Proper 22 -- Lamentations 1:1-6; Psalm 137; II
Timothy 1:1-14; Luke
17:5-10
A homily by Fr. Gene
Tucker, given at Trinity
Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, October 6, 2013.
“FAITH ENABLES WORK, WHICH ENABLES FAITH”
(Homily text: Luke 17:5-10)
A few years
ago, I was able to attend the Fire Museum of Maryland’s Open House, which was
held, that year, on the first Saturday in May.
My older granddaughter, Mira, came along. As it turned out, it was a beautiful, sunny,
warm day in early May, perfect weather for the parade of horse-drawn fire
equipment that wound its way through the parking lot outside the museum. Many pieces of their massive collection of
fire-fighting apparatus were on display, and in action, that day.
A parade of
beautiful draft horses pulled various pieces of 19th century
equipment past us. In particular, three
Percheron horses pulled a water tower, which dates from the 1890s. The image of these three massive horses
sticks in my mind.
Inside the
museum, one of the six steam-powered pumpers in the museum’s collection is
rigged up to show how the horses’ harnesses were suspended from the
ceiling. The ingenious set-up allowed
the harnesses to be lowered onto the horses once they were in position, and the
fastening of just a few buckles ensured that they were ready to run at a full gallop
out of the fire house.
Confirming
this image was an early video (silent, of course) of the process in action…as
the alarm bell rung, the horses were brought to the front of the engine. Their hooves were already moving up and down
in anticipation of leaving the fire house at full gallop. Sure enough, once the signal had been given,
and the brakes were released, they took off, pulling the steamer behind them,
leaving a trail of smoke as they raced down the street to the scene of the
fire.
Stories are
told of these fire horses, that, as they were eventually retired and put out to
pasture, whenever they heard the dinner bell on the farms where they were living,
their ears would perk up at the sound of the call of the bell.
We would
all admit that a horse is a lot different from us humans, I am sure.
For one
thing, whenever the bell rang in the fire house, these horses were ready to
go. They knew what the sound of the bell
meant…it meant action.
For
another, they wouldn’t have complained that they didn’t want to go on this new
alarm, because they’d been out two hours earlier answering another alarm. Their training and background ensured that
they’d answer the alarm, whenever it went off, regardless of what had happened
earlier in the day.
It’s
possible that human beings might respond differently, when the call to action
comes.
If we are
well rested, we might be ready to jump at the chance to respond to the needs at
hand. On the other hand, if we are
tired, or have already expended some energy on another mission or project, we
might object that yet another call has come which demands our response.
In other
words, we are often hampered by our own cognizance of our physical, mental and
emotional state of being at any given time.
It is these aspects of the human condition, I
believe, that the Lord is addressing as He lays out his parable about the slave
who is called to serve, and then to serve again.
As we look
at today’s gospel text, we might ask if Jesus’ first comment, made in response
to His disciples’ request for an increased faith, is connected at all to His
parable about the slave’s service to his master.
Most commentators think that they are related,
one thought leading into the other directly.
I share this view.
So, let’s
look at the disciples’ request, and Jesus’ response.
First of
all, the disciples are to be commended for their desire to have an increased
faith. Perhaps there are few other
prayers that deserve more credit for having been offered to God, than a prayer to
have an increased faith.
But note
that Jesus’ response seems designed to provoke thought and contemplation. (They often do!).
Jesus tells
them that, if they only had a small amount of faith (faith as small as a mustard
seed), they could tell a mulberry tree (the Revised Standard Version translates
the plant as a “sycamine tree”) to be uprooted and to be cast into the
sea. In other words, Jesus is telling
the disciples that, if they have faith, they can do anything, even the
seemingly impossible.
Then Jesus
leads them into the parable about the servant.
Here, Jesus paints a picture of a servant who’s been out working in the
field. Once those chores are done and
the servant has come into the house, the servant’s master makes another demand
of the servant. “Thanks” isn’t part of
the relationship between master and servant.
No, this is all about duty, the servant’s duty to the master.
The
servant’s role, Jesus affirms, is to be thankful to be in the master’s service
in the first place. That is reward enough.
Being in the master’s service makes it possible for the master’s vision
for the work that needs to be done to be accomplished.
Now, the
question arises: “How does Jesus’
comment about faith relate to His parable about being a servant?”
Perhaps
they fit together this way:
Jesus makes
it clear that faith will enable God’s people to succeed at anything they set
about to do. Of course, though it is not
in this text, the overall witness of the Bible tells us that whatever we set
about to do, so long as it is in accordance with God’s will, will succeed.
This point
leads us to the parable of the servant.
The
servant, in Jesus’ story, faithfully does what the master tells him to
do…plowing the field, then serving at table.
By
faithfully serving, the servant’s faith in the master’s ability to set the
agenda and to ensure success, is built up…..
The truth
involved here has to do with the master’s ability to see the whole picture of
things and to make wise decisions about how to proceed…..this ability is
greater than that of the servant, whose concentration must be fixed on the
tasks at hand (plowing the field, serving at table).
A timeless
truth is at work here: We are grounded
in faith by virtue of having lived our lives in God’s grace and in God’s
sight. Our past experience with God’s
ability to see the larger scope of things enables us to faithfully follow His
leading in the present. Success follows
on success, and our faith is built up in the process as God’s wisdom and
insight prove to be worthy of our trust.
Faithful
following negates any idea that we can earn favor with God, or that we deserve
rewards for our efforts, done in God’s name.
Here we are dealing with the downside of having been created in the
image and likeness of God, for we human beings can begin to think that we can
set the agenda, and that we can ensure success.
We human beings can begin to think that God “owes” us something for our work.
Today’s
parable sets aside any such an idea. No,
we are called to be faithful servants, who do our duty because the master has
called us into His service. By so doing,
working faithfully in response to God’s commands, God’s will and God’s work
gets done in this world which He loves so dearly and completely.
