Thomas J Parlette
“Dutiful Faith”
Luke 17: 5-10
10/2/22
After much scholarly consideration, I have come to believe that Jesus’s favorite condiment was mustard. What kind of mustard, I don’t know. Could be traditional yellow, or maybe it’s spicy brown, or it could even be grey poupon, I suppose. But ketchup and mayonnaise are not mentioned in the scriptures as far as I am aware.
But mustard is mentioned many times, or at least mustard seeds. Luke 17 is one of five places in the gospels where Jesus makes a comment about a mustard seed. Three of those references are essentially the same as three of the gospel writers record of Jesus telling how the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. One of the other references to a mustard seed is when Jesus explains to the disciples why they were unable to cure a demon-possessed boy. The final mustard seed citation is in our text when Jesus responds to the apostles’ request that he increase their faith.
The word used here in Greek for “increase our faith” is prostithemi. You can probably hear that is the same word from which we get prosthetic, as in a prosthetic arm or leg. A prosthetic is not a natural appendage. A prosthetic is a manufactured piece added to the body to replace a natural limb that was lost. So, essentially, the disciples are asking for Jesus to give them a crutch.(1) They are saying “We can’t do this on our own. This life you call us to is too hard. You need to give us something to help us out, some special supernatural power or something. Increase our faith.”
Because of how small mustard seeds are, we tend to hear this repeated metaphor as a comment on the quantity of faith one possesses. Yet, it’s unlikely that’s the intended meaning in any of these usages, and it’s especially not the case here where Jesus responds to the apostles’ request for more faith. In this setting, where the comment appears right before Jesus’ parable of the dutiful servant, the point seems to be that the apostles need is not for more faith, but for re-directing what faith they have toward dutiful service to God rather than grand exploits.
That said, we also have to acknowledge that this is probably not anybody’s favorite parable. It includes no heroic figure, like the Good Samaritan. It’s as heart-warming as the Prodigal Son. There is no dramatic and satisfying turning of the tables like in the Rich Man and Lazarus. No, this parable is more prosaic; it has to do with “your servant” who labors long hours in the field and then is expected to fix dinner for his master before having any food for himself.
If Jesus were telling this parable today, he’d probably substitute “your employee” for “your servant,” but the point would be the same: Does your servant or employee deserve thanks for doing what is expected? Does your employee deserve thanks for giving you eight hours of work? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘we are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”
The “unworthy” word, or as the NRSV says, “worthless”, really bites, for it implies that no matter how much we do in service to God, we are only doing what is expected and that it is impossible to do more than what’s expected of us. We can never put God in our debt. We will never be able to say to God, you owe me big time. In fact, when it comes to serving God, Jesus is, in effect, telling us to forget the old idea of having “stars in our crown” – special recognition or reward in heaven. Although Jesus does mention in Matthew that those who endure persecution or do charitable works in secret will have rewards in heaven, so there are some exceptions.
The famous biblical scholar William Barclay points out that some of the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament do not have that word that’s translated as “unworthy” or “worthless.” Instead, those manuscripts just say “We are servants.” But Barclay says that that is enough in his opinion. The point of the parable is that in relationship to God, we are always servants.(2) In the biblical paraphrase The Message, Eugene Peterson makes that same point plainly without using “unworthy” or “worthless”, or any similar term. Peterson translates the verse; “Does the servant get special thanks for doing what’s expected? It’s the same with you. When you’ve done everything expected of you, be matter-of-fact and say, ‘The work is done. What we were told to do, we did.”
On the face of it, I know that sounds kind of joyless. We did what we were told to do. We did our duty and should expect no special credit. But there are two things we can say about that.
First, while the parable tells us not to expect divine thanks for serving God, there are human thanks that come to us nonetheless. It may not happen often, and we’ve all had occasions when those we help appear to be ungrateful – enough so that we know the bitterness behind the saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.” But there are still times when someone says “Thank you” in such a way that really warms our hearts. When we see someone lifted from trouble because of something we did, or when someone tells us that something we said helped them make a good decision, we are understandably uplifted and encouraged. In fact, it’s unlikely that we can be faithful in our Christian duty without receiving at least occasional expressions of appreciation. Jesus’ parable, however stresses that we should serve God because it’s the right thing to do, no because we’re chasing a divine reward.
Second, doing the right thing without being praised or rewarded brings a kind of satisfaction of it’s own. I have a friend who tells about the early days of his marriage when there was some friction between he and his wife. He was quite happy to let her do all the housework and go to work as well. She, of course, would get upset with him for not helping out around the house. After several heated discussions on the topic, he finally realized he was being unreasonable, so he decided to pitch in. He started in the kitchen – he did all the dishes, wiped down the counters and even ran a swifter broom over the floor. Then he sat down in family room to watch some TV and wait for his wife to come home – and lavish him with praise.
When his wife got home, she came in through the kitchen, walked through the family room and went right upstairs to the bedroom. Never said a word. She had to have noticed the clean kitchen, but she said nothing. Finally, my friend couldn’t take it any more. He went up to the bedroom and blurted out, “Did you see I cleaned up the kitchen?”
“Yes,” she said.
He waited…. But his wife had nothing more to say. So he blurted out again, “Well, don’t you appreciate it?”
“Well, I’m glad you’ve done the work,” she said, “but we both live in this house and keeping it clean is just part of our responsibilities. I’ve never been thanked for all the housework I’ve done, and I don’t expect to be. Why should either of us be thanked for doing what’s necessary to live decently.”
It took some time for that to sink in – but my friend got the point, and his attitude changed. And yes – they’re still married and he still does his share of the housework. Even though he has never enjoyed cleaning, he has come to take pride in keeping the house reasonably tidy. Likewise, there can be a certain satisfaction in serving God, even when no “Thank you’s” seem to be forthcoming.
This parable invites us to see ourselves in relation to God as servants – in our work, in our church life, in our leisure, in the unexpected things that come to us and require a response. However, servant is not the only biblical image for the divine-human relationship. Another comes from Paul when he describes that relationship as being a family member. Each image serves a teaching function, and this one from Jesus steers us away from the notion of entitlement and reminds us that we don’t earn our way into the kingdom of God but are granted entrance because of God’s graciousness to us.
It also reminds us that it’s not the quantity of our faith that matters, but putting what faith we have into service.
There’s an old story about a man seeking entrance to heaven based on his good works. He gets to the Pearly Gates and asks Saint Peter for admission.
“On what basis” says Peter.
“Well,” said the man, “I worked most recently in the world of financial management, and I worked hard to make even that realm a place where God’s will was done.”
“Yes,” replied Peter, “but of course, we expected that.”
“Uh, well, sure… earlier I worked several years making almost nothing in the mission field. I tackled the causes of poverty and injustice in the Third World. I worked directly with children, families, and their communities. I even helped some people escape from human traffickers.”
“We know… but that needed to be done.”
“But look here… I’ve worked hard to be faithful ever since God called me. I’ve kept my hand on the plow, so to speak, and I never looked back.”
“And your point is…?”
The man was clearly disconcerted, and stammered, “That’s all I’ve got! There’s nothing more but the grace of God!”
Exactly,” said Saint Peter, opening the gate. “Come on in.”(3)
As we gather at the Lord’s table on this World Communion Sunday, remember we are here by God’s own invitation, not because we’ve earned a place at the Table. What God expects is that we do our duty, nothing more and nothing less. God is pleased when we live our lives with dutiful faith.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. Dynamic Preaching, Vol XXXVIII, No. 3, p20.
2. Homileticsonline, retrieved Sept. 15th, 2022.
3. Ibid…
