Sermon -- 17th Sunday after Pentecost (October 5, 2025)

LUKE 17:1-10

LORD, INCREASE OUR FAITH.

In the name + of Jesus.

    In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul addressed the congregation in regard to their reception of the Lord’s Supper.  He wrote, “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the Lord’s body and blood.  Instead, let a person examine himself and after doing so, let him eat of the bread and drink from the cup.  For if anyone eats and drinks in an unworthy way because he does not recognize the Lord’s body, he eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29).  Our Lord does not want us to treat the holy things lightly.  We have nothing more sacred in our services than the body and blood of Jesus Christ.  That is why we are careful about who receives it.  We do not want anyone to receive it to his detriment, particularly those who insist that it is not, but merely represents, the body of Christ.  This is the historic Christian practice, and it is followed by almost every church that confesses Jesus’ body and blood are truly present in the sacrament.

     Taking care of the holy things also refers to ourselves.  You are the Lord’s holy ones.  You have been purified by the blood of Jesus in your baptism and declared to be the saints of God.  As his holy ones, you and I are to examine ourselves.  We are to assess our thoughts, words, and actions to ensure that they align with God’s holy word. 

     Our Catechism has taught us to do this.  “Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments.  Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, employer, or employee?  Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy?  Have you hurt anyone by word or deed?  Have you been dishonest, careless, wasteful, or done other wrong?” (Luther’s Small Catechism: Confession).  We should recognize our sins, repent of them, and confess them.  After we are absolved for them, we strive to amend our lives so that we do not continue in them.  Such assessment is done so that sin does not fester in our hearts and destroy faith. 

     Our Gospel reading, however, may lead you to assess yourself wrongly. Jesus said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you could tell this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you” (Luke 17:6).  Who of us, when we hear this, does not try to figure out just how big our faith is?  Is it the size of a mustard seed?  Is it as big as a pear?  Perhaps a watermelon?  Since we are not uprooting trees, we might wonder if we have faith at all. 

     Trying to determine the size of one’s faith is a useless exercise.  It will result in one of two things.  You will either despair, thinking that you have no faith at all, or you will become proud and boast about how great your faith is.  People who focus on the size of their faith end up saying things like, “I don’t know if my faith is strong enough for me to be saved.”  Your salvation does not rest on how great or big or strong your faith is.  Your faith does not rest in yourself.  Jesus taught us, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on bedrock.  The rain came down, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house.  But it did not fall, because it was founded on bedrock” (Matthew 7:24-25).  Jesus did not talk about the size of the house, because the point was not how big the house was.  The point is that it rested on the rock.  Faith rests on Jesus Christ. 

     The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5).  What prompted that request?  It is what Jesus had just told them.  “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!  It would be better for that person if a millstone would be hung around his neck and he would be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.  Watch yourselves” (Luke 17:1-3).  More literally, Jesus said it is impossible that temptations not come.  And it is actually stronger than “temptations.”  The word is skandalon (you can hear the word scandal in there), which usually means something that either would prevent a person from coming to faith in Jesus or would drive a person from the Christian faith.  There will always be people or teachings or temptations to lure us away from Jesus Christ and his Church.  In order to stand firm, in order to not be deceived, we pray, “Lord, increase our faith!”

     The Lord goes on to say, “If your brother sins, rebuke him.  If he repents, forgive him.  Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4).  Forgiveness is hard, especially when it is a repeat offender.  If someone sins against you three times in a day, you’ve probably had it with him.  You might respond with threats, not mercy. 

     Therefore, we pray, “Lord, increase our faith!”  If we are disciples of Jesus, we want to be like Jesus.  Our Lord Jesus Christ continues to forgive us, day after day.  We come to God’s house week after week and confess our sins.  Forgiveness has never been withheld.  If you came to Private Confession, and time after time ended up confessing, “It’s me, Lord.  Again.  For the same thing,” the Lord does not say, “You’ve reached your quota.  You’re done for a while.”  Even if you came before the Lord seven times in one day in repentance, he forgives your sins.  The Lord is eager to forgive the penitent, as the Psalms remind us, “A broken and crushed heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).  This is the kind of mercy we strive to demonstrate.  “If your brother … sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4).  This is hard to live up to.  So, we continue to pray, “Lord, increase our faith!”

     Our prayer intensifies as Jesus continues to instruct his apostles what discipleship means.  We are servants of the Lord, which means that we submit our will to God’s will and do what he has given us to do.  Nowhere has the Lord commanded you to invoke his name to uproot trees and to cast them into the sea, so don’t worry about that.  But the Lord has given you the Ten Commandments to follow.  That is enough to keep all of us busy. 

     Now, you are a disciple of Jesus; he calls you to a higher place.  He calls on you to follow him and his word—to exercise patience, to love your neighbor and even your enemies, to be compassionate to the needy and the suffering, to be merciful, and to bless even when you are cursed.  But who is up to the task?  It is enough for a servant to be like his master, but who is?  We all struggle with godly living.  We get tired.  We get distracted.  We fear being taken advantage of, and maybe we are.  Some people make it very hard to love them.  It is all the more reason to pray, “Lord, increase our faith!”

     On the other hand, maybe you feel like you are doing pretty well.  Maybe you even feel this is worthy of recognition or reward.  Jesus would have you ponder this: “[The master] does not thank the servant because he did what he was commanded to do, does he?  So also you, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants.  We have only done what we were supposed to do’” (Luke 17:9-10).  Even if we could be holy, we have not gone above and beyond the call.  We have only done what was expected of us. 

     Maybe you think that you are getting short-changed if you are not getting any special reward for faithfulness to the Lord.  Perhaps there should be a bonus of some sort for being godly in a godless world.  If you are seeking this reward, then understand that you would rather be saved by your merits than by faith.  And even if your good deeds manage to be more prominent than your sins (which is unlikely), your sins still stand against you.  Just consider what your initial reaction to Jesus’ words were.  Even if someone “sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him” (Luke 17:4)?!  Did you think, “Gladly!” or, “Unlikely!”?  When Jesus said that keeping all of God’s commands should be followed with, “We are unworthy servants.  We have only done what we were supposed to do’” (Luke 17:10), did you think, “That sounds right”?  Our obedience is less than willing, which merits God’s judgment.

     Jesus Christ was sent into the world by his Father to do what no one else has ever been asked to do.  Jesus Christ was sent to pay for sins he never committed.  He was sent to rescue us from a fiery future that we had brought upon ourselves and from endless torment that we have earned.  The Bible states, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law” (Galatians 3:10)?  We have earned the curse.  So, what did the Father send his Son to do?  “Christ Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).  This is something Jesus should never have had to do.  But the Father sent Jesus to do it in order to serve and to save sinners.  Jesus willingly submitted to it, doing what he was supposed to do.  This is what saves you.  This is what faith rests upon. 

     What’s more, Jesus still serves you!  Having risen and ascended to his Father, Jesus prepares a place for you in the heavenly kingdom.  Jesus lives and reigns over all things for the good of his Church.  Jesus lives and reigns to forgive you of all your sins—seven times in a day if he must.  Jesus feeds you with the sacred meal of his body and blood to strengthen you in your weakness and to encourage you in a life of service.  Jesus speaks to you in his word because he knows that it is impossible that temptations, deceptions, and enticements will not come.  He exposes the lies so that you will not be deceived.  He directs you to godly living so you do not become entangled in sin and lose the salvation he gives you.  He strengthens you to do what is good, and he comforts you when you suffer what is bad.

     We pray, “Lord, increase our faith!  Help us to do what you have called us to do with joy.  Help us to commit ourselves to faithful service, not for the sake of fanfare, but for the honor of your name and for the good of our neighbor.  Teach us to be merciful, to be eager to forgive, and to be dedicated to your word.  Lord, increase our faith!”  This is a prayer to which our Lord will always say, “Yes.”  But he will not have you focus on how big or how strong or how sincere your faith is.  He will show you the fullness of his mercy.  He will declare the depth of his compassion.  He will apply the benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice to you.  For, it is not the size of one’s faith that saves; it is the immeasurable love and mercy of our Lord.  “Lord, increase our faith in that.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.