“You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matt. 14:31).
So, how much faith is enough? How much faith do we really need? Is it possible to have a little faith, but not enough? We know that Jesus spent a fair amount of time with people of “little faith” (Matt. 14:31), since he talks about it on more than one occasion. “Why are you afraid, you of little faith” (Matt. 8:26), he tells them one time; and another, “You of little faith…Do you still not perceive?” (Matt. 16: 8-9). Even earlier, in the sermon on the mount, he challenges the anxiety of the crowd in terms of their “little faith” (Matt. 6:30). Jesus certainly knew a lot of people in this position: including some of his best friends, in fact.
If we add this all together, we find that faith is the thing we need when faced with doubt, fear, lack of understanding, and anxiety to boot. Faith, and not a little, seems to be a universal corrective to whatever ails you. We know from Holy Scripture that faith is trust in God and what God has promised to do, and has done. We put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God raised from the dead. Our theological tradition tells us that faith is how we know about God and enter into relationship with God. As we say in the Eucharist, about the consecrated gifts, “Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.”
Though it’s easy to contrast faith with doubt, fear, anxiety or lack of understanding as binaries, like the zeros and ones in a digital code, the small qualifier provided by the word “little” suggests something else. There’s the matter of faith itself: what is it, more or less? In our Gospel today, Peter and the other disciples are challenged by Jesus with the smallness of their faith, a faith which did not quite measure up. “O ye of little faith” (Matt. 14:31)! The disciples are frightened; Peter starts to sink. Our reading suggests that if they just had more faith, maybe they would float.
Part of the Gospel tradition, however, is that a little faith is a place to start. Later in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus again tells the disciples that it is because of their “little faith” that they could not drive out a demon. But then he goes on to say, “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed… nothing will be impossible for you” (Matt. 17:20).
We already know from our Gospel reading a couple of weeks ago that a mustard seed is “the smallest of all the seeds” (Matt. 13:32), but that it grows into the greatest of shrubs. As Jesus teaches, even though it starts small, the kingdom of God is growing. In the same way, faith can be as small as a mustard seed, but still sustain mighty acts, as Jesus says in the 17th chapter of Matthew: again, “nothing will be impossible for you” (Matt. 17:20). Faith in small quantities can be the seedbed of greatness.
St. Augustine points out in his Confessions that calling out to God itself is an act of believing in God. “My faith, Lord, calls upon you” (1.1.1), Augustine writes, citing today’s reading from Romans, “But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed?” (Rom. 10:14). As the Apostle says, the very act of calling out is a sign of the faith that is there, the belief that is present. When Peter cries out in our Gospel, “Lord, save me!” (Matt. 14:30), it’s not a cry that commemorates his fear but instead confirms his faith. As Romans says, How shall they call upon one in whom they do not believe? Peter believes, maybe just a little, and his faith cries out.
I hope you can identify with this. I know I do. I want my faith to be greater, stronger, deeper. But the faith that can call out to God is enough to get us rolling. In the same way, the earnest desire to pray indicates that we’ve already begun to pray. “Here I am Lord!” Just as entertaining the notion of God, the very possibility of God, opens the door to belief. As it says elsewhere in the Gospels, “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mk. 9:24)! No night can be so dark, no storm so threatening, no situation so far gone or so all to sea, that faith in God cannot spring forth. “O ye of little faith”: well, that faith for us will surely be enough.
That’s how our Gospel reading ends, after all. “And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God’” (Matt. 14:33). Those who have come through the storm of night have discovered the One who can save. They confess him with their lips and believe in him with their heart (Rom. 10:9), as Paul says in Romans.
The disciples may be of little faith, but from this small seed has come great things. “You will do greater works than these” (Jo. 14:12), Jesus tells the disciples in the Gospel of John. So, too, great things will come for us and be done by us. We’re the people of “little faith” with whom Jesus has chosen to spend his time. May the Lord increase our faith (Lk. 17:5), here today, so that we too may worship him as Lord.