1 Timothy 1:1-14

Luke 17:5,6

Enough is Enough

by Leslie Kennard

Timothy is having a tough time. We aren’t told why. He is in charge of a number of young churches. Maybe there is conflict between the churches, or some disagreement within a particular church. We ourselves know the tension we feel here in our own denomination over issues like abortion or homosexuality.

Or perhaps Timothy is upset by something personal. Maybe his youngest child left for collage last month, and he and his wife having galloping empty nest syndrome. Maybe Timothy’s adjustable mortgage was adjusted, and his dream castle suddenly feels like a cement overcoat. Maybe that nagging cough he thought was just fall allergies isn’t just a cough; it’s the Big C, and instead of a tablespoon of Robitussin from CVS he needs hugely expensive drugs that he can’t even pronounce, and they don’t make him feel better. They make him feel drop dead exhausted. Maybe the starter on his car wore out. The other day his car flat out wouldn’t start. He has to keep his job so he can afford a new starter, but he can’t get to work until he has a new starter. Whatever is bothering him, it’s enough that he wrote to Paul and unburdened himself.

Paul, not only a father-figure to Timothy, but also a dear friend, wrote him a long letter of encouragement, the beginning of which is one of our scripture lessons this morning. Paul says all the right things, reminding Timothy first of all how deeply Paul loves him. Paul is in prison so he can’t embrace Timothy in person, but he can and does embrace him with words. Paul reminds Timothy that both of them grew up in families filled with abiding faith. And that faith itself is a gift, not from parents to children, but from GOD to God’s children. Faith from God is a gift that gives us a “spirit of power, f love, and of self-discipline” (vs. 7).

I can just see Timothy reading Paul’s letter, tears in his eyes, knowing Paul is right—God is with him, working on his problem, but he feels so helpless, so lost.

The disciples are having the very same problem in out lesson from Luke. Way back in Chapter 9, Jesus sent the disciples out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal and they did exactly that! (vs. 6) But they came back in verse 10. There was a crowd of about 5,000 people gathered around Jesus and at the end of the day it was time to feed these them. But the disciples, who had just been out healing people, had no clue how to feed this crowd. For the next 8 chapters, Jesus teaches them some challenging lessons about generosity and forgiveness if God’s kingdom is to come down to earth. In verse 4 of today’s lesson, he says, “…if a person sins against you 7 times a day and turns back to you each time and repents and says, ‘I’m sorry. I won’t do it again,’ you must forgive.”

That’s the last straw for the disciples. Feeling compassion for sick strangers, healing and forgiving and then moving on is one thing, but forgiving a friend or family member who does the same thing over and over and over again—7 times in the same day—the disciples object! “We need more faith! Increase our faith!

Jesus says, “If you had faith” and we assume he is implying they don’t have faith. But in Greek, this particular us of the word if refers to something that does exist.[i] So a more accurate translation might be that Jesus says, “Since you have faith…” Jesus is not chastising them for not having enough faith; he is affirming the faith they do have. He says, “Even the small faith you have if effective and powerful beyond your realization.” He gives them 2 examples—faith the size of a mustard seed (which is smaller than a poppy seed) can uproot a tree! The faith they have is more than enough to connect them with the power of God, and with God, as we all know, all things are possible.

Jesus tells the disciples they “do not need more faith. They simply need some faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ faith. There is just faith.”[ii] Whatever faith we have is enough. Whatever we have for faith, God gave us our faith, and we have as much as we need. We have enough.

In today’s scripture lessons, Timothy and the disciples are not dealing with some supernaturally huge power of evil. They are dealing with life. With the trials of every day living. Paul is encouraging Timothy and Jesus is encouraging the disciples by saying essentially the same thing. Paul and Jesus are reminding the young Christians that faith is not only a gift from God. Faith is our connection to God.

Many times our lives are so caught up in the winter of surviving, so caught up in a crisis in the world, or nation, or community, or family, or church that we forget. The crisis becomes all consuming, it becomes our only reality and we forget that anything else ever was or that anything else is possible. We suffer from amnesia. We forget who we are. We forget our identity. We forget Who has marked and sealed us and claimed us. It’s not that our problems don’t matter. Our problems DO matter—and God is up to taking care of us, and our problems.

The Timothy passage refers to the Spirit of God symbolized in the laying on of hands. Henri Nouwen provides a profound reflection on the spirit of God given to us. For Nouwen, the voice which called to Jesus at this baptism, “You re my Beloved, and on you my favor rests” is what God says to each human being. This is our identity given to us by the one who created us and who loves us. This voice is sometimes hard to hear above all the voices which shout “You are helpless. You are hopeless. You are useless.” The spiritual journey is hearing ever more clearly this voice from one’s innermost being: “I have called you by name, from the very beginning. You are mine and I am yours. You re my beloved, on you my favor rests. I have molded you in the depths of the earth and knotted you together in your mother’s womb. I have created you in the palms of my hands and hidden you in the shadow of my embrace. I look at you with infinite tenderness and care for you with a care more intimate than that of a mother for her child. I have counted every hair on your head and guided you at every step. Wherever you go, I go with you, and wherever you rest, I keep watch. I will give you food that will satisfy all your hunger and drink that will quench all your thirst. I will not hide my face from you. You know me as your own and I know you as my own. You belong to me. I am your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your lover, and your spouse. Wherever you are I will be. Nothing will ever separate us. We are one.”[iii]

AMEN

Invitation to communion:

We are one with our Creator. We come to this table to feed our unity with God and with each other. On this particular Sunday, World Communion Sunday, we celebrate especially that God creates and loves every single human being, and that we are all one with God and with every other human on earth and in heaven. Come to the table with me. Let us remember who we are and whose we are.