February 5, 2025

Cam Escalante
"The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you."
Luke 17:5-6

This request from the apostles in verse five has always intrigued me. Mostly because it seems like a very reasonable thing to request from Jesus. More faith sounds like a cool idea to me. But why do the apostles ask for more faith in the first place? In verses 3-4, right before this, Jesus instructs his followers to forgive those who have sinned against them over and over again. With this in mind, it seems that maybe the apostles were asking for more faith so they would be able to forgive those who had wronged and hurt them. I can’t help but wonder if the apostles were thinking to themselves, “Surely Jesus doesn’t want me to forgive that person. How could I do that, doesn’t he know what they did to me?”

But Jesus responds differently than I’m sure they were expecting. Jesus tells the apostles that it’s not the quantity of faith necessary to follow his instruction, but rather it’s the kindof faith we have that allows us to step into the things he calls us to. When we put a little faith into a more than able God, I believe he can do amazing things with that faith. Although our focus in this text can tend to fall on the mustard seed, Jesus also uses the beautiful imagery of uprooting a mulberry tree. Mulberry trees are known for having strong and extensive root systems. Meaning that even the strongest, most bitter roots of un-forgiveness can be uprooted with the smallest amount of faith. We’re not doormats, we’re daughters and sons of the Most High King… A King who gives us everything we need to forgive those who we live in relationship with.

Today, I encourage you to ask God what things he wants to uproot in your life. You don’t have to worry about mustering up more faith or depending on your own strength to do it, all you need is a mustard seed of faith on the firm foundation of Christ alone.