Increase Our Faith!

Luke 17 begins with a warning from Jesus to His disciples. He tells them to avoid laying stumbling blocks in front of people at all costs, since it would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around your neck than to cause a little one (a person in a spiritually vulnerable state) to stumble. Jesus then attached a practical application to the warning: rebuke your brother in sin, forgive him if he repents, even seven times a day. It was this application that caused the disciples to beg Jesus, “Increase our faith!” In response, Jesus drew a line: you either have faith, or you do not. And if you have faith, obey your Master’s command.

Forgiving someone repeatedly because they repented repeatedly was more than the disciples felt they could bear. Rather than agreeing, Jesus turned the command into an all-or-nothing, faith-proving test. In Luke 17:6, Jesus told them that faith as small as a mustard seed could cause a mulberry tree to uproot and plant itself in the sea, and that is a far more difficult task than rebuking your brother who sins and forgiving him when he repents. Essentially, Jesus is saying, “If you have faith at all, you can rebuke and forgive your brother as needed.”

Continuing in Luke 17:7-10, Jesus illustrated the relationship between the servant and his master. It is expected of slaves that they do as they are commanded and put their master’s will above their own. And even when they do everything the master commanded, they carry no pride over the accomplishment, since it was their master who gave the command. The slave is responsible only for obeying his master’s commands. Jesus, the Lord, requires that Christians rebuke brethren in sin and forgive those who repent, as often as needed. Anything less puts a stumbling block in front of a vulnerable child of God. Anything less is unfaithful to the Master. Rebuke and forgive, for you are a faithful child of God who fulfills your Lord's will.