27th Sunday Year C 2013

27^th. Sunday Year (C)

(Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4.  2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14.  Luke 17:5-10)

Why did the Apostles say to Jesus: Increase our faith?

Matthew’ version of our Gospel story tells us how the Apostles had just failed to cure an epileptic boy brought to them, a failure that Jesus said was due to their lack of faith. Luke does not give us any such information about the Apostles’ failure, but introduces Jesus’ words directly by that request of the Apostles:

            Lord, increase our faith!

What led St. Luke to do this we do not know; but it would seem that his pastoral experience guided him to try to bring the understanding of faith into sharper focus, and in this he was successful because the Apostles’ request highlights a certain ignorance which was not only theirs’ surely but the ignorance of the majority of Christians concerning the true nature of the gift of faith:

            Lord, increase our faith (give us a bit more of it, please!)

Jesus' answer is clearly intended to help them better understand the supernatural nature of God’s great spiritual gift and also to appreciate it’s wondrous power with regard to what is merely natural and worldly; thereby showing them the folly of their questioning God’s generosity instead of recognizing their own ignorance and inadequacy:

If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

Notice that Jesus did not call their faith into question; He didn’t say, ‘If you had faith’, but, ‘If you have faith as a mustard seed’.  So often in the Christian life, it is not that God’s gifts are insufficient for our needs, but rather that we fail to truly appreciate the wonder of what has already been given us, as St. Paul himself insinuated in the second reading:

            Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you.

Let me now give you a short description of the mulberry tree (Barnes' notes) and you will have a clearer idea of the significance of Jesus' parable.

Look, now, at this tree: its ample girth, its wide-spread arms branching off from the parent trunk only a few feet from the ground.  Next, examine its enormous roots: as thick, as numerous, and as wide-spread into the deep soil below as the branches extend into the air above.  What power on earth can pluck up such a tree? Heaven's thunderbolt may strike it down, the wild tornado may tear it to fragments, but, surely, nothing short of miraculous power could pluck it up by the roots."

The apostles still had Jesus with them, as the centre of their minds' attention and hearts' affection, and perhaps for that reason, they were not, as yet, able to appreciate the power of that gift of faith which had made already made them into disciples of Jesus; because they had not yet committed themselves to that faith; their eyes and ears were supplying all they wanted, all they thought they needed. And so, Jesus now goes on to hint at a time to come when He will no longer be with them and at their side.  He pictures a time when He Himself will be "resting", and they will be required to continue working, apparently alone, but, in reality, working on His behalf and by His Spirit:

Which of you, having a servant ploughing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'?  But will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'?

Speaking in this way Jesus opens up a further aspect of the apostles' incomprehension :  God does not bestow His spiritual gifts on us for us to possess them as children cling to, and at times boast of, presents they have received.  He endows us with blessings in order that thereby we may live in ever closer communion with Himself, and be empowered to co-operate in the spread, and promote the understanding, of His Good News among all peoples and throughout all time. Jesus, in short, wanted to counter any possessiveness on the part of the Apostles, to protect them from that innate tendency to selfishness and pride that would shortly incite them to argue amongst themselves about which of them was the greatest.   Jesus wanted to ward off the perennial threat to all those who are specially gifted, by warning His apostles -- and their successors -- against the pride and arrogance so commonly seen rampant in the abuse of power.  He spoke only a few words because the apostles were not yet ready for more, but the words He chose covered all that needed to be said; and, being simply expressed, certain aspects of them could be readily understood by the apostles, while the more hidden depths would subsequently be revealed to Mother Church -- who treasures all such words of Jesus in her heart – through all the ages of her mission here on earth:

So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'

The selflessness which Jesus was teaching and praising there is something a worldly, proud, and unspiritual person cannot endure.   The prophet Habakkuk also spoke, as did Jesus, about the time for labour in this world, when rest is longed for but, though its promise be sure, its fulfilment has to be delayed:

Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.  The vision is yet for an appointed time; at the end it will speak, and will not lie.  Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

The sinner, the lover of this world, the proud, cannot abide such delay I say, for, as you heard, ‘his soul is not upright in him’; he cannot be reconciled to waiting in trust, neither can he humble himself in the service of a cause where success is not in some way readily apparent or tangible.  Such selfless devotion is only for those whom God has specially blessed, as the prophet's words make abundantly clear:

The just shall live by his faith.

St. Paul told us how God the Father has blessed all who are in Christ Jesus:

Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.  

We have been given, that is, two gifts in Jesus: the gift of faith to hold fast to ‘the pattern of sound words’ contained in his teaching and that of Mother Church, and that of love to seek and serve Jesus personally in our daily living of that teaching.  Now, with two such gifts, our call to selflessness does not mean a life of sheer endurance as we journey through a desert of aridity in the face of storms constantly exposing our weakness and provoking anxiety; rather is it a life which, being gradually emptied of self-love, is thereby made ever more capable of receiving the gifts of the Spirit, of being filled to overflowing with the peace, joy, and love which are to be found in Christ Jesus alone.

As Jesus told His disciples then and now, the gifts already given us are sufficient for all our needs:

If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

Indeed, they are even more than sufficient for all our desires!  For faith is a treasure, and love of Jesus is not only the fruit, beauty, and glory of that treasure, but also the tool whereby we can come to appreciate what He has given us ever more and more:

Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.  That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

The Apostles had to learn -- as must we -- that a disciple of Jesus must work not  only outside, in the mission field of daily life in the world, but also on the inside, in the secret depths of his or her own mind and heart.  The one, true, Faith is not merely a form of words to be believed and remembered, it is a treasure to be appreciated and quarried by our mind and in our heart.  When worked on in that way the treasure which is our Faith yields up and bestows a power indeed, but not one for self-aggrandisement, as the early apostles childishly imagined; but one, on the contrary, that, revealing to us the beauty of God's truth and the wonder of His love, thereby enables and inspires us to become ever more selfless and wholly other, to the extent that, as St. Paul puts it:

It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. (Galatians 2:20)

Christ, by the power of His Spirit in us, leads, guides, encourages and empowers us to work ever more at and with our treasure trove of faith’s love and truth:

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.  Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God.

We are not to repeat the failure of those in the time of the prophet Habakkuk who in the weakness of unredeemed humanity cried out:

Why do You make me see iniquity and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; strife exists and contention arises, yet You do not save.

The time of rest, the time for rejoicing over the ultimate conquest of evil is not yet.  Jesus Himself is indeed in heavenly glory, but we, His disciples, have work still to do for Him on earth:

Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink.

For that purpose we have been gifted with "the faith and love that is in Christ Jesus"; let us then aspire, with sure confidence and firm hope, to the fulfilment of His promise:

Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.  (Luke 12:37-38)

                                                    (2004; not given anywhere; modified 2013)

27th Sunday of Year C 2013

27^th. Sunday, Year C

(Habakkuk 1: 2-3; 2: 2-4; 2 Timothy 1: 6-8, 13-14; Luke 17: 5-10)

Faith is the centre of attention this Sunday, People of God, for God wills to save us from our sins by making us His children and heirs to an eternal blessedness in Jesus, His beloved, only-begotten, Son, and earthly manifestation of His divine glory.  He wills to prepare us for such a destiny by enabling us to live our earthly lives in mutual love, service, and understanding, despite our native sinfulness, over and above all earthly obstacles and barriers of race, colour or class, poverty or prosperity. He wills us to be strong and free, neither fearing for the future nor despairing over what is present or past, but with joy and firm purpose  hoping all things of His goodness and mercy.  He wills us to be holy for His glory and so transform the world, even though we can only do it ultimately by sharing in the Passion and Death of Jesus and praying God our Father for a share in the glory of Jesus’ Resurrection.

Such is the project set before us and the path we are called to tread as disciples of Jesus and children of God; and without faith we could not take even one step forward, let alone persevere till the end of life’s journey.  Consequently, let us too cry out with the Apostles:

            Lord, increase our faith!

Having heard this cry, with its implicit acknowledgement of our native weakness and inadequacy, the Lord’s answer is first of all encouragement, and then instruction.   He gives us encouragement by insisting that we should never be anxious about the quantity of our faith, because quality alone matters: if you have faith, He says, you can do anything, for even the smallest grain of true faith can do things apparently impossible.  Live your Catholic faith, which is a shoot  of that Faith —one and true –  which has been sheltered and cherished for two thousand years in the bosom of Mother Church for love of Jesus and by the power of His Spirit, being passed on and handed down over the ages, before ultimately being given -- with divine intention -- to you personally.  Live it, and, in your turn, cherish it, for the goodness of that divine intention; and never insult God the Giver by worrying about the size of His gift, because that gift carries along with itself divine life which can so grow and flower -- even in you – as to reflect something ever-new of the goodness and power of Jesus for the blessing of mankind in our world today.  Yes, indeed, live your faith -- live the Faith in you -- by letting it direct and guide the course of your life; do not allow yourself to be continually checking-up on God by looking down to see where your every footstep might be treading; but, always and in full trust, walk, stride, or even run, looking ever forward and upward toward the goal of your aspirations in and for Christ by the power of His Spirit.

The mustard seed of which Jesus spoke, though being proverbially small as St. Mark tells us:

A mustard seed, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth (4:31);

is remarkably powerful far beyond its measure.  As for the mulberry tree -- the most securely rooted of all Palestinian trees -- it was much admired for its ability to survive, unshakeable and sure, through all storms.

The Faith, Jesus says, truly lived and loved in your faith, can overcome the most intractable difficulties, were they even such as to bear comparison with the uprooting and transplanting of a mulberry tree:

If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you;

because, it is not you who would do such uprooting and planting, but God Himself (‘it would obey you’), if you have faith.

Now, if and when some such blessing from God happens in our life, we should always remember the spiritual adage, ‘humility preserves what faith and love win’; an adage based on the teaching Our blessed Lord gives immediately -- in our Gospel reading -- to His disciples, telling them, ‘if faith works wonders in your life,  bringing blessings upon your head, deep joy and peace into your heart, do not begin to pride yourselves thereon, thinking that such fruits were given because you had somehow deserved or merited them; no, hear this parable I have for you’:

Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table?

In the Greek and Roman world of that time a slave expected neither praise, preference, nor pay, after having done his work; indeed, when had he finished his work?  Here Jesus tells of one such slave -- arriving back at his master’s house after a hard day’s work in the fields -- being immediately assigned yet another task:

Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat.  Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.  You may eat and drink when I have finished’.

Slaves in the ancient world would not have been surprised at such treatment, because they belonged to a master or mistress who was under no obligation to give them other than food and shelter.  Of course, today society accepts that slavery is wrong; because no one can ever own another human being since we are all equal in dignity, worth and acceptance, before God.  But Our Lord was taking a picture from current life in His days on earth which mirrored forth the basic truth of our relationship with God: God is our Creator and all that we do belongs to Him since all we are, have, and can do, is from Him and ultimately for His good purposes.  

And so, the slave returning from the fields and finding another job waiting for him is meant to remind us that there is no limit to God’s claims on us; we can never rightly turn round to Him and say, ‘I’ve done my whack, get somebody else.’  No, we can never rightly refuse His calls, because He is love, creative and all-powerful, doing all things out of love in order to share His love and blessedness with all who will obey Him.  God is never in our debt; while it is our supreme privilege and ultimate fulfilment to be able to respond to all His calls with loving obedience and joyful gratitude. 

Jesus Himself exemplified His own teaching: making Himself like a servant at the Last Supper when He washed His disciples’ feet, and giving Himself up for us in obedience to His Father’s will, even though that will (oh! how hard it was to embrace!) was that He should suffer and die on the Cross.  And even when He comes again in glory, He will rejoice to serve us:

Blessed are those servants whom the Master finds awake when He comes; truly I say to you, He will gird Himself and have them sit at table, and He will come and serve them.  (Luke 12:37s.)

However, until He comes in glory we have to work hard and travel far; and so that we can persevere, we have God’s gift of faith, to be embraced with sincere love and protected by true humility.  And such love and humility, given whole-heartedly, will lead us gradually to appreciate and understand something of the splendour and majesty of God’s gift, as happened to St. Paul most strikingly:

(I pray) that  the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. (Ephesians 1:18-21)

That is the full understanding of the wondrous power and final purpose of Faith, to be embraced by us, and working in and through us; it is that power of God which raised Jesus from the dead unto the right hand of the Father in glory, and it can work in us too, enabling each of us to fulfil our personal vocation and ultimately be raised with and in Jesus to take our seat at the marriage feast of the Lamb, in the presence of ‘Our Father in heaven’.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the prophet Habakkuk, in our first reading, ‘signed off’ with one of the most famous statements in the whole Bible:

            The just one, because of his faith, shall live.

And in our second reading we heard St. Paul call on Timothy:

Beloved (son), I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have … in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

Accordingly, let us join with the Apostles who, in our Gospel reading, cried out:

            Lord, increase our faith! 

For our appreciation of faith has been sharpened much, increasing in both clarity and depth, through words such as those to be found in the Letter to the Hebrews (10:38) and St. Paul’s doctrinal letter of introduction to the Romans (11:20):

Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.

Because of unbelief they were broken off; and you stand by faith. 

However, perhaps the greatest incitement for us to seek constant growth in faith is to be found in those other words of St. Paul, taken once again from his  letter to the Romans (1:17):

In it (the Gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith’.

The righteousness of God, His truth, goodness, mercy and fidelity is revealed to us through, in and by, the Faith of Mother Church; for faith (yours and mine) to love, embrace, live by, die in, and, as many Catholics and Christians are sadly experiencing throughout the world today, die for.

How St. Paul was able, at times, to make dogma light up and blaze with devotion!  May he do for us this day, what he did so successfully for Timothy!