A reflection on Luke 17:5-6
Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
©️2022 by Gloria M. Chang
And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “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.”
Luke 17:5-6
The Power of Tiny Things
In the Atomic Age, humans have discovered the tremendous energy contained in particles of matter (E=mc2). Consider the following facts:
“The mass of a small paper clip has roughly the energy of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.”
NOVA, “The Power of Tiny Things”
“All the solar energy that strikes Earth in a second is equivalent to four pounds of mass.”
“A dollar’s worth of pennies could power New York State for about two days.”
A Mustard Seed of Faith
Yet nothing on earth is more powerful than faith like a grain of mustard seed. By faith, a virgin said “Yes!” to God and brought his Son down from heaven. All the energy in the universe cannot raise the dead, but faith unites us to Jesus Christ, victor over the grave.
A pinch of matter packs a punch
But cannot raise the dead.
A seed of faith brought God to earth—
Jesus our living bread.
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Luke 1:37 (English Standard Version)