Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Hab 1:2-3; 2:2-4
Ps 95:1-2, 6-7,8-9
2Tm 1:6-8, 13-14
Lk 17:5-10

“If you’re looking for faith, you’re not going to find it here!!”

If you have come here today, come to Mass with the expectation that you are going to get some faith, you may be disappointed. If you have come here today, dragged yourself out of bed, dragged your children out of bed (kicking and screaming), and expected to get a sudden surge of faith, you may be disappointed. “Uh-oh, I think Father has left the reservation. Don’t we come to Church to get faith?” The apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith. What was his reply? Whatever it was, it certainly was not what they were expecting. Jesus replies, “If you have the faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” And then he goes off into another analogy about a servant coming in from the fields and meeting his master. Jesus neither increases the faith of the apostles nor does he tell them how to increase their faith. “If you have the faith the size of a mustard seed…” tells them how big their faith needs to be, but it doesn’t increase it. I had to google mustard seeds to see how big they really were. They even have pendant necklaces with mustard seeds so that you can wear it around your neck. I don’t know how that is supposed to increase your faith. (Sorry if there’s anyone that does have one, I hope it helps.)

What about the second part of the Gospel? “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’?” What does this have to do with faith? The master expects the servant to serve him well even after a hard day’s labor. And is the Master grateful? Heavens no! The servant is doing what he is expected to do and should not be rewarded for it! Say you are sitting at a nice restaurant and your waiter gets to your table and sits down right next to you. I have to admit it’s a bit awkward to me. No offense to the waiter, but normal convention dictates that I sit with my friends or family and the waiter stands and takes the order. I’m sure the waiter is a really nice person and if I needed a companion to dine with me I would enjoy it very much, but he’s supposed to be serving at table. My point is that the servant has a specific role as servant and when the servant, or the master for that matter, steps out of his or her respective role, it confuses things. Nobody expects you to get up from your meal and start bussing other people’s tables; and even if you did the other employees would not know what to do with the tips. With the understanding that the servant and master are to be doing their respective duty, Jesus tells the apostles to say, “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.” The apostles, at this point, I imagine are quite confused. “If you’re looking for faith, you’re not going to find it here!”

What were the apostles expecting? Were they expecting Jesus to close his eyes, say a few magic words, and for them to suddenly start seeing with the eyes of faith? Were they expecting him to push a button transforming them into perfectly loving people? If Jesus does indeed speak the truth, the answer is there.

Let us look at the reading today from the Book of Habakkuk. It is a short book, only three chapters, but contains a beautiful prophecy. In it, the prophet is crying out to and questioning God for the calamities that had fallen on Israel. He receives an answer in the second chapter, “The rash one has no integrity; but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.” God is telling the people to have patience, not to be rash. There will be a time when things will come to fulfillment, even if it is late, it won’t be too late. Continue to be faithful, continue to be just, keeping the commandments, and live daily in God’s goodness. As one of my professors would say, “We gotta keep on keeping on.” It is an assurance that things will be well and to persevere, even if the present does not seem to show it.

As Paul’s letter to Timothy also reiterates as well, “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control…. Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.” Paul writes in the beginning to “stir into flame” that which Timothy had already received. The coals of his faith are growing cold and it is up to him to stir the coals into flame. Despite all the trials and mishaps that Timothy may be experiencing, Timothy must keep on his ministry and not shy away from it. The graces that come from the Holy Spirit, his bond with the Apostle Paul and his faith and love in Christ Jesus are his fuel to fan the coals into flames of zeal.

The answer, my brothers and sisters, to the apostles’ question is simple: Perseverance in your love. Spouses know that there will be difficult times in marriage, but what keeps the fidelity and love alive is a conscious choice daily to persevere. The same is in our relationship to Our God. We must daily commit to love him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our bodies. This is done daily like the first and second readings tell us. We must have patience, we must use the gifts that God has given us and work daily with an assured hope that the Lord will come to our aide. We must use the wonderful gifts of the sacraments, Holy Scripture, prayer, and the support of our brothers and sisters to stir up our faith. I said at the beginning, “If you are looking for faith, you’re not going to find it here.” And what I meant by it is this: It took faith for you to come here and believe that you are actually performing a work of thanksgiving to God. It took faith for you to even believe that a God exists and to share that with others. It will take faith to believe that the Eucharist that we celebrate and the food and drink that we consume is not bread and wine, but the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ our Lord. The faith should already be in you, however dim it may be. The Mass stirs the coals of faith into flames of love and charity. The Mass only takes and transforms what you bring to the table. If you come here with unbelieving faith, chances are you are going to leave with unbelieving faith. But even a grain of faith will transform one to move mountains and trees. God can and will transform it, but you have to have something there for him to work with.

But what of the Gospel, for us to continue to wait at the master’s table after toiling in the fields; and Jesus’ last words for us to say, “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.”? My brothers and sisters, when we can say those words with the true humility, recognizing with heads bowed that we are truly unworthy to receive him. When we can do that, we will lift our eyes to the altar of God here before you, and see his loving eyes and his welcoming arms extended out - an invitation to sit at his table with him and partake in the holiest and most sacred of meals that you will ever consume.