Let me read to you an excerpt from her 49th day in hiding: “Seven weeks in the bathroom had left us all frighteningly gaunt- our bones pushed into our flesh, and our skin sagged. Sitting on the hard floor became increasingly uncomfortable as our muscles and fat disappeared, leaving us with no padding on our bottoms ... We were shrinking, and our starvation diet left us weak and light-headed much of the time. I could tell by my clothes that I’d lost at least 40 pounds (and I was only about 115 pounds to begin with.)
“Our skin was pale, our lips were cracked, and our gums were swollen and sore. To make matters worse, since we hadn’t showered or changed clothes since we’d arrive, we were plagued by a vicious infestation of body lice. Sometimes the tiny bugs grew so engorged with our blood that we could see them marching across our faces.
“We may not have been a pretty sight, but I’d never felt more beautiful. Each day I awoke and thanked God for giving me life, and each morning God made me feel loved and cherished. I knew that God hadn’t kept me alive so long and through so much suffering just to let me be killed beneath the machete of a blood-drunk killer ... All I could do was pray, so that’s what I did. When the pain and fever become too much to bear, I asked God to lay His healing hands on me while I slept. Both times I awoke refreshed and well, without fever or pain. I’d been cured by the power of God’s love.” *[Left to Tell, by Immaculee Ilibagiza, 2006.]
If God is just, why do bad things happen to good people? If God is compassionate, why do so many people suffer? If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world? These are questions that all thinking people of faith ask. Deep within our bones, within our DNA, within our souls is an abiding sense of justice. We want good things to happen to good people and we want the evildoers to be prevented from doing evil. And when our sense of justice is insulted, we become fearful, angry, lash out, and wonder why God is silent. Today I would like to talk about faith in the midst of chaos. How does it work? What are the possibilities? And how does one maintain faithfulness during times of darkness? I will use all of the readings as my texts.
The first reading begins with an oracle from the prophet Habakkuk. An oracle is a communication from God brought to public attention. Habakkuk cries out: “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me ... the wicked surround the righteous- therefore judgment comes forth perverted.” Although these words were written some 2600 years before the genocide in Rwanda, they could have easily been written by Immaculee as she lay hidden in the bathroom for 91 days.
During the late 7th century BCE, the world in which Israel found itself was in total chaos. The Assyrians had played havoc on most of the land, killing men, women, and children, while forcing others into slavery. For the citizens who remained in the land, the political climate was one of dishonest gain, forced labor, violence, and idolatry. And on top of all this, a new force was gaining strength in the Middle East, the Chaldeans, who were ready to triumph over the Assyrians and re-conquer the surrounding nations. It was into this context that the prophet Habakkuk struggled with the miscarriage of justice.
The theological outlook during this time held that God had the power to effect justice in all aspects of life. Since God was just and in charge of the world, then justice should prevail in both national and international affairs. Yet, there was a major discrepancy between such a vision of God and the brutal facts of the real world. So Habakkuk cries out to God and asks for insight. God replied: Keep waiting patiently. Justice will eventually prevail in the end and the evil ones will fail. Above all, maintain your faithfulness in the midst of the darkness. In the end, Habakkuk falls back on his faith to give him hope in his time of trial. “Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.” [Rabindranath Tagore]
We all ask ourselves what we would do if faced with the kind of terror, loss, and suffering endured by Habakkuk and Immaculee. Would we allow fear and desperation to fill us with hatred or despair? Would we allow our spirit to be poisoned and join the perpetrators of violence and deceit? Would we cower and shrivel, allowing fear to overcome our sanity? Not if we have faith. Faith is having trust in God’s purpose, power, and presence to make all things new even when there is a discrepancy between this vision and the brute facts of the real world. Faith gives us the strength to go on, not because the world itself is just or because it rewards those who work for justice, but because faithful people possess a larger vision of the way things should be. Faith gives us the courage and stamina to work towards that vision.
In today’s gospel story, the disciples are overwhelmed with the demands of Jesus’ teachings. He has been instructing the disciples about stewardship, generosity, sacrifice, and the need to forgive over and over again, those who cause pain. The disciples believe that they need more faith in order to exercise these demands of the gospel so they ask Jesus to increase their faith. Jesus replies that they don’t need more faith. They simply need to exercise the faith that they do have and not get discouraged. A small amount of faith can go a long way! Faith can do big things. Today’s gospel passage is about doing incredible things with our faith, uprooting mulberry trees, surviving 91 days in a bathroom with love in one’s heart, and facing the chaos of Habakkuk’s world with trust for a different future.
The possibilities opened up by faith cancel out such words as hopelessness, impossible, absurd, cynicism, and fear. The following insights from today’s readings summarize the nature of faith:
1. Faith gives us the ability to look beyond the chaos of the present moment into the future. Faith prevents us from becoming paralyzed by the injustices of the world or fretting about the people who succeed in evil schemes. Faith gives us the strength to work for justice and righteousness. Faithful people are more apt to be able to hold onto the vision of God’s kingdom and trust in the reliability of that vision even when the brute facts of history challenge it.
2. Faith is a gift from God. However, faith can be nurtured through the practice of prayer, worship, the reading of Scripture, service to others, and by hanging out with people who have a lot of faith.
3. Faith is not a protection plan. If Christianity were a protection plan, the cross would not be the central symbol of our faith. Faithful people are subject to life’s storms just as anyone else. Bad things happen to good people. The difference is, faith provides the courage and the strength to face the storms without being overcome with fear and anger. “Faith makes things possible, not easy.” [source unknown]
So, if God is just, why do bad things happen to good people? If God is compassionate, why do so many people suffer? If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world? Most of the evil in the world comes about because of man’s inhumanity to man. Greed, fear, corruption, and self-centeredness all contribute to the injustices perpetrated in the world. God does not force God’s will on us. God has created us to be free, thinking, human beings. With this freedom, we have the ability to nurture life or destroy it. Our theological understanding of God is different from that of Habakkuk’s time. We have learned that God is not a puppeteer who controls the strings of national and international politics. But we do believe that God’s power is real and has been given to us through the Holy Spirit. Nurturing the Spirit of God within is key to bringing about a new world order. The world in which we live is difficult, filled with pain and injustice. How our children will respond to the trials and tribulation of this world will have a lot to do with their faith and their ability to exercise it. That is why it is important for us to pass along our faith to our children and to our children’s children. “Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered and lo, no one was there.” [source unknown]
| Updated October 11, 2007 |
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