Scripture: Luke 17:1-10 (cf. verses 5-6) Psalms 137; Lamentations 1:1-6
Theme: MUSTARD TRIUMPHS SYCAMINE
Jesus teaches us all that through mustard seed faith we are able to do the impossible - we are able to uproot and get rid of the sycamine trees of bitterness and forgiveness that seek to grow in our lives causing disharmony and chaos
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INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and from His Son Jesus Christ who came to take away the sin of the world.
You walk around the corner and you see them coming straight towards you. You think about turning around but they have already made eye contact. It's too late. They give you the biggest smile in the world. Now, how can you reject that smile? There is nothing to do but to go ahead and go towards them.
You sigh as you walk up shaking your head (not enough to be seen) thinking - I hope they don't want to talk about another one of their problems. The last one took over an hour and you're not sure that anything productive was accomplished. But as soon as their mouth opens your hopes are dashed. Yep, they have another problem and they think that you are the only one that can help them.
What do you do? Do you offer to sit down with them and help them out again? Do you make up an excuse and run away? Should they really be taking up this much of your time? When will they grow up and begin to handle things on their own? Is it fair for them to depend on you as their counselor, mentor and friend? Oh, well, how do you say no to that face? How do you say you don't have time? You sit down and listen and do your best to help them.
But no sooner are you finished with your counseling session when out of the corner of your eye you see them. You can't believe it. Of all the people on the planet why do they have to be here? Why them and why now? Your heart sinks and your throat tightens up. You muscles start to contract. You prepare for their attack. You know they will blast you with some snide or rude remark. You think, why do they always have to be so mean? It's like they took a class on meanness and aced it. Why can't they find someone else to pick on or to criticize? Right when they know that they have hurt you they always laugh off their antics by saying that they are just joking. They don't mean anything and they hope you can take it. If they have hurt your feelings they are sorry, but hey, no harm, no foul. They are only joking. But who needs that kind of joking?
You ask God, "Just how many times do you have to put up with them? How many times do you have to forgive them?" Why can't God just go and remove them from the face of the earth? The world would be better or at least your world would be better.
That's what is going on in verses 1 - 4 in our passage this morning. Jesus is teaching about how to live together in a community of faith. He is dealing with two things that can create a great deal of chaos and disharmony. One of course involves working with people who seem to never grow in the faith. People who seem to go from one problematic situation to another problematic situation They seem to perpetually be stuck in some kind of spiritual mud.
The second situation deals with what happens when one disciple sins against another disciple. When people get on one another's nerves or treat each other wrongly. How many times is it necessary to forgive the same person? Do you have to do it over and over and over again? Isn't there some kind of forgiving quota that once you reached it you don't have to put up with rude, stupid and foolish people?
Jesus reminds us all that there is a law of love that must be practiced. A love that reaches out to those younger in the faith and that loves them and assists them along their journey. A love that doesn't give up on them or hope that simply go away. A love that enables us to sit down with them and help them when they are in trouble or when think they need our help. A love that helps us deal with patience, kindness and humility.
Jesus also reminds us that there is also a responsible love. A love that is able to rebuke and reprove people but at the same time is able to forgive those same people even if it means forgiving them over and over again. Jesus is telling his disciples that they must have the ability to discipline but always with a spirit of unconditional love and forgiveness.
Jesus is therefore calling his disciples to be mentors and forgivers. He is calling his disciples to help their younger and weaker brothers and sisters at the same time possessing the patience and love that they will need to deal with those who are constantly "sinning" against them.
No wonder in verse five the Disciples cry out "INCREASE OUR FAITH". They are feeling the heavy burden of Jesus teaching. They are feeling the burden of being a leader in the faith.
How in the world can you keep your sanity and your faith with people who are constantly needing your attention? You would understand if they were a 2 - 3 year old. But what do you do when they are in college, when they are an adult? How do you handle working with an adult who should know better? How do you keep your patience? How do you keep from becoming bitter or pessimistic towards them?
How in the world can you keep forgiving and forgiving and forgiving? Again, isn't there a spiritual quota on this forgiveness thing? I mean after 7 - 10 - 20 times isn't it time to cut your losses and leave them in the dust? And just how can you keep from becoming skeptical or bitter? How can you retain your smile, the joy in your heart at the same time your heart is being cut in two? How can you constantly be Jesus to the fools of the world?
The disciples knew that they needed help. They knew that they couldn't do it on their own so they asked for more faith. They thought the answer was more faith. I don't blame them one bit. I would have had my hand raised asking the for the same thing. I think we all need a little more faith at times don't we? Isn't it right to say - LORD, INCREASE OUR FAITH!?
What does Jesus say? What does he do? In verse six our Lord points us to the mustard seed and to the sycamine tree. Why in the world does he start talking about mustard seeds and sycamine trees when all we wanted was more faith? Let's take a few moments and unwrap verse six.
We all know a little about the mustard seed. It is of course one of the smallest seeds of ancient Israel. It's so small that the rabbis said that you could get one in your eye and not even be aware of its presence because it is so small. They saw the mustard seed as a perfect metaphor for anything small, petite or diminutive.
The sycamine tree is another story. We are not so familiar with it as we are the mustard seed. But it too is an amazing metaphor. The sycamine tree looks like a cross between a mulberry tree and a fig tree. It grows to about 30 - 35 feet tall and can live for around 75 years. It produces fruit at least four times a year and its leaves stay green all year long. It's the same tree that the little man Zacchaeus used to see Jesus.
So, why does Jesus use these two things - a mustard seed and a sycamine tree in talking about faith, forgiveness, patience and kingdom living?
Well, the mustard seed is easy. Jesus is telling us that it doesn't require a great deal of faith to be patient, to forgive or to live a successful kingdom life. What? Did we read that passage right? Let's go back. Is Jesus telling us that just a speck of faith is all that it takes to be a patience, loving and forgiving person? Yes, He is!
Also, Jesus is not saying - "IF YOU HAD FAITH" in a way that is contrary to the fact. He is saying "IF YOU HAD FAITH" according to the fact. In other words, when we read this we are to read it this way - "IF YOU HAD FAITH" (AND YOU DO) like a grain of mustard seed you can do these impossible and absurd things.
He is telling them that they already have enough faith. He is telling them that it doesn't require a great deal of faith to do the impossible. One doesn't have to wait until they have stored up this vast amount of faith to be a person who is kind, considerate, patient, forgiving and encouraging. All that is necessary is for a person to put their God faith into action. Once they do that then the impossible can happen.
To describe the impossible Jesus points to the example of a sycamine tree. Jesus tells them that they all have enough faith to pull up a sycamine tree with all its roots and then plant it into the sea where it will of course completely die. This all sounds rather silly to us today. But there is much more at play here in Jesus using the sycamine tree.
Just as the mustard seed was a symbol referring to small and petite the sycamine tree was a symbol of unforgiveness and bitterness.
The sycamine tree was known for some great characteristics.
+They have an amazing root system. It didn't get very tall but it did get very deep. These trees reached down and out with thousands of little roots. Some as big as a carrot but many of them no bigger than an earthworm. It was through all these roots that they were able to grow in a very inhospitable environment. If there was any moisture around all these roots would tap into it. The rabbis use to say that it would take a man at least 600 years to be able to unravel every root that grows from a sycamine tree.
+They are easy to grow. You don't have to plant them they just seem to sprout up on their own. They are easy to grow but almost impossible to kill. Once you get a clump of sycamine trees growing you just about can't get rid of them.
+They are able to produce fruit at least four and as many as six times a year. They seem like the perfect fruit tree but there is one major drawback. Sycamine fruit is bitter, tart and pungent. It's similar in appearance to a fig date but it doesn't taste anything like one. Sycamine fruit can't be eaten in one setting. You have to nibble on it, put it away and then get it out and nibble some more.
+Finally, it's wood was porous which made it very durable. So durable that sycamine wood was best known as "coffin wood". Coffins made with sycamine wood were found still intact after 1,000 years of wear and tear.
Because of those things the sycamine tree became a symbol of a life filled with bitterness and unforgiveness. It's roots were compared to the roots of bitterness - thousands of them reaching everywhere. It's ability to grow anywhere and everywhere was exactly like that of bitterness and unforgiveness. It doesn't take much to cause some resentment, bitterness or a spirit of unforgiveness to take root. And once they taken root they seem to stay forever. It's fruit was exactly like the fruit bitterness and unforgiveness - always plentiful but bitter, tart and pungent. Left alone the spirit of unforgiveness and bitterness will lead a person to an early death. Like a coffin a spirit of bitterness and unforgiveness will envelop a person's life.
The disciples were worried about exactly what Jesus is talking about here in this passage. When he started talking about the sycamine tree they knew exactly where he was going. It was a perfect example of what was trying to happen in and among their community. Little sycamine trees of unforgiveness and bitterness were doing their best to grow among all of them. Little sycamine trees were sending out their roots and producing their bitter fruit and doing their best to kill harmony, accord and communion.
That is not what Jesus nor they wanted. Instead, they wanted to be like Jesus. They had watched as Jesus dealt with people who were slow to learn. After all, Jesus had been working with them and who was more dense than they were at times. They had watched as they had tried Jesus' patience and tested his soul only to watch him be able to reach out in love, grace and mercy. They wanted what Jesus possessed.
They had watched how he handled the ridicule and snide remarks of the Pharisees and scribes. They had watched how he was able to get rid of any bitter thoughts or unforgiveness. They had watched as he modeled a life of forgiveness and joy. They had watched all of this and wanted to be like Him. They wanted to be like Jesus.
Jesus tells them that with the amount of faith that anyone can possess (a mustard seed amount) a person can do the impossible. They can take the sycamine trees of bitterness and unforgiveness that try to grow in a person's life and get rid of them. They can uproot them and plant them all into the sea where they will die. That is the meaning behind this passage - by faith picking up our spiritual sycamine trees, roots and all and plant them in salty sea water. In the sea these trees would not be able to grow and would quickly wither and die. Even the roots would die and they tried to live on salt water. Perhaps Jesus was referring to the salt in our lives as yet another metaphor of how we can choke out a spirit of unforgiveness, impatience and bitterness.
So, is it that simple? Is all we have to do is to exercise the very faith that we already possess? Do we already have the faith necessary to live a life above bitterness and unforgiveness? Yes, I believe that is exactly what Jesus is teaching us. He is telling us that we are to exercise our faith
1. In God. We are to exercise our faith in believing that God is in control and will give us the strength and the power to live, behave and respond in a positive fashion. We are to believe that God will work through our mustard seed faith. All we have to do is to put it into action.
2. In ourselves. We are to believe that God's Spirit is working in and through us transforming us into the image of Jesus. We are to believe that we can do the impossible. That in Christ we can be loving, kind, long suffering, gentle, forgiving and compassionate. We are to believe that in and through us the LORD wants to do the impossible. We have to have faith in just much like Jesus we can become in this life.
3. Thirdly, we are to have faith in others - believing that others are truly worthy of our patience and forgiveness. Believing that others are worth the time, the effort and the resources that are going to be needed to help them grow and learn from their mistakes.
Usually, we all have faith that God can help us be forgiving, loving and kind. And on our best days we usually believe that we can do the impossible in Christ. We can look at ourselves in a mirror and see ourselves being kind, loving and full of mercy and grace. We can imagine God working in us and through us.
Usually, the problem comes with how we look at other people. We tend to be a little doubtful whether or not some of them can ever made the grade. Whether or not they are truly worthy of our time, our attention and resources. Especially, if we have had issues with them in the past. More often than not when we read one of these passage by Jesus we still find ourselves on the side lines thinking - Jesus, if you only knew what this person has done or Jesus if you had to work with them then you would better understand.
We think that way until we come to the realization that Jesus lived this life here on earth. He lived with people that were slow to learn ( ever hear of Peter, James and John). He lived with people who picked on him, ridiculed him and said all manner of evil against him (ever hear of the Pharisees and the scribes).
How did Jesus do it? The same way we have to - He had faith in God, himself and in others. He lived a life of faith. He didn't worry about how much faith he had, he was concerned about putting his faith into action. So, he took one step of faith and then another and then another. Each day, each moment and each step was a step in faith. He lived in the power and presence of the same Holy Spirit that is available to all of us today.
He worked with Simon Peter. He worked with him in his boat ( when he called him to follow him) , on the water ( when Peter at first walked on water and then fell into the water), during his trial ( when Peter denied him) and on the sea shore (when he called Peter a 2nd time). He even worked with him after Pentecost by sharing with him this magnificent vision concerning the Gentiles. Jesus continually and constantly helped Simon Peter grow up. It took a life time but it was worth it.
Jesus spent his life forgiving people. He forgave those who called him Joseph's illegitimate son. He forgave those who followed him just to ridicule him and torment him. He forgave those who betrayed him. He forgave those who beat him and murdered him. He forgave those who denied his true identity as the Son of God.
Once again, Jesus shares with us the way to live with one another. It's not easy nor is it simple. But it can be done one faith step at a time. It can be done in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
So, how do we handle those people who seem to always need our time learning the same things over and over again? By faith we walk with them one step at a time. By faith we reach out with love and understanding. By faith we become their prayer partners, their encouragers and the accountability partners. We don't let them slide nor do we throw them away. When we notice some sycamine trees starting to grow we get on our knees and by faith send them into the sea where they will wither and die.
So, how do we handle those people who hurt us and then ask us to forgive them? We are honest with them. We don't try to hide our hurts or avoid them. We work with them to find out how we can handle all these hurts and problems. Then we simply do our best to walk in faith by forgiving, forgetting and forging ahead. When we notice that some sycamine trees are wanting to grow we don't encourage them but by faith we uproot them and send them into the sea where they will wither and die.
This morning, we don't have to grow spiritual sycamine trees. We don't have to keep any sycamine spiritual trees in our lives that are already growing either. By faith we can speak them into non-existence. In Christ we can pull up any growing tree of unforgiveness and bitterness and send it into a sea of saltiness and watch it completely waste away. The salt of the sea - the salt of our discipleship will not allow a tree of bitterness and unforgiveness to continue to grow and thrive.
This morning, as we accept Christ's invitation to the Table let us come forward with our mustard seed faith. Let us come knowing that God has already enabled us with the power and presence needed to walk the life of faith. Let us come knowing that God has already provided for us enough faith to practice patience, love and forgiveness. Let us come to receive His grace so that we may be able to go forward and impart his grace. Let us come and begin the process of getting rid of any spiritual sycamine trees. With God nothing is impossible!
