Meditation on the Readings for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time- Being Adapted from a talk for OCIA
Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4; Timothy 1: 6-8, 13-14; Luke 17: 5-10
“But the just one, because of his faith, will live.”
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“When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’ ”
Christ sets a high standard here in this passage from Luke. As in the Parable of the Talents, Christ is not satisfied with urging us to do merely what we are obliged to do. He says, in not quite these words, “do more if you would be a profitable servant.” But this challenge should not discourage us, for he also tells us that faith the size of a tiny mustard seed, that is even a small grain of faith, can accomplish wonders.
Still, the challenge is not an easy one, as the readings from Habakkuk make clear. The prophet cries out, finding God unresponsive. Misery, destruction, ruin, and violence oppress him. An understandable complaint, for he prophesied and wrote when the Neo-Babylonian Empire threatened the independence of Judah, by then all that remained of the Hebrew kingdoms (c 605-597 B.C.). Notice the LORD’s response, “wait for this vision, it will not disappoint.” In the context of this promised vision the LORD also states, “the just one, because of his faith, shall live.”, contrasting such a servant against the rash one who lacks integrity. That is, there are servants of the LORD who wait on the promised vision and those who do not, and all are treated accordingly.
Curiously, perhaps, the Church does not include in today’s readings the content of the vision dictated to the prophet. The book of Habakkuk is three chapters, or fifty-six verses long—I encourage you to read all of it; for our present purposes it suffices that the vision is one of God’s judgement and justice. But, the lesson from today’s readings is not strictly about the vision itself. It is about the faithfulness of God’s just servants. He is the Lord, God, Creator of the universe. We are not. The selection from Habakukk reminds us of a bare minimum of God’s demands on us: wait for the promised (Beatific) Vision. Luke reminds us that Christ himself calls us to more than this minimum and assures us that through faith we can accomplish wonders.
One final note to close this short reflection. Christ does not respond to the apostles’ request to increase their faith with doctrine, propositions, or even the suggestion that he will comply with the request on his own. Rather, he responds with a parable of a master who demands more of an already tired servant. Why? This is not to lay a heavy yoke upon us, but to establish the connection between faith and works. Do more and I will increase your faith. This makes sense. Faith is one of the theological virtues, a gratuitous gift from God by which we believe what he has revealed to us. The more we act on and through this gift, pouring ourselves out, the more God’s grace has room and capacity to fill us. This is what makes us profitable; emptying ourselves by manifesting our faith in actions that God may fill us more and more. If we would increase our faith, then we must live our lives acting upon it. Thus St Paul writes to Timothy, “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. …(B)ear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”
Let us go then, and do likewise.