Patience and Faith

Pentecost 19 Year C

A sermon based on Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; Psalm 37:1-9; 2 Timothy 1:1-14; and Luke 17:5-10

In the name of Jesus; amen.

Habakkuk From Eugene Peterson’s “The Message”

1:1 The problem as God gave Habakkuk to see it: 2 God, how long do I have to cry out for help before you listen? How many times do I have to yell, "Help! Murder! Police!" before you come to the rescue? 3 Why do you force me to look at evil, stare trouble in the face day after day? Anarchy and violence break out, quarrels and fights all over the place. 4 Law and order fall to pieces. Justice is a joke. The wicked have the righteous hamstrung and stand justice on its head. God Says, "Look!"

2:1 What's God going to say to my questions? I'm braced for the worst. I'll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. I'll wait to see what God says, how he'll answer my complaint. Full of Self, but Soul-Empty 2 And then God answered: "Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. 3 This vision-message is a witness pointing to what's coming. It aches for the coming - it can hardly wait! And it doesn't lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It's on its way. It will come right on time. 4 "Look at that man, bloated by self-importance - full of himself but soul-empty. But the person in right standing before God through loyal and steady believing is fully alive, really alive.

This past week, 3 teenagers from Wolcott were driving home. They had just come from breakfast with friends because school had been canceled. As they were driving their car clipped the back of a boat being towed by another car. It was sent out of control and crashed killing all three of the teens and injuring the driver of the other car.

This was a tragedy and tragedies often make us question the goodness of God.

The prophet Habakkuk questioned. “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble?”

The world around Habakkuk was filled with destruction. The Judean King who sat on the throne was immoral and unjust and the Judean enemy, Babylon was gaining power. It was only a matter of time before they attacked and drove them into exile.

Habakkuk had every right to question where God was, to wonder if justice would ever be done, to know if tragedy would ever be overcome. I imagine there is a whole community of people wondering similar things in Wolcott this week.

As the introduction in our bulletin asks: How can a good and all-powerful God see evil in the world and seemingly remain indifferent?

It was a question our ancestors asked and it is a question that people still ask today.

The readings today, all of them in fact, seem to have a common theme… and that is the theme of faith.

God tells Habakkuk: “the righteous live by their faith.” The Psalmist advises us to “commit your way to the LORD; put your trust in the LORD, and see what God will do.” Paul reminds Timothy that he should “rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of hands” and when the apostles beg Jesus to “increase our faith” Jesus replies: “If you had faith the size of a mustard see, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

Faith seems to be the answer to the question of tragedy. Stay faithful, even in the middle of bad things. Wait and you’ll see that God really is good and that God makes all things right in the end. Even if your faith is small, hang on and commit to that faith, then watch and see what God will do.

There is a lesson here: God’s time is different from ours and healing happens in God’s time, but it does happen for us. “For there is still a vision for the appointed time;’’ God tells Habakkuk “it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.”

Do not mistake our need for patience with God’s indifference. God is far from indifferent from our sufferings and our sorrows.

God is not indifferent about those things that hurt us or anger us. God is far from indifferent, but God is not far from us. God instead is very close, so close in fact that God resides in the very places that threaten to strip our faith.

God resides right next to us the moment we hear about car crashes, or illness, or job loss, or threats against us. God lives next to us in tragedy and reminds us to stand firm, we will not be abandoned, or forgotten, or neglected.

Instead we will be loved until our sorrows are destroyed.

This is the promise, trust in it and be patient.

Amen.