October 4, 2004
Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4 + 2 Timothy 1:6-8,13-14 + Luke 17:5-10
The plea of the apostles: “Increase our faith.” almost overshadows the rest of these gospel verses in which Jesus shares his vision of the great reversal that will be found when the reign of God begins.Perhaps those apostles were beginning to catch on.We have skipped over some heavy stuff between last week’s Gospel and today’s.There was serious instruction on the gravity of causing another to sin,and on the necessity for forgiving others.With that behind them, and the vision Jesus proposes ahead of them,it is not surprising that these disciples cry out.As always, they fall into the trap of thinking that more is better,and in a sense, the response of Jesus is to suggest that the quality of their faith is more important than the quantity.
However, it is this vision and the challenge of the great reversal that deeply disturbs these apostles and gives them reason to acknowledge their need for Faith.
A master and a slave are put before us with the suggestion that when the reign of God begins, the roles shall be reversed. How you feel about that certainly depends on whether you see yourself as master or as slave. If you are living the life of a slave, the reign of God will come with relief and the joy of finally being at rest and being served by others. If you are living the life of the master, the reign of God will come with some surprises that might be a bit unpleasant.
The vision of Jesus gives us reason to join in the cry of the apostles. When this Gospel is proclaimed in the western world, in “developed” nations of wealth and power, it speaks to people who are accustomed to being the “masters.” Most of what we have and want is available to us because the master/slave distinction is still working to our advantage. Talk of peace in this part of the world , and visions of peace are nothing more than a silly fantasy if we fool ourselves into thinking that “peace” means that everyone stop fighting and go back to work. What Jesus proposes is that the reign of God, which is the only real peace we can hope for, will come when that master/slave distinction is finished and we all sit down at the table of God’s bounty together. Prayers for peace when answered may not find us in power, in control, or having all the wealth and stuff money can buy.
When we pray for the Kingdom to come, we ought to give serious thought about how this might happen and what it may look like. It is probable that we may have less in order for others to have more. In order for most of the world to be fed, we might not be able to have three cars, or maybe even two. In order for there to be a roof over every head every night, we might not be able to have six or seven empty rooms in our homes.
I believe that the apostles were beginning to get the point, and thoughts like these were beginning to go through their minds. They were beginning to see that the reign of God was going to be different than they had thought.
Now they lived in a world and with a faith that held to the notion that wealth and power, doing good works and avoiding evil brought merit and somehow could get more good things out of God. They really did believe that God owed them rewards for being “good.” The news Luke has to share is that there is no special merit to be had from simply doing what is commanded. Keeping the rules is not enough, and God doesn’t owe us anything.
That Old Testament prophet, Habakkuk suggests that we must live by faith if we are to live the vision, and so we might well join the prayer of the apostles.The increase we need however lies in richness and depth; a faith rooted in hope, and able to endure in the face of suffering and delay.
We pray for a faith grounded on the bedrock of fortitude, a source of strength when we might be tempted to grow weary, and losing heart, yield to the “spirit of cowardice” that Timothy warns us against.We pray for a faith that will lead us into the mysterious ways of God’s Holy Wisdom no matter how dark and winding the path may seem.That kind of faith will open us to be transformed by grace and begin to share in the vision of Jesus: a vision that sees us as servants, slaves;people who use what they have for the service of the Master,rather than for the privilege of having even more.Less concerned with having more,we might then be focused on what to do with what we have.When that begins, we will have faith enough to see ourselves into the reign of God.