Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, “Come here at once and take your place at the table”? Would you not rather say to him, “Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink”? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!” Luke 17:7-10
It is strange that this teaching is connected with the initial plea of an apostle; “Increase our faith”. It seems like Jesus is completely changing the subject instead addressing this initial request. He also uses some complicated words for our modern ears. The word, “slave”, can be explained away by the historical context but the use of the word, “worthless”, is quite disturbing. Jesus, throughout his ministry reminded us that we are precious to the Father and, now, He seems to contradict Himself saying that we are worthless slaves. Perhaps the only way we can escape this dilemma is to reflect on faith and its nature. Then maybe we can have a better understanding of this whole teaching.
We will start with the nature of faith. It is a difficult question to answer and almost every answer is never fully satisfying. Sometimes critics of religion think that faith is believing something that is illogical and absurd. Some religious people also say this. However, there is a big difference between faith and belief. There are many things I believe and most of them have no bearing on my daily life. In fact, sometimes a lot of atheists believe in the most ridiculous conspiracy theories and non scientific nonsense. Even then, their lifestyle is hardly effected by their beliefs. Faith differs from this because it is transformative. It is life-changing.
In the gospels, it seems like faith involves trusting God to do the impossible. Perhaps this is the intention of the request of the apostle. He wanted Jesus to help the apostles do the impossible. Jesus does not correct the apostles. Therefore, we may conclude that they were right in thinking this way. We need faith to receive something beyond our capacity as human beings. Jesus teaches that the faith we possess is sufficient. God does not require much from us but only to act on what He has given us.
Often times many claim that they have little faith. The truth is all of us have very little faith. Apparently, it doesn’t matter. It is enough to uproot a mulberry tree and plant it in the sea. I had to look up mulberry tree. I discovered that mulberry tree is common here in Brazil especially in our city. I have known it by its Portuguese name. It produces fruits which look like black berries. It is a favorite among our homeless youth. The problem is that the fruits are high up in the branches and most of the times our young people are not able to get to them. They would prefer to have faith to get to the fruits. However, it is interesting that Jesus used an example that is concretely present in our reality. It also teaches us something about faith. It does something concrete and real in our lives, it is not wishful thinking as some of our critics would like to imply.
In our daily lives, we have very little need to move mountains and uproot trees. I have seen my brother-in-law effectively remove a tree with a chainsaw without saying a single prayer. Faith has a higher purpose than doing these mundane things. It awakens our souls to search for something better, richer, and greater than what is presented to us in this world. This awareness is not mere knowledge. It is what Jesus said in the beatitudes,
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6
Seeking righteousness is not about doing the right thing but about being set right in our existence. Our souls recognize that something essential is missing in our lives. We know that this something lies beyond us but our faith implanted in our soul by God gives us the conviction that we can find it. There are people who claim that they don’t have any faith. These say so because they think that faith is associated with belief and they find it hard to believe something which does not speak to their souls. Faith uses a language of symbolism. Sometimes these symbols fail to stir the faith of the person. The problem is that there are many inadequate and misleading symbols present in this world. They all attempt to seduce our souls into believing that they can satisfy the longing of our faith. In our prayer, instead of asking God to increase our faith, it would be more helpful if we ask for spiritual maturity and discernment.
“For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:13-14
Our faith stirs our soul to seek for meaning and significance in this life. Sometimes we can put our faith in the wrong things. However, one thing is for sure, we cannot find peace and harmony in our lives until we discover the true object of our faith.
Most traditional churches including the Anglican Church commemorate the feast day of St Francis. He is very popular figure in Western Christianity but does not hold a prominent place in the Eastern Christian circles. Our homeless youth only know of him through the ministry of the Franciscan friars here. The ministry of St Francis is seen more than heard here. Perhaps this is the way he desired.
St Francis had a simple faith and he used it effectively to remove many mountains in his path. Before this, his faith or search for fulfillment led him to wrong places and decisions. However, he was always attentive to the gentle voice of his faith. He eventually overcame his first mountain which was his family wealth. It gave him access to wrong and misleading illusions. Then he overcame his own personal aversions to the simple life. Without wealth, he was condemned to a life of simplicity. He overcame his aversions by serving a leper. He showed compassion to a leper who had repulsive sores. He wanted to see this leper the way God saw him. Throughout his life, his faith continued to help him overcome many mountains and trees until he was able to see God’s presence in the simplest of things of nature. Finally, just before his death, his faith helped him to discern his own pride of having founded a religious order. He wanted to control its direction and learned to give up this control. There was never a moment in St Francis’ life where he believed that he had fully discovered God’s love and presence in its entirety. His mustard sized faith helped him overcome obstacles along his spiritual path until he found the true purpose of his life.
At the end of his life, he realized that he was just a worthless slave who was privileged to be part of something great God is doing in this world. St Francis’ faith did not add or subtract to any of God’s actions. His worthiness was not increased by his participation in God’s work. St Francis understood, through his faith, that he was invited to participate because God loved him. Our Father loved Him not because of anything he achieved but because he is a precious child of God and consequently St Francis’ eyes were also opened to see those around him as precious children of God.
This is what a faith the size of a mustard seed is able to do. We have this faith. God has given it to us. We don’t need more faith. We just need to put it to use where we are. All we need to do now is to remove the mountains and trees hindering us from discerning God’s unconditional love present in this world.
