December 30, 2021 — Luke 17:5-8 – “Up to Snuff” 

“The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink?” Luke 17:5-8 

“Up to snuff:” Chewing tobacco once enjoyed immense popularity but owing to its great expense was only afforded by the upper castes. So the original meaning of the phrase “Up to Snuff” shares similarities with today’s, referring to one’s financial and intellectual status. A man who was considered “up to snuff” possessed the money, smarts and sophistication necessary to fully enjoy and appreciate fine tobacco. Today it has a more mundane meaning — those who are up to snuff are the ones who “have the ability” to do something, or who can “cut the mustard”. Uh oh, another idiom. The modern sense of the idiom “cut the mustard” is “to succeed; to have the ability to do something” — just like someone who is “up to snuff”.  The idea that someone could not “cut the mustard” comes from the long development of the established use of the word “mustard” as a superlative, as in phrases such as “keen as mustard.” In the nineteenth century in America, mustard was used figuratively to mean something that added zest to a situation, and the proper mustard was something that was the genuine article. The move from genuine to excellent is just a short step. O Henry used the word in the sense of something excellent in Cabbages and Kings in 1904: “I’m not headlined in the bills, but I’m the mustard in the salad dressing just the same”. 

Thank goodness the idiom is not “Cut the Mustard Seed” — for since it is such a small seed, it might not mean much. However, as we hear from the lesson of the mustard seed in Luke 17, this was the point that Jesus was making. It will not take much for the kingdom of G-d to take root and sprout — as long as there are people willing to scatter the seed of G-d’s word. Jesus tells various parables about seeds, including the “Wheat and the Tares”, and the farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Jesus is aware that people remember stories when he uses familiar imagery — when he talks in terms that all of the people will understand. They were an agrarian economy and people — farmers, shepherds, workers in the vineyards, and people who toiled the ground to scratch out a living. They knew about seeds, about tilling, about watering, and about harvesting. So when Jesus said it takes only faith the size of a mustard seed, they knew what he meant — and knew it only takes a little faith to be able to “cut the mustard” — so to speak.

Let us pray,

Lord Christ, help me to remember that my faith does not need to be giant like a mountain to “cut the mustard” with you. Even if my faith today is as small as the mustard seed, your spirit will allow me to do great things. Amen.  

Pastor Dave