The apostles approach Jesus with a heartfelt plea: “Increase our faith!”—only to receive an enigmatic answer about uprooting a sycamore tree and planting it in the sea. In this episode, we’ll unearth the astonishing symbolism of the sycamore, wrestle with the original Greek, and peel back centuries of rabbinic wisdom to grasp just how radical Jesus’ words are. Along the way, we’ll tackle the age-old question: Is God not answering my prayer because I lack faith? Linking our Gospel reading with the cry of Habakkuk and the hope of the Psalms, we’ll dig deep to discover what true faith and servant-hearted discipleship really mean.

Diving deep into our Gospel, we'll spend our episode looking closer at:

• The fascinating rabbinic tradition that forbade planting a sycamore tree within 37 feet of a cistern because of its enormous root system, and how Jesus upends this cultural fact in his teaching on faith [00:17:45]
• The striking comparison between mustard seed-sized faith moving mountains in Matthew’s Gospel and, uniquely in Luke, uprooting a tree that can live 500 years, illuminating just how bold and impossible the acts of faith Jesus describes really are [00:19:05]
• The deeper meaning behind Jesus' answer that faith isn't about getting what we want, but about uniting our will to God's even after “a long day of plowing,” challenging any notion of faith as a spiritual insurance policy for answered prayers [00:40:17]
• The compelling Old Testament backdrop from the Book of Habakkuk, where the prophet demands to know why God seems to simply gaze at evil rather than act, and God’s unexpected answer about faith and hope [00:46:53]
• How the Psalm selection for the Sunday connects Israel’s exile longing with our spiritual waiting, urging us not to “harden your hearts” as the Israelites did at Meribah in the desert, and instead to nurture hope in God’s future deliverance [00:56:37]

(Mass Readings for Oct 5, 2025)

For the full show notes including citations and small group discussion questions, visit: kptz.io/27OT-C25