Hi everyone, welcome again to the podcast.
Today the reading you will hear at mass that we're going to dive
into is one that you might not have heard before or perhaps you
haven't. Haven't heard for a while.
It's sort of in this part of Luke, that sometimes gets a bit,
neglected. So we'll read today's reading
and then we'll have a go at doing a verse by verse exegesis
This over to try and help you understand what the author was
trying to communicate to the original audience.
So Luke chapter 17 verses 5 to 10, The apostles said to the
Lord, increase our faith, the Lord replied.
Were your faith, the size of a mustard seed.
You could say to this mulberry, tree, be uprooted and planted in
the sea and it would obey you Which of you with a servant
plowing or minding sheep, would say to him when he returned from
the fields come and have your meal immediately, would he not
bought the more likely to say, get my supper laid, make
yourself tidy and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You can eat and drink yourself afterwards.
Must he be grateful to the servant for doing what he was
told. So with you, when you have done
all you have been told to do say, we are merely servants, we
have done no more than our duty. So that's our reading for today,
an interesting section here where Jesus is telling the
apostles about the importance of doing their Duty as the leaders
of the church. So we want to start by thinking
about the context. So Jesus is moving From Galilee.
He's getting closer to Day off for the Final Phase of his
ministry. And along the way, he's doing
Ministry and speaking to the crowds.
And he's just been speaking to the apostles in particular.
So keep in mind, the audience here, he's speaking primarily to
The Twelve Apostles. He's been speaking to them about
how the need to treat other members of the church.
Well, particularly he's been highlighting that they need to
forgive other members of the church.
And also, on the other hand, they need to avoid Scandal.
So those are things he's mentioned already.
Now in verse 5, the Apostle said to the Lord increase our faith.
So it looks like the apostles here are pretty amazed at what
Jesus has just said, they're quite challenged by the high
expectations is given them and the apostles.
Now have this desire to have more faith in order to carry out
his instructions. So that's actually a good thing
that they want more faith. The Lord replied, were your
faith, the size of a mustard seed.
Now, the Mustard Seed was the smallest known seed in that area
of the world. So what Jesus is sort of saying
here is even if you have the smallest possible Faith.
So that's what he said. So far you could say to this
mulberry tree or another translation, here is sicker
mindtree. So this is quite a large tree,
it had an extensive root system, so it was actually very hard to
pull up. So the idea is you've got the
smallest possible known seed, and then a very large tree.
That's very hard to pull out of the grout.
Those are the two contrasts where your faith the size.
Size of a mustard seed. You could say to this mulberry
tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea and it would obey you.
There's a few interesting things going on here, so there's no sea
near where Jesus was speaking, so and also the sick of mine
trees don't grow in the sea. So when Jesus has this imagery
of telling the cinnamon tree to be uprooted and planted in the
sea, it's basically an impossible task.
It's quite remarkable to imagine a sycamore tree growing in the
sea. Supposed to be, he's giving them
His image of something. That's basically impossible.
It's a form of Hyperbole and it's actually one of Jesus
favorite sayings. Jesus often says, if he had
Faith the size of a mustard seed, the point of it is it's
about the power of Faith. Jesus has picked an example of
something, which is amazing and impossible, and it's important
to emphasize. Jesus doesn't literally mean
that the apostles could command a tree to move.
Having said that, we can't rule that out.
It's possible that with the Power of the Holy Spirit.
The apostles could do that but that's probably not primarily
what Jesus means. He's not saying that they could
literally command a tree to move.
His just setting up an example here, a kind of a hyperbole
Jesus. Main point is that even a small
amount of genuine faith will enable God to do great Miracles
through them which would otherwise be impossible.
That's the point. He's showing them that they can
do impossible things if they have genuine faith, So, Jesus
responds to your could be interpreted to mean something
like this, you already have enough Faith now, go and use it.
So it's sort of a challenge to them or maybe he's hoping that
his disciples will have true Faith.
It's expressing Jesus, own desire, that his Apostles will
develop that Faith. You could interpret it either
way there, notice that Jesus is speaking to the apostles in
particular. Jesus teaching here appears to
be that if the apostles as the church leaders have genuine
faith There are no barriers to God, doing his work through
them. So any Miracle will be possible.
So it's particularly in the context of Jesus speaking to his
future church leaders. He wants them to have complete
faith in God, so that God is able to do work through them as
leaders of the church. So we get to verse 7 now.
And Jesus is going to build on this in quite an interesting
way, which of you with the servant plowing or minding
sheep. So let's stop there.
And think about what Jesus has said so far why has he brought
Up servants on a farm. Well, it was pretty common in
that cult. In this agricultural culture for
them. To either live on farms or no
servants, who worked on farms. And if you did work on a farm,
if you were a farm servant, there were certain things you
would do. Now, these were paid servants,
it's not the kind of slaves that you might think of.
In 21st century. These are paid servants who work
on the farm and they have certain tasks to do for the
people who own the farm. So, Jesus says, which of you
with a servant plowing or minding sheep, So he sort of
imagining that there they are the Masters, the apostles, and
the Masters, who owned the farm, which of you would say to your
servant when he returned from the fields come and have your
meal immediately. Now, the whole point is, they
wouldn't do that. You wouldn't say to your servant
when he got back come and have your meal immediately.
That's not how that Society worked verse 8.
Jesus says, would he not be more likely to say, get my supper
laid? Make yourself tidy and wait on
me while I eat and drink? You can eat and drink yourself.
Afterwards now sounds a bit harsh, but that's actually how
it worked in that culture. It wasn't considered to be harsh
treatment of the servant. It was just that they knew their
place in society when the servant came in from working.
He would then put on his Butler's gear if you like, and
then wait on the master. Help repair the Masters food.
Wait, till the master had finished eating before the
servant himself? Got to, which, that was just the
way things were done. Everyone's place in society, and
in the home, it was very clear in that culture.
Jesus is just saying, isn't this the way things work?
That's his point. Now he uses in verse 8 he uses
this phrase, make yourself tidy and what that basically means is
good yourself. Make yourself ready.
So the image here would be of the servant putting on his way
to his gear to help serve the master.
Verse 9 must he be grateful for what he was doing for doing what
he was told. We can translate that as does
he? Thank the servant because he did
what was commanded. Now this is a rhetorical
question. The answer is no, the master
does not. Not have to thank the servant
for doing what he was told for doing what he was paid to do.
That's not how the master. The servant Master relationship
worked. The master gave the servant
instructions, the servant did what he was told, that's just
how it works. So we're getting out a verse 10
where Jesus makes his point. He says, so with you or so, you
also. So he's about to give them
meaning he wants his disciples to take away.
Now at this point, imagine he's speaking to the apostles, the
apostles are probably thinking that in this kind of mini
Parable, they The master rush but Jesus is going to turn it on
his head here. When you have done, all you have
been told to do or you can translate that as all that is
commanded of you. The reference here is to God's
Commandments particularly the ones which Jesus has given to
the apostles during his ministry all the way through.
He's been telling his Apostles when you're the leaders of the
church, you're going to need to do this and this.
So notice he's treating them as the servants in the parable,
right? When you have been when you have
done all, You have been told to do say, we are merely servants,
we have done no more than our duty.
That's Jesus instructions. Here he wants the apostles.
When they've done all the been commanded to do his Apostles,
they should simply say. We have done.
No more than we have been told to do so, interesting teaching
here, isn't it? We are merely servants or we can
translate that as we are unworthy servants.
We have only done what was our duty.
It's an interesting point and it appears to be Jesus teaching his
Apostles that they should follow God's commands without
complaint. And without a sense of
entitlement, Soooo. He can sort of sense that
they're starting to get this sense of entitlement of
thinking, we're going to be the leaders of the church,
everyone's going to serve us. It's going to be great.
And we know particularly from the gospel of Matthew that they
do start to think along these lines.
So Jesus is telling them what true service is they need to do.
It's commanded off them as leaders of the church and what
Jesus expects of them as Leaders, with our complaint.
And without a sense of entitlement, they should not
expect praise or reward from God for fulfilling his basic
commands. So, Commanded to do things like
spread, the message of the Kingdom Shepherd, God's people
serve, God's people. Those are their commands, they
shouldn't get a sense of entitlement.
They shouldn't expect that God is going to be in their debt for
doing these things. So Jesus is kind of putting the
apostles back in their place here, he's telling them, they
need to be ready to serve others, not for others to serve
them. You can look at it this way, the
work of the Apostles is very important but it's not beyond
the call of the Christian Duty and they should not expect they
themselves. They can't fully repay God for
the gifts that God has given to them.
So, in other words, he's teaching the apostles that you
can't put God in your debt, so don't expect that to happen.
The context here, might shed a bit of light on this because
remember the Apostle's have just asked Jesus to give them a
special Faith, they said, increase our faith.
So maybe here Jesus might be trying to teach the apostles
patience and perseverance. Maybe he's saying to them.
They need to do their Duty as Apostles before.
They can have this great faith that they're looking for.
So possibly, there's a connection between what has just
come before. This overall Jesus is telling
his Apostles particularly and maybe his disciples all of his
disciples by extension, his giving them a sobering teaching
that they should not become proud of their status as
disciples or consider themselves to be special in the The Eyes Of
God for fulfilling his basic commands, rather their focus
should be on serving other Christians, in order to truly
serve God in the way that he wants them to.
So, it appears that Jesus is doing kind of, he's stopping
them from getting a big ego for serving God.
He doesn't want them to feel selfish or special because that
they are may have certain roles of leadership in the church that
appears to be what's going on here.
He's saying, look in the end, really your servants.
God has given you command. And Through Me, Jesus and your
the expectation is that you will follow those without getting a
big head. Remember that you are servants.
Now, we also need to balance this with other things, Jesus
says, because as, you know, elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus
does indicate the Christians who consistently work Faithfully for
God will be rewarded in the next life.
In fact, she's just been saying that in Luke chapter 16.
So in this case I think we can say with a reasonable degree of
confidence. His Speaking to his Apostles
particularly maybe his other leading disciples by extension
his warning, them against getting proud in their role as
God's leaders in the church. Hopefully, you find that
exegesis somewhat helpful. It's an interesting text.
So if you want to hear the next section of text here that will
be verses 11 through 219. You can hear that on Wednesday,
if week, 32 in ordinary time or if you're listening to this on
Sunday you'll probably hear it next Sunday as So let's finish
today with just one catechism paragraph, which is from
paragraph 162 which is about the necessity of persevering in
faith. See if you can hear the echo of
this passage here, faith is an entirely free gift that God
makes to man. We can lose this Priceless gift
as Saint Paul indicator to Timothy wage.
The good wolf are holding faith and a good conscience by
rejecting conscience, certain person's have made shipwreck of
their faith. To live grow and persevere in
the faith until the end. We must nourish it with the word
of God. We must beg the Lord to increase
our faith. It must be working through
charity, abounding in, Hope and rooted in the faith of the
church. So, here, the catechism, reminds
us that if we want to stay in the faith, we need to pray.
We need to beg the Lord. That's what the catechism says.
We need to beg the Lord to increase our faith.
That should be the constant prayer of Christians.
Thanks for listening today, please keep telling.
People about the ministry and we'll continue to look at the
gospels in the coming days.