A Porziuncola of Faith

Luke 17:5–10

There’s a story¹ about someone who was talking to C. S. Lewis about the nature of faith, essentially questioning how real and effective faith actually is. They said to Lewis, “I’ll give you an example: there’s an old lady who lives at the end of the street who spends all her time yapping at people and being mean to them. But she goes to mass every day; is that faith?” C. S. Lewis replied, “Well, imagine what she would be like if she didn’t go to mass.” He seemed to suggest that faith is expressed differently in each person. There isn’t one prescription for faith; everyone is in a different place, and there’s no cookie-cutter version of it.

This text from Luke is one I struggled with; I don’t remember ever reading it before. Faith as small as a mustard seed is familiar, but I didn’t understand the part about faith being like pulling up a mulberry tree and throwing it into the ocean; I didn’t grasp the point. Why would I want to do that? Then there’s the second part of the parable, which talks about a servant who is not thanked for his work plowing or looking after the sheep. When he returns from the fields, he’s told, “Now prepare my supper, get yourself ready, and wait on me while I eat and drink.” To cap it off, the last sentence states, “We should say, we are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty!” Judy, a member of our lectionary group who converted to Judaism, said, “When I was a member of the Southern Baptist Church, that’s how we were made to feel; it was pounded into us that we were completely unworthy, and this is one of the passages used to support that theology.”

The problem I encountered with the passage was that it contained exaggerations and appeared quite judgmental, despite these words coming from Jesus. This is why it’s valuable to wrestle with such passages: to examine their true meaning and interpret them through our understanding of Jesus rather than solely focusing on the words themselves. Context is always crucial. When the disciples say, “Increase our faith,” they are responding to something Jesus said just before this passage, which wasn’t included in today’s reading. He stated, “Even if your brother or sister sins against you seven times in a day and seven times comes back to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” This would have been shocking for the disciples, prompting them to reply, “Then you need to increase our faith!” In response, Jesus tells them that they don’t need more faith; even a mustard seed’s worth of faith is sufficient. As Tatiana might say, a “little little” faith is all you need. ….” Little little.”

Yesterday was the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, and I spoke to our session of Elders about the small church that St. Francis built in Assisi, known as the Porziuncola. This tiny chapel is situated within the massive church of St Mary, and for me has always represented how our session should operate within the broader context of Pastoral Change. When St. Francis discovered the Porziuncola, it was in ruins. The name Porziuncola means “little portion,” and he and his companions rebuilt it gradually by begging for stones and carrying them by hand until the chapel was fully restored. The Porziuncola eventually became the heart of a vast Franciscan movement that spread across the globe. Returning to our text, the Porziuncola also emerged as a place of forgiveness. According to tradition, Francis received from Pope Honorius III the privilege that those who visited the chapel in prayer with sincere repentance could receive a plenary indulgence, known as the “Pardon of Assisi.” This was Francis’s way of making forgiveness and reconciliation accessible to ordinary people, not just the wealthy or powerful who could travel to Rome.

According to tradition, Francis received from Pope Honorius III the privilege that those who visited the chapel in prayer with sincere repentance could receive a plenary indulgence, known as the “Pardon of Assisi.” It was Francis’s way of making forgiveness and reconciliation accessible to ordinary people, not just the rich or powerful who could travel to Rome. It wasn’t by design, but it’s certainly a happy accident that Worldwide Communion Sunday practically coincides with the Feast Day of St. Francis. For Francis, the Eucharist was the center of faith; he spoke with deep reverence about the mystery of Christ’s body and blood being offered to believers. Just as the Porziuncola was a little place filled with God’s presence, the bread, and the cup are little, simple, ordinary things through which Christ is revealed. Like this little portion of bread, your faith only needs to be the size of a mustard seed to make a difference.

1 Lectionary Lab, 2019, 17th Sunday after Pentecost