Sermon for October 5, 2025
Stewardship Sunday/Pentecost 17 C
Luke 17:5-10; 2 Tim. 1:1-14
Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
Have you ever heard the legend of the Gauls when they converted to Christianity around 1,500 years ago? The Gauls were fierce warriors who lived beyond the edge of the Roman Empire in what is now France and Belgium. Eventually they were conquered by the Romans, but didn’t much care for their new overlords. So from time to time they would rise up in rebellion. The Romans didn’t much like that. The Church, however, felt that maybe if they sent missionaries, the Gauls and Romans might finally share a common faith, and the fighting would cease. Over time many of the Gauls became Christians. But the missionaries noticed a strange custom whenever a warrior would embrace Christianity. As he waded into the river to be baptized, the warrior would hold one arm in the air, even as the missionary would dunk the rest of his body in the water to be baptized. They soon learned why: next time a rebellion broke out, the warriors of Gaul would charge off into battle holding their swords high and saying “This arm is not baptized!”—and therefore able to do all kinds of un-Christ-like things to the Romans with their swords.
The point of this legend is not that the warriors of Gaul were uniquely hypocritical in their embrace of the Christian faith. The point is that they are actually a good example of human nature—that even as God claims our entire lives through the grace and forgiveness of baptism, we often find it very difficult to entrust every part of our lives to God.
And as we focus today on stewardship, and give thanks for all the gifts God has provided us, and reflect on how the Holy Spirit might be calling each of us to best use the gifts God has provided—this is what it all comes back to: Stewardship is about entrusting every part of our lives to God.
Simple; but not so easy. Even Jesus’ own chosen apostles felt how challenging this was, when we hear them plead with Jesus in today’s gospel “Increase our faith!” It’s not that they didn’t believe, or want to believe, or try to live as Jesus taught. It’s that they recognized—in a way similar to the ancient warriors of Gaul—that they had some parts of their lives that they found difficult to entrust completely to God. In this particular case, it was the matter of forgiveness. Jesus had just told them that they would need to learn how to forgive someone who kept sinning against them even seven times per day. That’s why they pleaded “increase our faith”, because they didn’t believe they’d be able to do it.
Finding it hard to forgive—that’s a pretty common one for lots of people, even though forgiving someone means that person is still responsible for the consequences of their actions. It’s been said that not forgiving is like you drinking poison, and hoping the poison will harm the person who wronged you. Seeking God’s help to forgive those who’ve wronged you allows you to move into the future without the harms of the past controlling your life anymore. And that is part of stewardship! It’s about entrusting every part of our lives to God.
We see an example of two people who did entrust their lives to God in our first reading today, from 2 Timothy 1. In this letter we hear of St. Paul trying to encourage his young disciple, Timothy, by reminding him of how his faith and upbringing were stewarded by his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. Timothy has a “sincere faith” because Lois and Eunice shared the blessings of their own faith with him. It’s a reminder that our faith in Christ is always a gift that God gives to us through other people. I wish St. Paul would have written more about Lois and Eunice. What were their gifts? How did God work through them? Were they known for their prayers, or the way they served their neighbors? Did they have a heart for the poor and vulnerable, or provide food for the hungry? Were they great teachers who made the Bible come alive? Did they sing beautiful hymns, or play an instrument? Did they live with an awareness of Christ’s presence all around them, and recognize the image of God in friend and stranger? Did they tend to their daily tasks with joy and responsibility? Whatever it was, their faith in Christ was now living on in Timothy, because they were stewards who entrusted their lives to God’s grace.
I wonder which gifts they shared. Because they probably didn’t do all the things I listed earlier. Or maybe it was something else entirely? You see, each one of us is given different gifts by God. So stewardship is not about each of us trying to acquire “all of the gifts”. Stewardship is about recognizing whatever gift you’ve been given, and then offering it back to God in thanksgiving. It’s about trusting the Holy Spirit to lead you in ways of life that give glory to God.
I think this is part of what Jesus was getting at when he told the disciples “if you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’ and it would obey you.” Jesus was not criticizing them for not having “enough” faith—but he was warning them against placing their faith and trust in the wrong things. Sure, it would be amazing if by the power of faith alone the apostles could uproot a tree and plant it in the sea. But for what purpose? It would amaze all who saw it, but would have nothing to do with God or living the Christian life. And besides all that, the tree would die!
What Jesus is trying to help them understand is that the size of your faith is not as important as the One you put your faith in! Lots of faith, but not directing it toward the Lord, might accomplish something amazing—but it won’t be God’s mission. However when you take your little bit of faith, plus your little bit of faith, plus your little bit of faith, and so on and so on; until all of our little bits of faith are combined together and placed in Christ’s hands – well those little bits of faith are more than enough for the Holy Spirit to do something great that really does contribute to God’s kingdom.
As Psalm 37 puts it, “commit your way to the Lord…and see what God will do.” Just wait and see. When all of our tiny mustard seeds of faith come together in Christ, he grows something great out of them. Whether it’s our prayers or worship, or study and learning, or serving and loving, or giving our offerings and pledges. Whether it’s singing or meditating, forgiving or being forgiven, the time we spend with family and friends, or the care we give in someone’s time of need. It might be the jobs we work at to provide for our families, the vocations we live by to give glory to God, or the creativity and curiosity that we bring in planning for the future—all of it is stewardship. All of it gives glory to Christ when we offer our whole lives to God.
And even if you think that you don’t have a lot to offer—then simply offer completely that little bit that you do have. After all, all if took was one life—Jesus’ life, crucified and risen—for God to bless and save the whole world. And we don’t have to do what Jesus did—he already did it for us. So, instead of worrying with the apostles about whether God will increase our faith (as great as such a gift would be), instead don’t hold back whatever tiny mustard seed of faith you have. Give it completely to Jesus, and just wait and see what God will do. Amen.