"Faith as of a Little Child", March 30, 2025 — Santa Teresa Hills Presbyterian Church

“Faith as of a Little Child”

Hebrews 11:1-10 and Mark 10:13-16

Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, March 30, 2025

A few months ago I saw an interview with Jane Goodall on Stephen Colbert. After spending a lifetime studying chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park, Goodall is considered the world's foremost expert on them. Stephen said, “I learned something scandalous about you, and I’m hoping to set this straight. I understand that chimpanzees are not your favorite animal.” Jane answered, “No, they’re much too like humans, so there are some I love and some I dislike.” “But what is your favorite animal?” Stephen asked. “Dogs,” she replied, “You can’t have anymore unconditional love than a dog.”

In art and literature dogs often symbolize faithfulness and loyalty. In the Odyssey, when Odysseus returns after years of war and hardship, disguised as a beggar, his faithful dog Argos is the only one to recognize him. Then there’s Old Yeller, made famous by the classic Disney movie by that name, who defends his young master from an angry bear, a mad cow, and feral hogs. Dogs will always protect the ones they love.

Once you earn the loyalty of a dog, it will never abandon you. It will always be faithful.

This Lent we are learning about the Fruits of the Spirit, as mentioned in Ephesians 5. Today we come to the fruit of faithfulness. But what is faithfulness? What does it mean to be faithful? You’ve probably heard of Old Faithful, the geyser in Yellowstone National Park that shoots steaming hot water into the air every 60 to 90 minutes with astonishing regularity, and has done so for centuries. It is called “Old Faithful” because it is predictable. You can count on it. So, one meaning of “faithful” is predictable, never-changing, reliable.

When two people get married, they promise to be faithful “till death do us part.” We usually take this to mean sexual fidelity, but it also implies that the couple will be there for each other – for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health. A faithful spouse will not desert their partner when the going gets tough. They can be depended on.

So what do the people we just read about in the Book of Hebrews have to do with Argos, Old Yeller, a geyser, and marriage vows?

They all had faith in God, and they responded to that faith with faithfulness. Abel was faithful in offering right sacrifices to God. Noah was faithful in building the ark. Abraham was faithful in leaving the country of his birth to go to the Promised Land. Hebrews 11 goes on to list many others: Moses, Rahab, Gideon, David. All of these ancestors in the faith believed in God, and acted on that belief. Their faith was not just an intellectual assent, but a trust in God that led them to action.

As Eugenia Gamble writes in her book, Tending the Wild Garden: Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit, “Our faithfulness is a response to God’s faithfulness…Because we rely on God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness, we return faithfulness and trustworthiness to God and to others on behalf of God.”

Back to dogs – emblems of loyalty and faithfulness – Eugenia tells of adopting a little stray who was afraid of people. At first it hid under the dining table, too scared to come out. But it watched Eugenia interact with her other dog, Megan, who played happily and rested peacefully by her side. It took a few days, but as the new dog watched,

it saw that Eugenia was a person who could be trusted. Finally it came out from under the table and jumped into her lap. It had learned that Eugenia was trustworthy, and it put its trust in her.

Just like that little dog, before we can be faithful, we have to believe that God is trustworthy. What do I mean? For various reasons, some people have trouble trusting in God, maybe because of bad theology or an overly literal reading of the Bible. Eugenia writes, “If we have been taught that we are never good enough…that God is in a perpetual fury looking for ways to punish us into compliance, it can be hard to trust God at all.” For those who focus too much on the Old Testament, where God seems to encourage bloodshed and war, it can be hard to believe in a loving, faithful God. Instead we must look to Jesus, who came to show us what God is like. As we learn about Christ’s life and teachings, we will understand that God is kind and loving. “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” “Love one another, as I have loved you.” These sayings of Jesus reveal the heart of God, a God we can trust.

Not only our understanding of the Bible, but also our upbringing makes a difference in whether or not we trust God. If we grew up in a home where our family treated us with loving-kindness and fairness, it isn’t too hard for us to believe that God is good, loving and faithful. I was blessed to grow up in such an environment. But many people didn’t. It’s much harder for them to believe in a good God. That’s why some people prefer to say “Mother God” instead of “Father God.” People whose fathers were cruel or abusive may find it difficult to trust a male God. Genesis says we are all created in the image of God, both male and female. God is our heavenly parent, however we choose to view God.

Little children tend to be trusting. This may be why Jesus says we cannot enter the Kingdom of God unless we are like a little child. Children need to feel that they can trust the adults around them. Otherwise, it will be difficult for them to trust God when they get older. That may be why Jesus says that one of the worst sins we can commit is to harm a little child: “It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to sin.” One translation reads, “than for you to harm one of these little one’s souls.”

A friend of mine’s son greeted him after work by jumping off the top of the stairs into his arms. My friend was shaken, thinking how he could have missed catching the boy, but at the same time, it was a powerful example of how little children trust their parents. It is this kind of faith that God longs to see in us – faith that allows us to jump into God’s arms, knowing God will catch us. As Eugenia Gamble writes, “Faithfulness is not so much about what we choose to believe in our minds as it is about whom we choose to trust.” We can trust a loving God who is faithful to catch us when we fall – or jump. Jesus came to show us that God is love, that God loves us infinitely, even to the point of giving His only son on the cross.

The Presbyterian Church U.S.A.’s brief statement of faith asserts, “Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.” Remember the story of the Prodigal Son? The father was waiting and watching for him to return. He saw him a long way off and ran to him. This is how God welcomes us back when we have strayed. This is a God who is worthy of our trust. Gamble comments, “Our faith rests squarely on who God is. Over time, as it deepens, it becomes the kind of assurance spoken of in Hebrews 11:1: ‘Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.’ …Faithfulness is a gift and also a muscle that we exercise by daily choosing to trust.”

Finally, it’s hard for faith to grow in isolation. It’s not impossible, but it’s difficult. As Eugenia Gamble reminds us, “Faith is not just individual. It is corporate. We experience it together. We grow in faithfulness together. In the Hebrew Scriptures, God does not call only Abraham and Sarah. God calls and creates a people. Faith in Jesus is personal. But it is not merely individual.

We are part of a body with many members. That is not an accidental metaphor. We need each other…We do not have to go it alone. God wills for us to live our lives in a community of faith so that others’ faith can encourage and build up our own. Who are the people in your life who encourage you and help you to trust God more? How can you give that gift to others? …Ask God how you can encourage someone’s faith today.”

When I visited Peru last year with a group from our Presbytery, we went to La Oroya, an impoverished area in the Andes. The operation of a smelter for almost a century there left the air, land, and water polluted with heavy metals. Residents suffered medical problems. Children had dangerously high levels of lead in their blood. In the midst of this devastation, a small group of women decided to act. They had no wealth, power, or status. But they had a vision for reviving their land and their community, and they had faith in God. They began to plant trees on the hillsides near their town.

Trudging up and down the slopes, they faithfully watered and tended to the saplings by hand. After 20 years, they had planted more than 30,000 trees, transforming the once bare landscape into a verdant green. Now they are teaching their children and grandchildren how to plant and care for the trees. Motivated by faith, small actions, done faithfully, can have a big impact that can last over generations.

God is faithful. God is trustworthy. How can we faithfully respond to God’s faithfulness to us? What seeds of faith can we plant to further the kingdom of God? “May all who come behind us find us faithful.” Amen.

Burgess, David C., ruling elder of Westminster Presbyterian Church in San José; Presbytery of San Jose 2025 Lent/Easter Devotional, Wednesday, March 26, Luke 13:18-21, p. 24.

Gamble, Eugenia Anne. Tending the Wild Garden: Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit (pp. 160-161). Presbyterian Publishing. Kindle Edition.