In the verses that come just before the lectionary reading for today, Jesus was teaching about forgiving and had normalised that people are going to cause hurt and offense in their dealings with one another.
Then comes the disturbing knock-out statement: “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.” Picture the disciples shaking their heads and mumbling, “not possible Jesus, forgive that many times a day – it’s not going to happen.” They knew they couldn’t forgive as the Master ordered, they just didn’t have the inner strength or the love, and so with downcast eyes they said, “Lord, increase our faith.” Jesus responded to their plea not by magically increasing their faith, but by using hyperbole to make his point. The mustard seed was thought of as the smallest seed, and mulberry trees are deep rooted and difficult to dig out. Pulling out a mulberry tree and planting it in the sea is an image of something impossible no matter how much faith a person has.
If not to be taken literally then what is Jesus saying? Is the scenario an invitation to perform spectacular miracles that has everyone gasping and saying how amazing you are? Let’s go back and read from the beginning of the chapter. Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come.
3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.
4 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.”
In the following verses Jesus teaches what Divine grace can accomplish in a person who musters even a little faith. He wanted his followers to know that faith connects us to Divine power, so that what seems impossible and immovable will be overcome and removed.
But let’s not head off in a different direction, Jesus is talking about relationships, and that even a small faith in God is enough to transform our relationships. He is encouraging ordinary people who are not spiritual giants and what he is saying goes something like this: make a small, wavering, flawed effort to forgive and your little faith will achieve the miracle. Note Jesus is specific about who to forgive, “If your brother or sister sins against you,” – in Christianise that means other Christians who we least expect to do the wrong thing and hurt us are going to do just that. Choosing to forgive someone who has deeply hurt us and who we probably dislike because of what they have done, is “uprooting the mulberry tree.” The mulberry tree could represent repressed anger, or it could be a damaging agenda slowly unravelling that is confusing and leaves us hurt and angry.
Whatever the sin against us, a little faith opens our hearts to God’s power to change the way we feel toward that person and to forgive them. Notice Jesus didn’t shame his disciples for having little faith or for doubting that they could forgive over and over again, he is saying ‘you can do it, you can live the kingdom way when someone else has failed.’ We are talking about a very real, deeply human tension that everyone struggles with, to forgive and extend the grace to another person that we also need because of the mistakes we make.
This passage has often been interpreted in a different way and used to judge and accuse people of a lack of faith to be healed, or have their marriage restored or their child to stop being rebellious. People have been made to feel their prayers weren’t answered because they didn’t have ‘enough’ faith for a miracle. But deeply rooted issues like trauma, injustice, chronic illness and deep grief are not miraculously “uprooted and thrown into the sea.” Here’s the thing - faith, whether small or large doesn’t ‘fix’ things, and desperate prayers spoken in faith most often don’t result in miracles. Faith is not a way to control outcomes and Jesus never presented faith as spiritual currency to get what we want, instead he taught that faith is trusting in God’s presence even when things don’t change.
Jesus himself faced his own ‘unmoved mountains,’ his faith in God’s love and purposes wasn’t about escaping consequences, but endurance, trust, and obedience in suffering. Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12:7–10 is also an example: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me,” but faith didn’t ‘fix’ his problem (whatever it was). His ‘tree’ was not uprooted, but his perspective and thinking changed so that he could see grace in his suffering, the good in his issue.
If Jesus isn’t promising quick fixes and miraculous interventions, what was he saying? That even a tiny spark of faith is enough to open our hearts to the grace in situations that can’t be changed. Faith isn’t about getting what we want but about growing through life’s experiences into grounded human beings, who through the things we suffer learn to forgive others their errors of judgement and mistakes. The power of faith is not in the expectation that problems will just go away but that living with hard things develops humility, character and patience that sustains us even as our ‘tree’ remains. People of faith still need to go to doctors, hospitals, therapy and take medication as needed, and those with a strong faith still grieve deeply, express anger and question what’s happening to them.
Interpretations of bible passages that skip over what real life is like, do little to teach us to be better human beings whose hearts are not closed to others through resentment. Faith doesn’t remove problems because faith is not an escape from reality, faith is a way of negotiating life with all it throws at us. Some Christians approach faith thinking, “If I believe enough, things will improve or if I pray hard, this pain will end,” but reality teaches us something different – that the world is broken and all people suffer. 1 Peter 4:12-16 Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
16 If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name” – the name Christian.
Being disrespected publicly is an insult that is difficult to live with, but in disappointment and humiliation is the opportunity to take the blow with dignity and forgive.
We’ve all experienced deep rooted ‘trees’ that are not taken away but when our attitude changes, then we see things in a different light and good comes from the experience. In our reading we come to what seems a complete switch to servant language in Jesus’ two-pronged response to the ‘more faith’ scenario. Verses 7-10 – “which of you having a servant…” everyone understood the master–servant dynamic - the servant obeys, and the master owes him nothing, and a servant had no status and expected no thanks or rewards. Jesus was not introducing an abstract metaphor, rather he was using a familiar social structure to add to his teaching on a little faith accomplishing much. The disciples were saying, “increase our faith,” and maybe they were thinking, that then they could do great miracles, but Jesus was saying, “just do your duty and forgive as you should. You won’t receive special thanks or praise, and you don’t need more faith.”
But there’s something Jesus didn’t cover in his lesson, and I’d like to ask what if the person who hurt and sinned against us doesn’t acknowledge what they have done and haven’t asked to be forgiven, what do we do with that? I know and you know the answer so I won’t ask, so let us sit with our little bit of faith, and our pain and forgive those who have hurt us and our ‘tree’ will be cast into the ocean of God’s love – we can forgive together. Let our little faith help us forgive even though we sink into valleys, rise a little on the hills and finally stand in victory over resentment and hurt on the mountains. We are human and must work through many emotions because a situation is rarely simple or clear, and we are complicated individuals affected by fluctuating feelings.
But it is life’s experiences that nudge us toward becoming more fully human created in the image of God, an idea that in principle exists outside of religion, the language varies but the core idea is the same. Most ideologies agree that being truly human involves living ethically, being creative, purposeful, self-aware, growing, compassionate and morally responsible. Athanasius of Alexandria (296-373 CE), an early Christian theologian wrote of Jesus, “He became what we are so that he might make us what he is.” – (On the Incarnation) He is speaking about the elevation of humanity, the idea that in becoming human Christ brings about humanity’s restoration to our created purpose, reflecting the image of God. A contemporary theologian, N.T. Wright (Anglican) aligned with this concept: “Jesus is not only the revelation of God to man; he is the revelation of man to man. He reveals what true humanity is like.” (Simply Christian) Irenaeus of Lyons lived during the 2nd century and wrote: “The glory of God is a human being fully alive…” From the earliest centuries of the Church, Christian thinkers understood that faith is not a way to escape our humanity through miracles or any other means, but faith helps us journey toward becoming truly human.
Learning to forgive is fundamental to progressing toward our true potential, growing in virtue, humility, love and community, fully alive, body, mind, and spirit in relationship with God and all others, even those who have hurt us.