Monday in the 32 Week of Ordinary Time, November 13, 2023

Luke 17, 1-6

Jesus said to his disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.”  And 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.”

St. Luke presents these teachings by the Lord Jesus following his Parable on Lazarus and the Rich Man.  In that parable the Lord gave details about the world to come, both of heaven and of hell.  Here, he speaks of the sins that will lead to hell: scandal and refusal to forgive.  

“Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur.”  Literally, from the Greek: “It is impossible that snares not come.”  The lectionary translation gives “things that cause sin” which is not quite the same thing.  Prayers for safety against the “snares” of one’s enemies fill the Psalms: “The snares of death encompassed me” (Psalm 116, 3); “The wicked have laid a snare for me” (Psalm 119, 110).  A snare is a hidden trap meant to capture or kill.  When the Lord speaks of snares “coming” he is speaking of false prophets, heretics.  These do not so much “cause” a person to sin as draw them to sin.  Free-will allows us to reject the enticements to sin.  However, these enticements can be such that they almost seem to cause a person to sin.  Hunters prey on the weaknesses of those they hunt.  The devil knows our weaknesses, and so do his agents in this world.  They know that people normally desire to live in peace, and so they lure them to complacency and to allowing evil to go about its business as long as its effects are indirect.  People also seek entertainment and diversion from their daily labor, and our enemies prey on this to lure us to that which looks exciting and good but which ultimately destroys, like poisoned fruit.  People generally trust their leaders, public officials, and those with a high amount of training.  The devil can work through this disposition to set people against each other or to present terrible lies in place of the truth.  This can even happen in the Church when priests, bishops, and even popes and councils can teach only part of a truth so that confusion results, or pretend to change the Church’s teachings, or pretend to redefine doctrines to mean the opposite of what they do.  We stay safe from the snares that the devil and his agents lay for us by staying on the clear paths of the Faith, learning what the Church truly teaches and has taught through the centuries.  We also apply the virtue of prudence to all that we see and hear and not run headlong into anything.  Nor should we panic that snares arise in high places, for the Lord has told us that it is impossible that this should not happen.  Instead, we pray and continue to live the life of Jesus Christ.  In due time, the wicked will be exposed and destroyed.

“If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.”  That is, we speak up when someone sins either against us or against someone for whom we bear responsibility, or against God.  If we do not not, we run the risk of complacency.  The purpose of the rebuke is to save the soul of the sinner and so we should couch our words appropriately and speak in prudence.  If this person repents we forgive him openly.  Otherwise we forgive him in our hearts.  But forgiveness does not mean our relationship with this person goes on as before.  The fact of the sin may reveal to us the need to avoid this person or even to alert the authorities to what this person has done.  Elsewhere Jesus tells us that refusal to forgive will cost a person his soul (Matthew 18, 35).

“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.