Luke 17:5-10

How is it that ‘faith’ has come to mean believing something unwarranted, as though faith is intellectual acceptance of a proposition with no proof? This kind of view tends toward seeing faith as irrational. But faith is not groundless. Faith might look at the world differently than those without faith, but that doesn’t make faith groundless. I find Christian faith more rational than atheism. Not only does faith allow me to put reality together differently, it also allows me to have a greater, broader, and deeper view of reality. Faith, in the best sense of the word, is entirely rational. In my opinion, those who think otherwise have shortened their reality.

The other strange thing that has happened to faith is its reduction down to intellectual assent. Human intellect is a beautiful thing, and faith includes intellectual assent, but faith is more than intellectual assent. Take today’s reading about faith (the size of a mustard seed). The disciples aren’t asking for an increase in assent of intellectual propositions. Faith includes the mind, but also the heart; and it includes hope, and love, gracefulness, joy, peace, self-restraint, and duty. I think of faith as more like a way of being human: seeking to become the image of Jesus.

Immediately preceding Luke 17:5-10 (verses 1-4) Jesus tells the disciples that there will be interpersonal trouble in their community, so beware.  (vv. 1-3) And, if in this trouble amongst us, another disciple offends us, we can rebuke that person. And if that person repents, we must forgive. Even seven times daily, we must forgive. (vv. 3-4). And it is then, after this teaching from Jesus, that the apostles ask Jesus to increase their faith. Is this a response to the command to forgive rather than an unrelated saying of Jesus on a new topic of teaching? My reaction to the teaching of Jesus about forgiveness is to feel inadequate to the task. So, it is not that far a stretch to think that the disciples are asking for an increase in faith so as to be able to forgive their brothers and sisters in Christ. Faith is more than intellectual assent. It also about having the strength, humility, and grace to forgive consistently.

And what are we to make of Jesus’ response to the request of an increase in faith? “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed …”  Is his response to be read as affirming that, although the disciples’ faith is minute, it is ample to obey his command to forgive? Probably. Or is Jesus agreeing that the disciples don’t have the faith to forgive others as he commands? (They don’t even have faith the size of a mustard seed!) That is, they do indeed need an increase of faith. Possibly. If we read Jesus’ answer this way, it points beyond the disciples’ current lack of faith to a time when they and their faith will transform them and the world around. And that transformation will come via the cross and resurrection of Jesus. 

Either way, the narrative continues in our reading to the teaching about slaves and their master. What should we make of this? It is almost like Jesus is telling his disciples not to be puffed up with pride when their faith is able to do great things. “If you do end up doing extraordinary things through your faith, don’t expect a reward. You are doing what is expected of you.” In other words, faith is not our doing, something we can take credit for and should be rewarded for by God. Faith, even the size of a mustard seed, is a gift, and as a gift we use it as our master directs.

And finally, the narrative continues on with the story of Jesus healing ten lepers. Of the ten, only one returns to give thanks, and he was a Samaritan. There is, perhaps, a thread of meaning appearing in these consecutive chunks in the story of Jesus. It could go something like this:

 

Luke 17:1-3 

Beware of trouble in the community of faith.

 

Luke 17:3-4

 And remember, forgiveness, even excessive forgiveness is the way of discipleship.

 

Luke 17:5-6

The disciples: “We need more faith to do that Jesus!”

 

Luke 17:7-10

 And when our faith does transform and change the world, don’t expect a greater reward as though God owes you something. Faith is a gift, not a possession.

 

Luke 17: 11-19

A better response when we find ourselves with faith, or are the recipients of the transformation of faith, be thankful.

Luke 16:1-13

This might be the most difficult parable of Jesus to interpret. It is just not that clear what we should make of it. 

• Most people object to the dishonesty of the manager. And yet he is praised by his Lord! 

• And is God a character in the parable? Most probably see the rich man as God, so is Jesus the (dishonest) manager? 

• Or perhaps we should go with the interpretation in 16:8-9 and see ourselves as the manager. “I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” This does at first glance solve some of the problems. Except the parable encourages to use other people’s mammon! What about our own mammon of unrighteousness? If that were the point – to use our own mammon of unrighteousness – the parable doesn’t say it. We have to make (a not unreasonable) jump. The point is that perhaps the parable was originally about something else than our use of mammon. 

• And the first moral drawn by Jesus from the parable (16:8b) isn’t the moral drawn in 16:9. It is almost like the parable had a life before 16:9 was added. 

• And what is being praised by the master? The manager’s shrewdness, and specifically his shrewdness in using what belongs to the Lord (that is, the debts owed). Might the parable originally have been about forgiveness? We could say that Jesus is praising the way people use mammon for their own benefit. Disciples should do likewise, but the benefit is to enter the kingdom. This teaching to use wealth to secure an eternal home is similar to the teaching of Jesus at Lk 12:33-34. He says we should make purses for ourselves in heaven by giving alms. 

• The manager responds to the crisis with ingenuity in the hope that he will be remembered favourably by those he is helping. And surprisingly, he is praised by his Lord, even though he continued to misuse his Lord’s wealth! (Most listeners when Jesus first spoke this parable wouldn’t have seen that coming.) So, what conclusion might we draw? 

First, Luke has this parable and its interpretation in 16:9 continue his teaching on the danger of a divided heart. Recognising the tendency of the human heart to make wealth into mammon, Jesus teaches us to use our wealth in such a way that we do not divide our hearts and wealth cannot become mammon and an impediment in our love of God. 

Another, second, conclusion might also be possible. If the parable did circulate not as a parable about mammon and its use, what might it have been about originally? Acting shrewdly with our own generation? (Lk 16:8b) But we don’t get anything more to add to this. Perhaps the parable might have been about forgiveness. (The parable immediately before is the Prodigal Son). The surprising element of the parable is that the Lord praises the ingenuity of the manager in forgiving debts when propriety dictates opprobrium. That sounds like Jesus and the Law: according to his opponents Jesus misused God’s Law. He forgave what only God could forgive, and perhaps he did so too easily. 

The parables of Jesus can be a little too commonplace for those who have digested them over time. His parables still remain a challenge, even if some of  the shock has been lost. But not with this parable of the Unjust Manager. We are still a little shocked - perhaps shown in our confusion - that the Master praises dishonesty, even if the guy is shrewd. All the parables can still be like this for us. We just need to hear them afresh, occasionally. And let the shock jolt us into a new perspective. Even if only a bit. 

The Found Parables – Sheep and Coins (Luke 15:1-10)

God desires all people to be saved. (1Timothy 2:4; 2Peter 3:9) No favourites. But how does that work with Israel as the Chosen People? Whatever it might mean, it doesn’t mean that Israel is chosen to the exclusion of everyone else. It might mean that all those who are saved will be included into Israel, but that is a different thing to saying that that the Chosen People are a small elite of the saved. The purpose of God choosing the people of Israel was not to specify a small band of people for salvation to the exclusion of all the other nations of the earth. The Chosen People were chosen to bring a blessing to all the families of the world (Genesis 12:1-3) And this universal love culminates in Jesus. Jesus is not a change in course; he is the completion of that original choosing narrated in Genesis 12. And in his life, death and resurrection he becomes the invitation to all people.

The invitation that delivered went out to all those who had ears to listen. Many rejected the call, and often these people were those who thought they were already included in the Chosen People. (Think of the opposition to Jesus displayed by the Pharisees and others in the Gospels.) But many did not reject Jesus. And, often, these were those least expected to be invited or accept the invitation. (The poor, the lame, the blind, see Luke 7:22; 14:21) And still there was room in the banquet! (To steal from a parable from Jesus about this very point. See Luke 14:15-24) So, those who, the Chosen People agreed, could never be invited, gained a guernsey to the banquet. (To borrow from Australian slang.)

This universalism continued in the church. Baptism was offered to all people, not an elite. There were no preferred candidates: all were sought out, to the very ends of the earth. (See especially Matthew 28:19; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11) But there were other religious views that infected the church and attempted to subvert the universal call to salvation. Their agenda was elitist, and restricted the fullness of God’s love to a select few. Here is the parable of the Lost Sheep from the Gospel of Thomas. (A second century Gnostic Gospel.)

Gospel of Thomas, Saying 107. 

 Jesus said: The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep; one of them, the biggest, went astray; he left (the) ninety-nine (and) sought after the one until he found it. After he had laboured, he said to the sheep: I love you more than the ninety-nine.

That’s not the good news of Jesus. The religious impulse behind this distortion was successfully opposed in the second century A.D. But it is a useful contrast between an elitism that distorts the gospel and the universal call to salvation that is embedded in the whole Jesus event.

And just to show how far that distortion is from the good news, the trajectory of scripture and the tradition that follows it is to say that we are all lost! Not just the preferred sheep, but all of us. And all of us are being searched out by Jesus. (There aren’t any 99 righteous left behind!) But even then, the Gospel is sure that God doesn’t love the lost more than any who might still consider themselves in no need of repentance).

At the end of each of the parables in Luke 15:1-10, it is repeated that there is more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance. (Luke 15:7, 10) That doesn’t mean God loves the repentant sinner more. The repentant sinner might love God more than the unrepentant righteous person, but that is a different matter. (See Luke 7:47-48)

There are no favourites. God wants all to be saved. But equally, there are none who are beyond salvation. God’s desire is not easily thwarted. That’s why we have Jesus, crucified and risen.

Reflection on Forgiveness (Mustard Seeds 7)

Ann Nadge, a poet I know, has distilled some of the posts from this blog into poetry. She has used my words verbatim, captured the essence of the post, and moulded it into a poet's vision. 

This poem consists of verbatim fragments from an original post on 13 February, 2021.

Reflection on Forgiveness.

 

As we head to forgiveness

and grow into the full stature of Christ….

Where am I in all of this?

Am I ready to 'die' to whatever

has brought me to be so offended?

Not a call to attack oneself, rather,

an invitation to self-understanding.

 

Sometimes there is a remainder -

no simple forgetting, no easy

moving on as though it 'doesn't matter'.

When understanding, empathy,

do not cover the sin, we have

entered the realm of forgiveness,

its asymmetry, not deserved,

not earned, not a reciprocal

coming down off our high horses

and meeting somewhere in the middle.

It is full of grace. 

 

Forgiveness costs us-

reconciliation where there is

human alienation, is neither easy nor cheap.

Grace is always costly. We should not

separate the two, cross and resurrection.

The forgiving victim of sin

offers forgiveness and sends disciples

to proclaim repentance, forgiveness of sins.

This is God and God's way:

complete embrace of what is not divine,

bringing reconciliation.

Lent is a Season of Repentance

 Lent is the season of truth. And this through repentance. And by repentance I don't mean the human effort to clear the decks of the bad things we have done so we can have a relationship with God. That would mean that we don't need God when we are at our lowest. The Gospel is that we are saved at our lowest ebb. That's why it is grace and why it is freedom. But, if Lent is the season of repentance, does that mean we are spending six weeks finding misdemeanours to repent of? That's part of it, of course, but that sounds more like the work of private or congregational confession and absolution. So repentance is the confession, with a truly penitent heart, that "I did this."  But it is more also. Repentance includes digging down and recognising and acknowledging who we truly are. What we really are like. Deep down. In our fears. In our malice, in our egotism, etc. To be able to say, at the end of Lent, "So, I'm like this" is the goal. 

So repentance is also about who we are, not just what we did or didn't do. Perhaps even more about the who rather than the what. And in recognising who we are, we touch our deep need for God and who God is calling us to be. (There is a parallel here to sin as not just actions or omissions. Sin also refers to the distortions that live in me that need healing.) And, so, this is why Lent is about the truth. The truth about ourselves. (And remember, we do this with God's love and acceptance with us now, as we come to face the truth.) The one who God desires is you and me, as we actually are, not a fictionalized version. Let us reacquaint ourselves with our true self this Lent.