A Reflection for the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C).
Habakkuk.1:2-3; 2:2-4 – 2Tim 1:6-8, 13-14- Luke 17:5-10.
Dougall was chatting to the passenger next to him on a flight from Nigeria to the UK. Part of the conversation centred on the nature of faith. Dougall believed in Christ Jesus and His Church, while the other passenger, Hamish, professed himself to be an atheist. Hamish declared that, while he was willing to believe what he could see with his own eyes and where reasoning took him, he didn’t believe in God or anything spiritual because doing so was like trying to grab a bar of wet soap. Dougall used an analogy to let Hamish know gently that he, Hamish, had long been believing in things he couldn’t see or reason about. Dougall said, “Hamish, you and I are sat here in this plane. We don’t know the pilots and the crew members. Nonetheless, we trust them to take us safely to our destination. We know zilch about their family backgrounds, medical histories, and mental states, but we have voluntarily put our lives in their hands to get us where we want to go. We believe that everything has been taken care of to ensure our safety. We have faith that we are being looked after while we travel home. Wouldn’t you agree that that’s one way of describing faith? Everyone believes in something: nobody believes in nothing. The trouble starts when people stop believing in the divine and start believing in anything! It’s reasonable to have faith in the supernatural because human life extends beyond the things we can see and perceive with our faculties.” I mention this section of the conversation because we all have a spark of faith in us, however tiny that spark may be. It certainly shows up when we are in peril! The danger is that our personal faith may be squeezed when our expectations from practising the faith seem to be disappointed.
Jesus’ disciples were convinced that although they did have faith in Him, their faith wasn’t strong enough to accomplish miracles like His. They didn’t believe they could do great things through the little faith they possessed. They asked Jesus to increase their faith. Perhaps this request was prompted by the number of times Jesus had told them that they were men of little faith. Our Lord pointed out that failing of theirs before going on to accomplish miracles (Mt 8:26; 14:31 (to Peter); 16:8) and when telling them not to doubt or worry (Mt 6:30; Lk 12:28).
What was Jesus’ response to their actual and perceived lack of faith? What is Jesus teaching them and us today about faith?
On the one hand, Jesus wanted them to understand the extent of the power that comes with having even a little faith. Even a spark of faith is powerful enough to change lives and situations. In reassuring them, He intended to boost their confidence to make consistent and repeated use of the powers that accompanied their faith in Him. Jesus wanted them to keep trusting in Him and keep going forward, having faith in Him and His divine power. He wanted them to keep faith in Him and not give up simply because they thought their faith in Him wasn’t strong enough. Remember that He assured them – and He assures us too – that mountains can be moved even if the faith of His followers is as tiny as mustard seeds.
I believe this same message is for us because sometimes we lose our confidence in God, and our faith wobbles. In a sense, that’s a good thing because one way to grow stronger and stronger in the faith is to challenge our doubts and get to the root of them. Sometimes we feel, mistakenly, that our faith is failing. We know intellectually that God is there for us, but we feel He’s abandoned us or He doesn’t exist. During such dark times, we press on, we “keep the faith,” we keep on praying, and we ask others to pray for us. Like the apostles, what we need may not necessarily be an increase in faith and trust, but rather, an understanding that the faith in Him that we already possess can help us to move those mountains. We must keep trusting in God and doing our bit for Him daily.
That leads me to the second part of Jesus’ teaching on faith in today’s Readings. Jesus drew the disciples’ attention to how a servant’s focus shouldn’t be on expecting the Master to reward them for simply doing their duty. Instead, the servant’s focus should be on carrying out and completing the work. Jesus was pointing out that, as people of faith and as His servants, we shouldn’t be looking for immediate fruits and rewards from practising the faith, but we should be doing what He expects of us. If you are called to pray in faith, focus on praying for whatever intention you have without ceasing (Lk 18:1) and not lose heart, whether or not the answer is as you hoped. When you are called to do good work, do it as well as you can without expecting praise or appreciation. How come? Because you will be doing your part in fulfilling God’s will. When you do that, you won’t be disappointed if the outcome is not as you expected.
The 1st reading tells us about the prayer of the righteous, who were waiting on the Lord to reward the Just but could see that the Unjust seemed to be thriving. In God’s reply, we hear the message that the upright will live by their faithfulness (v.14). That means that the people of God are to keep the faith and adhere to it, no matter what. We are to be constant in offering our prayers in faith, persistent in doing works of faith, and insistent upon living our lives with integrity and uprightness.
However little our faith may be, that faith is manifested powerfully through our faithfulness to God, our constancy to Him, and our persistence in the faith, regardless of the turmoil in the world. It follows that quality rather than quantity of faith makes all the difference to our service to God and one another. It’s essential never to sway to the right or left of Christ’s teaching (for example, bargaining with ourselves that a particular teaching is no longer applicable due to current circumstances or expectations) but to hold tight and wait patiently on the Lord in all things. Let us fan into flame the little faith that we have! Let us show the Lord that our little faith can move mountains! O that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts. (Ps 95:7f). Amen. God bless you