Faces of Faith
17th Sunday after Pentecost
Faith is one of the easiest words for Christians to utter and rightly so. Yet it is also one of the most mysterious. Faith simultaneously names our relationship with God as well as our beliefs about the world and God’s connection to it. Faith is both personally engaging and communally challenging. Faith moves through our lectionary texts for this Sunday, though in some subtly surprising yet helpful ways, giving us a tour of how faith can appear to us.
Sometimes, faith is described in terms of content (that is, what is believed). We do in fact find something like this understanding in 2 Timothy, which talks of “the standard of sound teaching” (1:13). Though not the only sense of faith, this is a reminder that Christian faith does have some shape; it is not like a plethora of holiday movies that emphasize the need to “just believe.”
A sense of faith used more often is trust, and 2 Timothy uses that precise language (1:12), inviting Timothy to “join… in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God” (1:8). The psalm and Habakkuk speak of waiting on the Lord. Even the most memorable lines from our appointed texts point toward this sense of faith. The righteous who live by faith (2:4) trust that God will sustain them and deliver them from trials, whether personal or collective. Meanwhile, Jesus’ discussion of faith in the small amount of a mustard seed as the source of miraculous works highlights the need to have not only faith in Christ, but also the faith of Christ so that “nothing is impossible” (Luke 17:6; 1:37).
But that is not all. Our tour of faith also points to faith that is passed on from one generation to another. Second Timothy mentions that the faith of Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice is also present in Timothy himself (1:5). My own Baptist tradition emphasizes the role of personal faith (especially at baptism). While this emphasis is important, it sometimes happens at the expense of faith that is shared across time and also present in the life of the church. Moreover, we live in a context where religious faith is privatized, residing interiorly with no connections to a community of faith. Here, however, we see a traditioned faith (that is, one that is handed down) from Lois and Eunice to Timothy, a faith that is shared by those who believe.
In Habakkuk, we find the prophet complaining to God (and about God) as well as responding to God’s answers to his complaints. This happens in two parts. In the first, Habakkuk cries out to God and boldly asks how long God will not listen (1:2). He describes scenes of violence and destruction where justice constantly loses and evil seems to always have the upper hand (1:3-4). The second part comes after God’s response; Habakkuk once again complains – because God promises a worse immediate future than the present. The prophet is instructed to wait for the fulfillment of a divine vision for a later future.
Especially with the final line in the passage, where “the righteous live by faith” (2:4), it is tempting to see the second section as an expression of faith and the opening complaint as its antithesis. We might even hear the psalmist responding to Habakkuk, telling him – on three separate occasions – not to fret because “it only leads to evil” (37:1, 7, 8). However, both passages are introduced as “the oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.” (1:1). In other words, both engage the varied circumstances of the world, and both are expressions of faith. There is more to faith, then, than the trust Habakkuk gathers by the end. Indeed, it is good that he is waiting on the Lord, but perhaps even his observations of violence, destruction, deception, and evil – as well as his complaints – participate in the faith of the righteous.
Faith takes on many different faces – human faces of grief and sorrow as well as confidence and trust. Yet, all these faces intersect in the place where Psalm 37 instructs: “Trust in the Lord… take delight in the Lord… commit your way to the Lord… be still before the Lord” (37:3-5, 7). These concise directions bring together all of these perspectives on faith as part of a dynamic relationship within God, who “called us with a holy calling” (2 Timothy 1:9). Our journey of faith is woven into that calling and is part of the fulfillment of that calling. In the end, with Paul we press on without shame and claim the disciples’ plea to Jesus as our own: “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5).
Image Credit: Hajnalka B. Preszecsán