Robert Barron - Trust in God's Plan

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Peace be with you, Friends. For this Sunday, I want to talk to you once again about faith. I know I probably talk a lot about that, but as I’ve said before, it’s the most misunderstood word in the religious vocabulary. So here I go again. I want to follow the Bible as it walks around this phenomenon of faith because faith is so central but also so misunderstood in our time. The way it’s most misunderstood is that faith is a kind of superstition. Faith is a stupid acceptance of things on the basis of no evidence. Faith is believing in any old nonsense. That’s not what faith means. It never means that in the Bible. That’s a sort of modern rationalism that has caricatured religious faith.

But look in the Bible; it talks about it a lot. It never, ever means that by faith. You know, whenever it talks about Abraham, pay attention to those stories because Abraham is our father in faith. So those are always about it. Remember, a few weeks ago we had that wonderful passage from the letter to the Hebrews that talks about faith as a kind of pressing ahead toward things that we cannot see? It’s a kind of spiritual adventure. Right? Well, both readings today and the Gospel shed very interesting light, I think, on the nature of faith.

So the first reading is from a little-known minor prophet called Habakkuk. Habakkuk is a wonderful figure, actually, and the book is brief but really punchy and interesting, writing at a time-I’ll simplify it-when Israel is going through a lot of struggle. The people are wondering what God is up to. Where is God? Listen now to this language; he’s channeling the voice of the people of Israel: «How long, O Lord? I cry for help, but you do not listen. I cry out to you, 'Violence! ' but you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruin? Why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me.»

Does that sound familiar? That’s a cry of the heart that you could credibly hear at almost any moment in human history. How many times have we said that in our lives? You know something’s going wrong. We’re going through times of great pain and suffering, failure, violence. Where are you, God? What’s the problem? When are you coming? When are you going to keep your promise to us? So it wells naturally up out of the human heart, this kind of question. Well, where’s it coming from, this sort of attitude? Can I suggest this? It’s coming from the very narrow place, the very narrow compass of what we can understand and perceive.

Think for a second. You know, we have these bodies with this little sensorium of eyes, ears, and so on, so we can take in what these senses are capable of taking in. Our minds can roam around reality, yes, to some degree, but what we understand of the present, much less the future, is almost nothing. We have a little tiny swath of reality that we’re able to control or understand. And so, from that perspective, yes, we tend to say, «What’s going on? I don’t get it. God exists; they tell me God exists, but it doesn’t seem to be doing anything.» Well, yes, within this very, very narrow compass.

Think of if a page of a great novel was ripped out and then thrown to the wind, and then many months later you happen to stumble upon that single page. You pick it up, and it’s in English, and you can read it. It’s given you a little tiny snippet of the story. But if you were to say, «Well, wherever that book comes from, it doesn’t make a lick of sense there. This book is ridiculous.» Well, no. Oh, you’re reading one page out of a thousand-page story. See what’s required, everybody? Now we’re going to shed some light on faith. What’s required is a surrender in trust to God’s perspective, God’s plan, God’s purpose. I can’t see it. All I see is violence and destruction, and you’re not doing anything. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. That’s what you can see of my creation. Faith is an acceptance in humility and trust of God’s vision, plan, and purpose.

Now listen to how God answers this cry of the heart that’s in all of our hearts. Listen. Then the Lord answered me, and He said, «Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint. If it delays, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not be late. The rash one has no integrity, but the just one, because of his faith, will live.»

All right. So, Lord, where are You? It doesn’t make any sense. Have faith. And what does that mean? That the vision has its time in God’s time. God’s work is being done. Trust. Trust in it. It presses on to fulfillment. Maybe you can’t see how it’s happening, but it’s happening. It will not disappoint. God is never going to give up on His creation. That’s a basic biblical truth. God is not about a failed work. No, no. And if it delays-yeah, from my perspective, it’s delayed. I don’t see it; I don’t get it. If it delays, wait for it.

See, what is that, everybody? That’s the attitude of faith: waiting in trust for what God will do. The rash one has no integrity. Well, that’s most of us in our sin. I’m rash. I want an answer now. Put it to me on my terms. Well, that person has no integrity. But the just one, because of his faith, will live. Right? How do we live spiritually? By faith, by an attitude of humble trust in the ways of the Lord.

Okay, that’s Habakkuk reading number one, and it’s preparing us for the Gospel, which is, to me, a really interesting text, the way it’s pieced together. So just before our Gospel from Luke, what we have is Jesus' command to forgive extravagantly: you know, 70 times seven times-forgive, forgive, even your enemies-forgive, forgive. And the disciples, here’s where our Gospel today commences, say to the Lord, «Increase our faith.» They’re saying, «Okay, I get the command, but it’s so impossible. Can you at least increase our faith so we can move into the space that You’re offering to us?»

And Jesus replies, «If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea, ' and it would obey you.» Now what’s He saying here, everybody? Faith is this humble trust in the power of God. «Hey, forgive your worst enemy.» Well, I can’t do that on my own. I can just muster the psychological strength to do it. But listen, the tiniest bit of trust, of humble trust, a little seed, little mustard seed-that’s all you need to unleash all the power in the world. Because see, faith is an openness to God, God who makes the universe.

So the tiniest little crack in the carapace, the shell of your own egotism, if even the tiniest crack is there, will let in enormous amounts of light. Shift the metaphor; it will unleash enormous amounts of energy. The just person will live by faith. Right? Right. That’s what makes your life wonderful and rich, worth living. Okay, but now watch how this teaching of Jesus is juxtaposed to a little story. I must say, for many years, as I meditate on this gospel, it always struck me as a bit puzzling or a bit of a non sequitur, like, well, how do you get from that statement about faith the size of a mustard seed to this parable?

Well, now listen to the parable. Who among you would say to your servant, who’s just come in from plowing and tending the sheep, «Come here immediately, take your place at the table»? No! I mean, wouldn’t he rather say to him, «Prepare for me something to eat, » and then, after we’re all served, «then you can eat something»? So he’s talking about a master and a servant of some kind. The servant’s been out in the field all day, laboring in the hot sun, and after this long day of labor comes in.

Well, wouldn’t it be nice if the master were to say, «Come, come on! You’ve had a hard day’s work. Come sit here, and let me reward you with a nice meal „? No, no, no, says this story. No, you’ve been working out there in the field all day. All right. Now come in. It’s now your turn to work inside, wait on tables, and serve me and my friends. And afterwards, something kind of rough, kind of unfair. Shouldn’t he give this guy a little reward? Why not? When you’ve done all you’ve been commanded, say, „We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we’re obliged to do.“

Now, here’s the point I think; then you’ll see how it’s connected to the first statement. What’s being urged here, everybody, is this stance of humble service. In our egotism, we think God owes us an explanation; God owes us some reward. „Hey, I’ve been at this all day; I’ve been serving you, Lord, all day. I’ve been doing your will. Don’t I get a little something in return?“

See, if I’m in that space, where am I? I’m still in that little tiny egocentric world where I’m expecting recognition, reward, acknowledgment. Spiritually speaking, that’s a waste of time. The humble person is the one who says, „No, Lord, I exist to serve you, “ and in fact, in serving you, who need nothing-remember, I’ve told you that many times, everybody, and it’s very, very important in the spiritual order-if we think God needs something from us, then we’re all going to be playing this silly game. God doesn’t need anything from us, which is why serving Him lifts us up and makes us more alive.

Don’t think of it as, „I’m laboring in the hot sun.“ Think of it, „No! By obeying you, Lord, by doing what you want, by breaking out of this little narrow space of my egotism, I now live for the first time.“ The just man will live by faith. Right? Right. Break out of this little narrow space where you’re playing games with the ego and recognition and who deserves more. And if you’re serving God in that way, you’re not in the right space; you’re still in a kind of servile relationship to God. But what did Jesus say? „I no longer call you servants but friends.“ That’s what God wants; that’s what’s enlivening to us spiritually when we become the friends of God.

Now link these two things together: „Increase our faith.“ Oh, if you had the faith of a mustard seed, you’d have all the power in the world. What’s faith? It’s breaking out of egotism. It’s trusting in the power and the love and the plan and the project of God for us. It’s surrendering to God’s purpose that we might really be alive. That’s where power comes from; that’s where light comes from. Right? Humility, everybody, and faith are urged upon us by all the spiritual masters.

Bernard, you know, was asked, „What are the three greatest virtues?“ He said, „Humility, humility, and humility.“ Thomas Aquinas said, „What opens the door to the spiritual life? Faith! Faith!“ Bible: without faith, we can’t be pleasing to God. Right? Right. Faith, everybody, is the way in, a trusting surrender to the love, purpose, and plan of God. And God bless you.