It is something of a mystery to me why the Lectionary for Sunday Mass skips the first four verses of chapter seventeen of St. Luke’s Gospel and begins instead with the disciples exclaiming, “Lord, increase our faith.” What had Jesus said or done that elicited this response.
The verses immediately preceding this exclamation report that Jesus speaks thus to his disciples: “He said to his disciples, ‘Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, “I am sorry,” you should forgive him.’”
Seven times! Most of would rather operate on the maxim: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!” However, God, rich in mercy and compassion, expects the same of us. We are to treat those who do wrong to us as we have been treated by God who forgives us each and every time we confess our faults. Indeed, faith in abundance is necessary if we are to live out this command.
The rest of the Gospel passage for today is a parable that doesn’t quite fit into our current experience. Most of us no longer keep servants and slavery is outlawed. Most of us don’t have people waiting on us hand and foot. So the parable about the “worthless servants” seems to be outside our experience.
However, if we look at the truth behind the parable, I think we will find that it can be applied to our own lives. The servants in the Gospel parable are told that they should expect nothing in return for their service because service is expected of them. They are “due nothing.” The same can be said of us. We should not expect that God will shower us with favors because we do what is expected of us. As disciples of Jesus, we are expected to keep the commandments. We are expected to care for the poor. We are expected to put the needs of others before our own needs. All of this is carefully set out in the Gospels. So rather than expect that God will favor us, remember we are “due nothing.” God’s love, mercy, forgiveness and compassion cannot be earned. They are free gifts given unconditionally.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator