The Power of What is Small – 2 October 2022

Another good name for pastors, missionaries, and other workers in ministry would be “waiter.” In our faithfulness and patience, we wait for God’s promise achieved and salvation fulfilled. Yes, it can be painful to wait and endure. But I believe our ministry and faithfulness in Christ is more worthy and even glorious precisely because there is sincere waiting and endurance. We are rewarded for our patience, just as the clam’s patience is rewarded with a shimmering pearl. –– Sunggu (Paul) Yang

Luke 17:5–10

[This reading] begins with a typically human cry to God: “Lord, give us more!” In this case, it is more faith that the disciples seek; interestingly, Jesus says, in effect, “You’ve already got all the faith you need.” The illustration is the mustard seed, a tiny specimen that measures approximately 3 millimeters in diameter. A handful would contain several hundreds, if not well over a thousand, of these seeds. “You only need faith the size of one,” Jesus says, “in order to do great things.”

The parable of the servant that follows may sound a little harsh to our twenty-first-century ears; we probably consider ourselves more magnanimous than the master of this story, and would want to reward the servant for his day’s toil. But there is a role in the kingdom for those who say, “we have only done our duty,” and who do it with steadfastness, dedication, and a lack of complaining. –– John Fairless

2 Timothy 1:1–14

Paul commends his young protégé, Timothy, for his sincere faith. This faith runs in the family, so to speak, as the apostle connects both Timothy’s mother and grandmother to his present life situation. (Perhaps this belies our responsibility, as the household of faith, to pass on what we have experienced and learned to those who are coming after us.) Again, Paul holds up his own life as an example of the fact that God’s people are not immune from suffering; in fact, suffering is most likely to be expected, and is balanced by the expectation and hope of God’s work throughout a lifetime of faith. The grace of Christ is truly eternal—given ‘‘before the ages began’’ (v 9) and continuing through until ‘‘that day’’ (v 12)—a reference to the completion of all things in God’s timing (the Christian eschaton). –– John Fairless

Habakkuk 1:1–4; 2:1–4

Habakkuk, whose name means wrestler, wrestles with a great dilemma: why does it seem that God allows evil persons to prosper while the righteous must struggle? These opening chapters are in the form of a dialogue between the prophet and God; Habakkuk questions, and then God answers. The payoff comes in 2:4, when the Lord says, ‘‘[B]ut the righteous live by their faith.’’ Picked up by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:17, this becomes a cornerstone for his treatise on the role of faith in justification and righteousness. –– John Fairless

John P. Fairless is senior minister of the First Baptist Church of Gainesville, Florida.

Homily Service 43, no. 4 (2010): 48–56.