The following homily was shared at our Sunday Evening Eucharist Service 10/5/25.

“The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."
The Lord replied,
"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

"Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
'Come here immediately and take your place at table'?
Would he not rather say to him,
'Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished'?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded,
say, 'We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'" (Luke 17:5-10)

The gospel today starts off with the apostles asking Jesus to increase their faith. To get a little context as to why they are asking this, we have to read the previous two verses, Luke 17:3-4, which say:

“So watch yourselves. If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

Now, we understand that the apostles asked Jesus this because they believed in that moment that they didn’t have enough faith to do that, which makes sense because forgiving someone who sinned against you the same way seven times in a single day is a hard ask for a lot of people. Jesus then responds to them by saying that if one has faith the size of a mustard seed, then that is plenty enough. But why? Why is he telling us that having so little faith in God is okay? And why is that his response to the apostles asking for more faith? We would assume that God wants us to have more faith in him.

Because that’s not the point. Instead, it is about who you are putting your faith in and what you do with that faith. When the apostles ask for more faith, that means they already have some faith. Which means there is a small chance that that faith will help them to trust that God’s plan for them is good. To have faith in God is to believe that what God calls us to do as Christians will give us a good life. He wants us to focus less on the amount of faith we have, and more so on doing what God commands us to do as his children. That’s why he redirects after the mustard seed example to talking from the perspective of a master about a servant and how they do as their master commands without reserve. Doing things like loving God above all else and loving your neighbor how you want to be loved, his greatest commandments, are far more important than having an abstractly higher amount of faith. God knows what is best for us and has a plan for every one of us. So, we should listen when we hear him tell us something, so that in time, that mustard seed-sized faith will lead us to a better life.

In a roundabout way, Jesus is also saying that doing this is one way to increase your faith in God. To grow your faith in God is to do what he commands of us and see the fruits of it. Let’s go back to the mustard seed example. How do you grow a mustard seed? With sunlight, water, and nutrients from the soil. In other words, you nurture and care for it. In the same way, you increase your faith in God by nurturing it. And we nurture our faith by doing what he calls us to do. Of course, that by itself isn’t enough, in the same way that only giving a mustard seed sunlight isn’t enough to help it grow. Engaging in Christian community is also a way to increase your faith. Actively connecting with God and seeing how his plan for others is bearing fruit are important parts to building faith, since those are both ways to see God’s work being done in a tangible way.

And so, having faith in God isn’t some game where x amount of faith will lead to y amount of blessings. It’s a slow, methodical buildup of trust where you open your heart to him, where you hear of his plan for you, and where you come to know that his eternal love for you means that that plan will bring you back to his Kingdom.

Amen.

Mustard Seed-Sized Faith: Henri Tran

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