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Gospel Reflection 20071007

October 7, 2007



Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel
Lk 17:5-10

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."
The Lord replied,
"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.

"Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
'Come here immediately and take your place at table'?
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 am finished'?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded,
say, 'We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'"




We experience faith every day. We have faith in our doctor to heal us when we are sick. Our faith in our doctor increases if he is good in his profession. The apostles experienced faith in Jesus in His ministry of love, mercy, healing and miracles. That faith went beyond their physical senses to Jesus as the Messiah. Such faith in Jesus was a good thing and more was better. The apostles said to Jesus, "Increase our faith". Likewise we also ask Jesus for an increase in faith. If Jesus responded to us and gave us the faith of a mustard seed, that still would not change our relationship to God. God is our creator and all that we are, all that we have and all creation comes from Him. We are still creatures and servants of God and will ever remain so. The Blessed Virgin Mary, full of grace and filled with faith acknowledged her status as "his lowly servant". No matter how hard we work or what we do will ever be enough to make up for the countless gifts of love and graces that Jesus gives us every minute of our lives. We could live the most holy of lives, live out the Commandments faithfully, and still be "unprofitable servants". "We have done what we were obliged to do". Our attitude should be one of grateful humbleness with praise and thanksgiving to our God who loves us beyond human understanding. We cannot, out of intellectual pride in our technological prowess, think that we have created everything worthwhile and take the attitude that we have preempted God in the process. All we discovered, invented or made are gifts from God.
We should continue to pray as the apostles did for an increase of faith. This is especially important in our prayer life. Faith is nourished and grows with prayer and we can lose our faith in the absence of prayer. When a human being does not pray, he relinquishes companionship with God and puts himself beyond God's reach. Prayer calls down the supernatural gift of faith and transports us to proximity with God, Mary and all God's saints--little short of where we're destined to be. Faith can be shaken by evil, suffering, injustice and death. As humans we don't want such trials and crosses and it's hard to look on them as gifts. Jesus, innocent of sin, took on all the sufferings of humanity to pay for our redemption. In faith, we follow the Way of Jesus which includes sufferings. We offer them to Jesus in the hope of sharing in His resurrection.
The first priority in our prayers should begin with thanks and praise to God. We see this in Mary's prayer, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;” the Canticle of Zachariah; " Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;" Simeon taking Jesus into his arms and blessing God, saying: "Now Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word," in the Lord's Prayer; "hallowed be thy Name".
We should continue to pray for an increase of faith in Jesus every day. We could begin as soon as we wake from sleep with praise and thanksgiving with, "Glory be to the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and thanks for our rest and bringing us safely to a new day and offering all we do for the glory of God. We probably would not attain faith the size of a mustard seed but with prayers of thanks and praise and as grateful, humble, servants of God doing what we're supposed to be doing, we can trust that Jesus will increase our faith.



"If you have faith, you can move mountains." What does Jesus really mean, when He makes this outlandish claim? Is he speaking in hyperbole, or does He actually want His followers to believe that by simply having confidence and trust, one could move a mountain. Certainly Christ does not mean that a person on his own without tremendous external assistance could make a mountain move. Imagine you're standing at the base of Mount Everest, saying, "I order you to move five feet, Mt. Everest." It would be a long day.

However, it is clear that Christ is chastising the apostles for their lack of faith. When the apostles in today's gospel ask Jesus to "increase our faith," they are asking Jesus to strengthen their belief in Him and His new teachings. Perhaps it would help us to understand the request if we look at its context. In the four verses preceding today's reading Jesus makes two demands of His companions.

1.) He tells them to avoid scandals, causing others to sin. "It would be better for that person if he were to place a millstone around his neck and cast himself in the sea"

2.) And then He teaches His doctrine on forgiveness. He rejects the Old Testament law of the talon: "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." And then he demands that His followers forgive always, without end, "seven times seventy times."

This "turn your other cheek" rule was totally contrary to their former belief. So, basically the apostles are seeking the strength to accept Jesus' difficult demands.

There is one area in which most Christian religions are in total agreement: Faith is a gift from God. We are incapable of meriting this gift. Justification, we all believe, comes solely through Jesus Christ, our Savior. It is our belief too that Christ wished salvation for all people. As St. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians, "announce to the gentiles the good tidings of unfathomable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all peoples to what is the dispensation of the mystery which has been hidden from all eternity through faith in Christ we all can be saved."

Of course salvation, though a gift of God, can be rejected, and good works (meritorious) can be performed as a result of Christ's salvation. Indeed in this modern materialistic world, we must protect the gift of faith with full cooperation. Prayer and sacrifice must be an essential part of our daily life.




The story is told of a man who fell off a mountain cliff. Half-way down the cliff he succeeds in grabbing a branch of a tree. There he is, dangling on the branch, unable to pull himself up yet knowing that letting go of the branch he would definitely fall to his death. Suddenly the man gets an idea. He looks up to heaven and shouts, “Is anyone up there?” A voice comes from heaven, “Yes, I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe in me?” The man shouts back, “Yes, Lord, I believe in you. I really believe. Please help me.” The Lord says, “All right! If you really believe in me you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Now let go of the branch.” The man thinks about it for a moment and then shouts back, “Is anyone else up there?”
Is the man in the story a believer? O course, he is. He believes that God exists. He believes in the power of prayer. He believes that God is able to help him and save him from his predicament. And, yes, he prays to God. But if he truly believes in God as he claims he does, why then does he not take God on His word? Why does he not let go of the branch to which he is clinging for life? Is God not able to save him? Many of us laugh at the story because we can recognize ourselves in this man. We believe in God, but when the going gets tough and things do not work out as we expect we take matters into our own hands or look for help elsewhere. We believe, yes; but we are people of little faith
The apostles too, the gospels tell us, are men of little faith. They believe in Jesus and follow him, but when they see the soldiers approaching in the garden of Gethsemane they abandon Jesus and flee. They are men of little faith. The big difference between us and the apostles is that whereas we often see ourselves as keeping the faith all right, the apostles see themselves as men of deficient faith. They know their faith lacks something. So in today’s gospel, they come to Jesus and say to him, “Lord, Increase our faith!" As the saying goes, he who does not know, and does not know that he does not know, is a fool. But he who does not know, and knows that he does not know, is a wise man. The apostles know that they their faith is not adequate. And they take steps to improve their faith. What steps have we taken in the past one year to develop our faith? How many retreats, seminars or bible study classes have we attended? How many books have we read? These are means through which the Lord increases our faith.
In response to the request of the apostles to increase their faith, Jesus tells them the parable about the unprofitable servant who comes back from plowing the field and proceeds straight away to prepare supper for his master and to wait on him while he eats. Only after the master’s needs are fully satisfied does the master then give the servant leave to attend to his own need for food and rest. How does this parable answer the request of the apostles for an increase of faith? Jesus is saying that if we have mature faith we would put the will and pleasure of God first in our lives at all times. If we have faith we will not grumble and complain that we have been working for God all day long, now we are tired and it is God’s turn to attend to our needs. Rather we will forget ourselves and work ourselves to death in God’s service, knowing that God will come to our aid when and how He deems right.
Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am delivered now or not, I will stick to my belief that God loves and cares for me. This is the mistake of the young man caught in the mountain cliff. He has faith in his own deliverance, not in God infinite power to save and unfailing love for him. God’s unconditional love for us demands only one proper response from us, our unconditional love and service of God. So many of us Christians today believe that true and mature faith consists in our ability to obtain miracles from God. The truth that today’s gospel shows us is that mature faith consists not in how much God attends to our immediate needs but in how willing we are to serve God unconditionally, without counting the cost. Let us today join the apostles in asking the Lord to increase our faith.

posted by Mike Young @ 7:00 AM