The Mustard Seed

The Scripture readings for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/100216.cfmhttp://usccb.org/bible/readings/100216.cfm



We hear in our readings today about faith and fidelity, the power of faith and the power of fidelity which is faith put into action. These readings for today fit into our world today with all the violence we face on a regular basis.

How many of us can relate to Habakkuk in today's first reading? "How long, O LORD? I cry for help
but you do not listen! I cry out to you, 'Violence!'" (Habakkuk 1:2) With all this violence here in the United States and around the world, how many times do we ask the Lord, "When will it end?" We certainly can understand and relate to Habakkuk. It is the prayer of each Sunday. The Lord says three things to Habakkuk. First, the vision, the Kingdom, still has its time. If it delays wait for it. It will surely will come. Second, write it down for all to read. Third, the just man because of his faith in that vision, in the Kingdom, will be saved.

Then in today's Gospel from St. Luke, we hear Jesus teach about faith and service to God. The context is a continuing dialog between Jesus and His followers about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. The two sayings of Jesus in today's Gospel make us wonder about the other side of the story. When the apostles ask, "Lord, increase our faith," are they secretly quite satisfied with their record of faithfulness? Jesus tells them that if they really have faith they can tell a tree what to do, and it will do it! The story about the faithful servant tells us that Jesus' disciples should be grateful to God. We have, after all, done no more than "what we were obliged to do."

Being a disciple of Jesus requires faith, and the apostles were discovering that.  They have been impressed by the assurance that Jesus had, by the way he spoke to God as Father, with conviction and an intimacy that they had not me before.

The disciples wanted to have the same conviction and intimacy; they wanted to see things the way Jesus did and share his outlook. Understandably, they realized that they had a long way to go before hey could know the Father as Jesus did. The disciples  realized that their faith was still week and fumbling. In asking the Lord to increase their faith, the disciples realized that total trust in God can achieve amazing and seemingly impossible things. It's not the quantity of faith, but the kind of faith that matters.

In the second part of the Gospel Luke talks about "What we are obliged to do." We hear of the dutiful servant who is expected to go about ordinary tasks in a responsible, devoted, and self-giving way. The bottom line in this parable is obedience, which is not a means to some reward. You can't expect a reward if all you are doing is your duty.

Luke often uses this role of master and servant/slave to talk about discipleship, faith and faithfulness. It is simply what being an apostle and a disciple are about: faithfulness.

Christ in the Gospel, reminds his followers that they are "the faithful servants of God" and that their humble submission is necessary to grow in faith.

It is easy to say that we have faith in Jesus when everything is going fine. But when there are big problems, crises, calamities, well, things start possibly to change for us and our faith. But Jesus wants us to have faith in Him, even and especially in moments of crisis so that we can triumph over them. The message in the Gospel for today is an invitation to many of us who have found life to be unbearable because God seemed to have abandoned us or God seemed to be silent. Let us humbly pray  to God and say, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Increase my faith!" This is the good news today!