This Review on Faith… where we have already come from in this Faith of a Mustard Seed Journey. Definitively, what has Luke said concerning ‘Faith in the mouth of Jesus’? He uses ‘faith/pistis’. Eleven clear references given to the understanding of faith.
1st the Triple tradition ‘Healing of the Paralytic’. Introducing ‘faith/pistis’ as ‘controversy’! “When he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” “Who is this who is speaking blasphemies?” The strongest form of personal mockery and calumniation; it always refers finally to god. “He who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death.” “We have seen strange things today”.
2nd is a return to ‘The Centurion’s Servant’. Something in ‘the cotton’ in this very rare translation of ‘o pais mou’; for a look at the Greek text would definitively suggest the titles “The Centurion’s Son” or “The Centurion’s Boy”. CENTURION’S SLAVE SON (or daughter)! The centurion’s servant boy (or girl)! So great was this man’s will for the healing of this boy that Jesus said, “Not even in Israel have I seen such faith!”
3rd ‘A Sinful Woman Forgiven’. Necessary to examine separate and apart from ‘amartia/sin’; ‘amartolos/sinner’ as an adjective. Sin as ‘a power hostile to God’— sinner now becomes a value judgement from the human standpoint. Rare in Classical Greek. Clear picture of ‘the sinner’ from the Psalmist. He is the opposite of the ‘pious, righteous and godly’. He breaks the commandments and trust in his own power and wealth and understanding. Simon had a ‘difference made bigger’ in his mind— he a Pharisee and she a sinner. He talked to himself saying, ‘if Jesus were a prophet He would already know!’ No apparent sickness or disease in her life— yet, Jesus gives the same pronouncement “your sins are forgiven”!
It took 8 Weeks to deep dive into this use of Faith. Further along was the continued debate concerning the authenticity of the ‘Willie Lynch Speech of 1712 Virginia’, I am convinced of the psychological substance as it relates to ‘mind control’ in the making of a slave. “I guarantee every one of you that if installed correctly it will control the slaves for at least 300 years. …take the differences and make them bigger… age; gender; color— pit the dark skinned slave against the light skinned; …use fear, distrust and envy for control… if used intensely for one year the slaves themselves will remain perpetually distrustful.”
Simon had a ‘difference made bigger’ in his mind— he, a Pharisee and she, a sinner. He talked to himself, he said to himself that if Jesus were a prophet… He would already know…
Still further along, look again at the clear picture of ‘the sinner’ ascertained from the Psalmist. He is the opposite of the ‘pious, righteous and godly’. (She is sick and tired of his self-piousness, self-righteousness and self-godliness). He breaks the commandments and trust in his own power and wealth and understanding. (Her lack of power and lack of wealth and mis-understanding is sometimes all that she has). There is often a complete dismissal of God in his life. (Many nights as she cries about how she is being treated and how she will feed her children, she wonders ‘where is God’?).
4th the triple tradition ‘Calming Of The Storm’ (Luke 8:22-25). The disciples fear was so great in the midst of this storm of the sea, this ‘ekindunenon/ danger’, that they repeated their call out to the Lord— “Master, Master…” And the response is still the same… “Where Is Your Faith?”
5th the triple tradition ‘A Woman’s Faith’. Even with her matchless faith which gave her ‘heart’ to go up and touch Jesus to receive her healing, this woman was ‘covered’ by the crowd which enabled her to ‘think’ that she was ‘hidden’ from Jesus. Ashamed at not speaking up when he asked, it was not until ‘He saw her’ that “she came forth trembling…”
6th ‘On Causing Sin’ and ‘On Forgiveness’— Luke stands alone in recording the petition, “Increase our faith!” Jesus warns of a retribution ‘worse than death’ for the offender. You will (passively) ‘skandalon/scandal’, sin, stumble, fall, but— to be the cause (actively) of ‘skandalon’ carries with it a fate; for— “It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea”.
7th Jesus’ immediate response to the apostles’ petition— “Increase our faith!”; “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” It is ‘trans-planting power’ faith. Although the action has been planted, and rooted, it can still be ‘trans-planted’ and ‘re-rooted’… even to the most remote and unknown parts… the sea! “If you had faith!”▪
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