Reflection on Luke 17:5-10

 

Luke 17:5-10

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶ The Lord replied, “If you had 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.

⁷ “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? ⁸ Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me; put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? ⁹ Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”

 

Reflection

Thinking back to all the times that I have been forgiven, there is one thing that I know is true: forgiveness brings joy.

But you do not need to look at my life to see that.  Just a quick glance at the scriptures will show you that.

There is so much joy the day that the roof of the house is torn open and the paralyzed man is lowered down by ropes to Jesus from above.  This story from Luke 5:18-25, preaches that not only is the man joyous because he is healed that day, but the joy starts with the forgiveness of his sins.  “Friend, your sins are forgiven you,” Jesus tells the man (NRSVue, Luke 5:20).  Forgiveness brings about his healing.  You can almost imagine the huge grin on Jesus’ face as the once paralyzed man skips away in joy with his sleeping mat under his arm as he goes “to his home, glorifying God” (Luke 5:25).  Forgiveness brings joy.

Again, you sense this same type of joy and love found in the words of tender forgiveness spoken to the woman who washes Jesus’ feet with her hair.  The story in Luke 7:36-50 simply describes the woman as a sinner, but she acts with the deeply moving joy and gratitude of one of Jesus’ forgiven.  Jesus even says so.  “I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love” (Luke 7:47).  Forgiveness brings joy.

And, then there is that sinner hanging on the cross with Jesus who refuses to join in on the taunts thrown Jesus’ way.  Instead, he asks that Jesus remember a sinner like him, and Jesus responds in the middle of this bloody scene with surprising words of joy; “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).  Forgiveness brings joy.

There is so much joy to be found in forgiveness.  There is joy found in the amazing freedom of having the weight of your sin lifted from your shoulders.  The Psalmist laments, “for my iniquities have gone over my head; they weigh like a burden too heavy for me” (Psalm 38:4).  It is absolutely true that our mistakes plague us.  I do not know about you, but my mistakes play like a movie over and over again in my mind during the very moment in life when I can do nothing about it, in the middle of the night when everyone is supposed to be asleep!

But listen to how the Psalmist reacts when God draws him up from the desolate pit and grants forgiveness: “[The Lord] put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God” (Psalm 40:3).  Forgiveness brings joy.

Maybe even more important than the joy we get from forgiveness is the joy that Jesus shows in granting that forgiveness.  It is as if forgiveness was the greatest gift that God could think up when considering all the gifts that a heavenly parent could provide the world. Micah 7:18 says that the Lord “does not retain his anger forever because he delights in showing steadfast love” (Micah 7:18).  Forgiveness brings joy.

I know that is a lot to make a simple point, but I do it because it causes me to then wonder: since forgiveness brings so much joy to the one who is given the forgiveness, and even more joy comes to the one who grants the forgiveness, why do we find it so hard to do?

Why is forgiveness so hard?

“Pastor, I just cannot bring myself to talk with him.  I do not even want to see his face.”  Have you ever heard words like that?  Have those words ever been your own?  To forgive means having to face something or someone that brought pain.  I know of no one who enjoys pain.  For example, I know very few people who joyfully skip to the dentist.  I know just as many people who enjoy facing the sorts of pains that require great amounts of forgiveness.

It might be nice to know that we are not alone in our struggle.  Just previous to our gospel reading for today, Jesus let the apostles in on the secret of why forgiveness is so powerful: because it does not end.  Jesus teaches in Luke 17:4: “If the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.”  Forgiveness is powerful because it is persistent. 

God’s mercy is like a shepherd who leaves 99 sheep in order to find one that is lost, and then rejoices when that lost sheep is found (Luke 15:1-7). Forgiveness brings joy and it is persistent.

God’s mercy is like a woman who sweeps the floor looking for a lost coin and throws a party when that coin is discovered!  (Luke 15:8-10) Forgiveness brings joy and it is persistent.

Forgiveness does not give up.  Forgiveness does not allow anyone to say, “This time around you are a lost cause.”  Forgiveness cannot be defeated by a grave. Forgiveness will go all the way to the cross in order to save the very people who reject God’s idea that “Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Maybe it is exactly the persistence of forgiving love that makes it so incredibly hard.  

I do not know about any of you, but when a two year old throws his dinner plate on the floor for the seventh time that night, and the parent needs to scrub the food out of the carpeting for the seventh time in an hour (What house designer chooses to put carpet in the dining room anyway?)…after the seventh time the parent cannot help but feel like it would be more effective to just say something like, “Fine!  We’re done!  You can eat again sometime tomorrow!”

And if it is hard to forgive a two-year-old who keeps doing the same things over and over again, imagine how hard it is to forgive over and over again an adult who should know better…who should have figured out life by now.  But, no, there are plenty of adults who have not figured out life and they make the same mistakes over and over and over again and need to ask for forgiveness over and over and over again.  The persistence that forgiveness requires is hard.

“Increase our faith!” the disciples cry out.  “Give us more faith so that we can do this!”  “This is hard.”  “This is discouraging!”  “We need more faith!”

Would it not be nice if gaining faith was simply like plugging yourself in to charge all the way up so that you can accomplish the impossible once again?  Would it not be nice if just coming to church once a week were enough to get us going again with no problems or hitches?

We walk around as if faith is something of which you can get more.  We walk around as if faith were a video game power pack that you can just pick up along the journey to keep the game going longer and make you stronger with some timely forgiveness upgrades.  Jesus thinks all this talk of getting more faith ridiculous.

"If you had 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” Jesus says (Luke 17:6).

So, how much faith do you need to do the hard work of forgiving over and over and over?  About one point five millimeters worth of faith is all you need (the size of the average mustard seed).

Maybe, faith has nothing to do with the amount that you have.  After-all, according to the original Greek, Jesus actually says, “If you had the faith of a mustard seed.”  Jesus actually never says anything about size or amounts, except that a mustard seed, small as it is, inherently has enough faith to do what it does.  That little thing can push up through the tough dirt, grow into a great bush, and even displace a mulberry tree! 

“If you had the faith of a mustard seed…” 

This has nothing to do with having a certain amount of understanding, or having a certain amount of spiritual strength.  According to Jesus, faith is simply trusting that when Jesus says forgiveness is immensely important to the salvation of the world and that we should just do it, we will trust that Jesus knows what he is talking about and just do it. 

When we go to the coffee shop and order a coffee, we do not say to the barista, “Go ahead and take a break, I can brew this.”  No, we do not do that!  Nor do we gush and gush over the fact that they handed us a cardboard cup full of the hot beverage.  “Thank you so, so much.  My life is so much better with this very expensive yet mediocre tasting miracle.” 

We do not say that!  They are baristas.  Their job is to get the coffee we paid for.  It is simply what they are supposed to do.  Jesus says that forgiveness works in the same way.  Jesus says that “When you have done all that you were ordered to do,” when you forgive someone, say to yourselves, “‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’” (Luke 17:10).  

It appears that as followers of Jesus Christ, we simply forgive, not because we got up the courage to finally do it, not because we feel prepared or even willing to forgive, but because it is simply what followers of Jesus Christ do.  We forgive, period.

This does not mean that we somehow think that forgiveness will absolutely make everything perfectly good and right again.  How many of you have forgiven and it seems to have no effect on the other person? 

Nor does it mean that we will feel ready and willing to love and forgive.  It certainly does not mean that the person deserves to be forgiven.  It simply means that we will forgive because Jesus said told us to do it; just like a slave from ancient times serves dinner without question; or a barista gets your coffee, whether they like you or not.  It is their job.

And so, sisters and brothers in Christ, forgiveness is our job.  As followers of Christ, we forgive because Christ forgave us.  Forgiving is what followers of Christ do.

I saw this happen at a wedding I officiated a few years ago.  The groom, who was a man in his 50s, wanted more than anything for his adult son to be present for this special day.  But the groom also knew that it was unlikely.  He had not always been the best father.  In fact, he had not even seen his son for five years.  The groom knew it was a long shot, but he left a message for his son, asking for forgiveness.

The day of the wedding rehearsal came, and the groom was continually distracted, looking out the window of the church to see if the impossible might become possible.  He kept pacing back and forth while we rehearsed.  I knew the very minute that it happened.  The groom stopped pacing, and tears started to fill his eyes.  Through the window he saw his son getting out of a car and picking up a car seat.  In seconds the son was through the door, hugging his father, and letting the groom hold his grandson for the very first time. 

No one needs a large amount of faith to forgive.  Forgiveness is a gift that is simply done. 

Christ truly believes that forgiveness saves the world.  He staked his life on it.  So, we trust that Jesus knows what he is doing.  And we trust that we carry within our hearts the faith of the mustard seed which can uproot trees. 

Faith says, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!" (Luke 17:10).  We forgive because that is what forgiven people do.  

Find the eternal joy that can be found in forgiveness.