27th Sunday In Ordinary Time
Bishop of Lake Charles
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
October 3, 2010
27nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Increase our faith.” Luke 17:5
I recall long ago the first time I ever heard someone say to me, “I wish I had faith.” Since then, I have heard others repeat that sentence in those or similar words. The sentiment it expresses puzzled me, because after all, the sentence sounds like a petition — “Lord, give me faith.” If there were at least a little faith, there would be no petition. In many ways it reminds me of the poignant prayer of the man in the Gospel whose son is possessed, and he cries out to the Lord, “I do believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
In the Gospel today the Apostles say to the Lord Jesus, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). The Lord answers, “If you have 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” (Luke 17:6). With exaggeration Jesus makes a very important point. With just a little faith, the unimaginable would be possible. But what does it mean for a mulberry tree to be uprooted?
I have often thought of this when going to God with a petition. We go to God with so many reservations and — I might add — presuppositions. We sometimes bargain with God. We will do this, if God does that. Or we are so certain of what it is we want that we project our will onto God. We say, “This has to be what God wants. God can’t possibly refuse.”
However, the will of God is so immensely larger than we are. God’s will embraces so much, and our little minds cannot possibly fathom it all.
One of the first petitions in that most perfect prayer, the Our Father, is “Thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10). Before we ever ask for “our daily bread” or that our sins be forgiven or that we be delivered from evil, we ask first for God’s will to be done. Fiat voluntas tua. When I pray, I like to repeat that petition to myself in Latin. I do this because saying it in an historic language helps me enter more into the mystery of God’s will. The will of God is indeed a mystery.
This, I think, helps us understand what Jesus says next in the Gospel today. What employer would not expect more of his servant? Would he be grateful if the servant does what he is supposed to do? If we are paying someone to do a job, is there not some expectation that the worker is obligated to an honest day’s work? Jesus puts it this way, “Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?” (Luke 17:9). When all is said and done, the servant can only say, “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do” (Luke 17:10). The mind of the master sees with a broader perspective than the mind of the servant. I would suggest that we bring this attitude to prayer, especially prayer of petition.
Who am I to bargain with God or to presume anything on my part? Isn’t that the lesson of Job? “Faith the size of a mustard seed” is a faith that hands everything over to God because it is His to begin with. “Thy will be done” means that we want what God wants, first and foremost. It does not mean “give me what I want.” Again, we are servants, and being a servant and a creature of God runs so contrary to everything we are taught about self-reliance, being independent, and pursuing our rights. We are taught to be independent, but when is independence taught as a virtue in the Gospels? We are trained to look out for our own interests, our own rights, even to the point of imposing our will on others, but our Lord never spoke about these things as values. Instead, we are told “we are unprofitable servants.” The very word “servant” makes the modern ear cringe because it doesn’t sound “correct.”
“Faith the size of a mustard seed” means we are in the dark. The light is not on, and we walking towards the precipice. We are in no bargaining position. We have no one to depend on and realize our total dependence on God. He is the Father. We are the children, and like children and servants in the ancient world of Jesus’ day, we have few, if any, rights. We can make no demands. Why? Because all is gift. The Father’s love is too generous but cannot penetrate a selfish ego that does not submit to His love and realize how generous He is. A love that is freely given requires a recipient who freely accepts. This requires “faith the size of a mustard seed.”
It is then and only then that we can experience the Father’s immense love for us. His love is unconditional precisely because there can be no conditions placed upon it by us. He freely gives it, and we freely accept it. I am nothing. He is everything.