The 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 2, 2022

Luke 17, 5–10

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “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. 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’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’ ”

“Increase our faith.”  The Greek here really means, “Add to our faith”, as though we possessed a certain quantity of faith and we want more of it added to our store.  “Increase” our faith means to grow what is already present.  The Christian needs to pray for both addition and increase.  Addition, in terms of learning and understanding more of what the Lord teaches us through his Church.  We can read books on doctrine or on the Scriptures, we can ask questions of our priests, and we can go to classes and talks offered by our parishes.  Increase, in terms of our strength in believing and our perseverance in our faith.  St. Luke translates the .Aramaic in which the Apostles made this request using the aorist tense of the imperative mood, which tells us they were asking for a one-time and not continuous addition to their faith.  

“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.”  The Lord corrects their short-sighted prayer by using the continuous present active tense: If you are having faith the size of a mustard seed.  Faith must abide.  The Apostles should ask for the Lord to continuously increase their faith and add to their understanding.  “Mulberry tree”.  The tree in question is actually a sycamore tree, a very large shade tree.  The moving of a sycamore tree to the sea indicates accomplishing a deed which would seem impossible.  Thus, if the Apostles had this amount of faith, which indeed sounds like a minute amount, they would be able to believe in the Holy Trinity and that the Lord became incarnate in Mary’s virginal womb.  Further, they would be able to enter a synagogue in some faraway land and convert the Jews in it to Christ.

“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’?”  The Parable of the Useless servant is found only in Luke.  It comes across as a little strange because of where it is placed within his Gospel and also because of its moral.  But we can see that it is connected to the Lord’s response on faith involving the sycamore tree in that faith will also turn the Apostles in the Lord’s good servants, willing to die for him.  Now, the master who comes in from a hard day’s work in the fields is no more likely to tell his servant to seat himself so that he, the master, can wait on him than a sycamore tree is to move itself to the sea.  The servant — household slave — is naturally supposed to wait on the master.  “Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?”  One would be grateful to a family member or friend who served him out of the goodness in their hearts, but not to a slave whom he owned.  “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’ ”  This is our position in relation to the Lord: we are in reality his slaves, his creations, and to do his will is in our best interest.  He owes us nothing but we owe him everything.  He does not need us, but we are in every way dependent upon him.  We should be glad that he gives us any work to do so that by doing it well we can show our appreciation for all he does for us.  In the end, though, if all we do is to obey his commands, we have not done much.  We should not need to wait for our Lord to tell us to bring him food, for instance, but to anticipate his commands.  We should also do what he commands us with love.  Consider the server in a restaurant who does no more than hand out menus and take orders.  That is the bare minimum required by the job, but the server who acts like he or she is glad to see the customer, makes suggestions, offers to banter, refills glasses before being asked, and does whatever possible to make the customer’s meal enjoyable, that is the one to be commended, and who will be rewarded.

Let us serve gladly our Lord, who teaches us how to serve by the example of his life, death, and resurrection, spent in eagerness for our salvation.