On Monday morning, Jim Dobbs shared with the elders and ministry staff a wonderful devotional thought from the Greek word oligopistos meaning “little of faith.” It is a word that appears only 4 times in the New Testament (Mt 6.30; 8.26; 14.31; 16.8) and in each occurrence, is used only by Jesus. In the texts, Jesus is rebuking his disciples for their little faith as it relates to anxiety, fear, doubt and forgetfulness of the power and blessings of God.

Jim’s study peeked my interest and so I returned to my office on Tuesday morning to look up the opposite of oligopistos which is tosauten pistin meaning “great of faith.” As with oligopistos, tosauten pistin appears only twice in the New Testament (Mt 8.10; 15.28) and in both occurrences, is used only by Jesus. In the texts, Jesus trumpets the “great faith” of two non-Jewish people: a Roman centurion and a Canaanite woman.

The disciples, with their distinctly Jewish ancestry and familiarity with the promises and blessings of God, are never rewarded by Jesus with the compliment that they had “great faith.” But two-non Jews, two outsiders, two aliens and strangers to the promises of God, are rewarded by Jesus for their “great faith” in the face of adverse circumstances.

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Here are some more juicy morsels from Jack Reese in The Body Broken: Embracing the Peace of Christ in a Fragmented Church.

“Baptism is not a legal transaction in heaven or the cause for a transfer of spiritual funds in God’s eternal accounting system. Rather, in baptism we died to a way of living that is passing away in the old order of things. In baptism we have hitched our lives to the power of the new age ushered in by the death of Christ. In baptism, Christ not only makes us members of his church, he not only forgives our past sins, but he empowers us to live holy lives today. To be holy is to live differently, not sharing in the spirit of the old order. To be holy is to live eschatologically, that is, to live as children of the new age even though we see evidence of the old one everywhere around us.

Baptism transforms our eyes so that we see one another differently. It transforms our hearts so that we reach out to others in compassion. It transforms our homes into centers of hospitality. It transforms our churches into sanctuaries of welcome. Restoring baptism to its place at the center of things, not only concerning whether we are saved but how we live, will be our greatest hope (for reconciliation). Here in baptism a broken people will meet a broken Christ. Here in the water the resurrected Christ will make us his glorious people. Here among the baptized community we will become a people of peace, and our churches will become safe places. Here, when we embrace fully our baptism, we will become a people of hope, a people of compassion, a people of mercy and holiness” (116, 128).