Increase Our Faith!

The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

October 5, 2025

Luke 17:1-10

 “Increase Our Faith!”

So, I’m back from Italy where my wife and I, together with friends, had a marvelous time exploring the region of Tuscany for two weeks. So much to take in: the beautiful landscape and rich history; the artwork that is everywhere, but especially in churches – paintings, frescoes, sculpture and carvings; the vineyards that produce such amazing wine; and of course, the glorious food: pasta, gelato, and so many other delicious things to eat. We visited Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance, as well as a monastery in the Apennine Mountains founded by St. Francis (d. 1226). We stayed in eastern Tuscany, near to Umbria, just outside a small town called Monterchi. We arrived just in time for their annual Polenta Festival, which we attended. As you may know, polenta is made from corn meal, and so you might expect lots of corn to be raised in this area. Our host told us this was the case until about twenty years ago, when more profitable tobacco (imported from Kentucky) started to be raised. Churches are everywhere, many of them historic and dating back many centuries, and their bells ring throughout the day. It was a glorious and enriching travel experience in every way. The Lord graciously granted prayers for safety in travel, good health, and favorable weather. I’m even wearing Italian socks that I got on the trip! But you didn’t come to church to hear about this trip of mine, and so let us move on to what Jesus says in today’s Gospel lesson. The theme for today’s message is based on that request from the disciples to Jesus: “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5). May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Week by week, we’ve been making our way through the Gospel of Luke this year. This is part of the three-year cycle of Scripture readings appointed for worship that is used by many churches and denominations, our own included. Year A follows Matthew’s Gospel, Year B follows Mark’s Gospel, and Year C follows Luke’s Gospel, with readings from John’s Gospel scattered throughout all three years. Here in Luke, Jesus is steadily making his way toward Jerusalem and all that awaits him: his rejection by the religious leaders; his betrayal, suffering, death, and resurrection. The previous chapters in Luke’s Gospel focused on Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees, including a number of parables that Jesus told. Now, in today’s Gospel lesson Jesus turns his attention to his own disciples. Jesus calls his followers to be mindful of temptations to sin, both for themselves and for others. For the one who causes others to sin, that image of a millstone being hung around their neck and then being cast into the sea is pretty graphic. And what about Jesus’ call to forgive the person who sins against us, even if it’s as much as seven times in a day? That’s a tall order since most of us struggle with forgiving someone once, let alone seven times. All of this may seem like “Mission Impossible” for us. How are we supposed to live out what Jesus calls us to do? The disciples’ request of Jesus echoes our own need: “Increase our faith!”

We can understand the disciples’ request, “Increase our faith!”, from several different perspectives. We will look briefly at three of these. First, that request of “Increase our faith!” can be viewed from the perspective that yes, we do believe, we do have faith, but we need more faith – a lot more. This is not about believing harder on our part, as though it depended on ourselves and our own efforts. Faith itself is a gift of God, as the Word of God makes clear: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Even with this, we acknowledge how hard Jesus’ words are; how difficult it is to live out faith and trust in him. We need help – help that can come from the Lord God alone. And so we pray: “Lord, increase our faith! Strengthen our faith!”  That is a prayer which is pleasing to God, and one which he will graciously grant for Jesus’ sake.

Second, we can understand that request of the first disciples, “Increase our faith!”, from the perspective of “Grant us faith!” The original word here for increase (Πρόσθες) can be understood in this way. In other words, here we are saying to God: “Lord, give me any faith because at times I struggle to believe, just like those first disciples struggled to believe.” There are times in life when believing in God can be a real struggle. That may sound strange, but it is true, and it is the lived experience of many people of faith. Life circumstances may be such that at times we are overwhelmed, backed into a corner, unable to find a way forward, and God seems to be not only silent, but absent. It is what John of the Cross (1542-1591) called “the dark night of the soul.” The truth is that God is still present, even when we do not feel or sense his presence. God has not withdrawn his saving love from us, even when it feels otherwise. At such times, we pray to the Lord: “Grant us faith – grant me faith!” The prayer of the man who brought his son to Jesus for healing is our own prayer: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). The good news is that the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (Psalm 103:8). The first disciples clearly struggled to believe, so we are in good company. Despite this, the Lord Jesus still used them to build his kingdom and sent them out in his Name, and he will do the same with us today.

Third and finally, we can understand that request of the first disciples, “Increase our faith!”, from the perspective of “Increase our faithfulness!” As the Lord God has demonstrated unwavering faithfulness toward us by giving us all things, even the life of his only begotten Son, Jesus, as the once-for-all sacrificial offering for our sin on the tree of the cross, so we can now entrust ourselves to this same Lord. In response to God’s faithfulness and love toward us, we pray: “Increase our faith! Increase our faithfulness!” Rooted in God’s faithfulness, faith as small as a mustard seed can accomplish mighty things, not because of us, but because nothing is impossible for the Lord (Luke 1:37).

Having prayed to God to increase our faith, do we expect God to thank us? No, it’s the other way around. We are the ones who need to be continually thanking God for calling us – we who are but dust and ashes – into his kingdom. It is as Jesus tells us: “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’” (Luke 17:10). Amen.