We are useless servants

27th Sunday of Ordinary Time 
October 6, 2019

Luke 17: 5-10

I am a person of faith. We are a people of faith; we are a faith community. What does it mean to have faith? I have faith that when I turn on the light switch the lights when go on. I have no idea how it works but it does. I have faith when I am driving that the person behind me will stop when I stop. I have faith that when I go to In-n-out burger and I say no sauce they won’t put any sauce on my double-double. I have faith that people will show up for mass on Sunday, that the musicians will be here, the lectors, etc. I have faith that people will keep their word. If someone promises me something I believe they will do what they say.

I have faith in God. God promises that he will never leave me, God promises that he will not let me down. God promises me his forgiveness, no matter how many times I may need to ask for it.

Faith is based upon a relationship. I trust the person in the car behind me will stop, and they trust that I will go when the light turns green. I trust that people will show up for mass on Sunday and that we will have enough ministers, but you also have faith in me. No one asked for the letter from the Archbishop appointing me pastor, nor proof that I am really Patrick Keyes but you believe me. It is interesting because I am still new here. I still don’t know many of your names; I might confuse you with someone else. You might ask me where my dog is. Our relationship is just beginning, so the faith that we have in each other is growing.

If we had faith the size of a mustard seed, just a tiny speck it is enough. It doesn’t matter how much faith I have, it isn’t about quantity, it is about a journey that begins. If I have even just a little it will grow.

Faith is about a relationship, it is something that will grow. I am just beginning here, so our relationship can only grow. The next time I go to In-n-out I will have to remind them that I don’t like the sauce. Even if it is the same In-n-out, the same cashier, because we really don’t have much of a relationship. Think of your important relationships, think of how they have grown. In fact real relationships always involve growth. If you don’t love your spouse any more after 15 years than when you first married, it isn’t much of relationship. Hopefully one, two, three years down the line our relationship will continue to grow.

The same is true with our faith in God. It is also about a relationship. In our journey of faith we hopefully have grown since the day of our baptism, or when we made our first communion. If our image of God is the same as it was when we were 7 years old, there is something. It needs to grow, to develop and flower. One of the things about our relationship with God that is different, is God never lets us down, God never fails us.

The way our relationship with God grows, or the way that we know we have faith in God is if we do something. All the examples Jesus gives today are about doing something, moving mountains, plowing fields, waiting on tables. It isn’t enough to say that we are people of faith; no we have to live our faith. We live our faith but we do something about it.

The parable, which forms the second half of our gospel reading, is connected with the saying about faith, because it warns the disciples against supposing that faith, and the obedient service of the Lord in which faith is expressed, establishes a claim for reward. The thing is faith in and of itself is it’s own reward. We don’t believe in order to gain anything, we just believe because that is what we are expected to do. Because we have a relationship with a God who loves us we believe and our faith continues to grow stronger and we continue to do more things.

The last line of the Gospel sounds very harsh. “We are unworthy servants.” The truth is the line is supposed to be even harsher. It the original Hebrew the line is slaves. We are unworthy slaves. Doesn’t sound like a line that is going to gain you more believers. But remember what I said about relationship and faith? As harsh as it sounds, to say we are slaves means that we belong to God. We are his and God is ours.