Okay, faith is a theme of our readings this weekend. 

Increase our faith, the apostles ask. 

But before we get to the gospel, 

Let’s talk a little bit about Habakkuk, 

Our prophet from the first reading. 

Habakkuk is one of the minor prophets we call, 

Not because he’s not important, 

But his book is very short. 

And so you could read it, 

It’s just only a couple chapters or so. 

Habakkuk is a prophet around the 7th century, 

6th century BC. 

This is a time when, like most of Israel’s history, 

The Israelites are in trouble. 

They’re being threatened by the Babylonians. 

The Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem 

And the temple is a massively significant moment. 

So Habakkuk is kind of leading up 

To this disastrous experience. 

Habakkuk sees it coming 

Because you see the Babylonians, they are north of Israel, 

Kind of like modern day Iraq 

If you can picture the map of the middle east. 

They go south, they bypass Israel 

And they attack Egypt and they conquer Egypt. 

So Habakkuk sees this coming. 

After they conquer Egypt, 

They’re going to make their way up north 

And they’re going to go after Israel. 

Now Habakkuk is really frustrated 

Because no one’s listening to him. 

This is the deal with all the prophets. 

None of the kings, none of the priests listen to God. 

They don’t listen to the prophets 

Who are God’s spokespeople. 

The kings are corrupt. 

They think we can withhold the Babylonians, 

We can stand them off because God’s on our side 

But the problem is they’ve abandoned God. 

They’re not worshipping him, 

They’re not following proper practices. 

So they’re sort of arrogant. 

What Habakkuk is trying to get the Israelites to do 

Is surrender, humble themselves, 

Maybe make some deal with the Babylonians. 

What Habakkuk essentially foretells is, 

‘Look, we’re going to be destroyed. 

There’s nothing really we can do to stop this 

And we have to persevere in our faith. 

We’re going to lose everything. 

We’re going to lose our temple, 

We’re going to lose our land, we’re going to lose our homes 

And yet we won’t lose what’s most important. 

That is basically our soul because God is with us.’ 

And so he’s trying to give the people hope 

That when all is lost, we still have God 

And so we have to keep the faith. 

Keep the faith. 

Okay, and that’s why Jesus will say, 

Talk about faith here in our gospel. 

So everything can be lost. 

You could lose your health, 

Everything, but God is still by your side. 

So when the apostles say increase our faith, 

Okay, there’s two different kinds of faith here. 

There’s one type of faith that just is like, 

Do you believe in God or not? 

Okay, if you like, kind of you believe 

Or you don’t believe. 

But then there’s a faith that’s like a growing faith 

Or what some will say is actually better called trust, 

Trust or surrender. 

And this is what needs to be increased. 

Yes, we believe God exists, 

But do we really believe that he is with us? 

Do we believe that when we’re suffering 

And when everything has been taken away from us, 

That God still has a plan? 

And this is what the apostles realized they need more of. 

They believe that Jesus is real, that God is real, 

But they’re struggling to trust him. 

Because at this point in the gospel, 

Jesus is sort of up the ante. 

The teachings he’s given are now much more challenging. 

So before he was doing all these great miracles, 

He was giving the sermon on the mount, 

Everyone was just kind of happy and in love with Jesus. 

But now it’s getting tougher. 

He’s going after the pharisees, 

People are starting to persecute him, 

And he’s giving them this ultimate message 

Of you need to pick up your cross and follow me. 

And so the apostles realized like, 

‘Whoa, this is much harder than what 

We signed up for originally. So, Lord, please- 

Increase our faith. 

Give us that trust in you.’ 

And that’s a prayer we need to make every day of our lives, 

Especially in the midst of suffering. 

And maybe when we receive communion 

Or spiritual communion in a few moments, 

That can be our same prayer to Jesus. 

Lord, increase our faith, help us trust in you. 

Amen.