TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C

[cappie]

Today’s Gospel story is puzzling to many people. It even sounds a bit harsh. The servant has been out working hard all day. The master has probably been engaged in some high-level negotiations. Dirty and weary after a long day’s work, the servant comes home, and the master has a number of expectations before the servant may eat himself or rest. And Jesus says that this is what the servant should expect! He is, after all, the servant. The master does not owe him any thanks or consideration. The servant should understand that doing all of this is simply his duty. What is the point Jesus is trying to make?

The focus is really on the servant. And the point is that nothing the servant does can obligate the master. The servant cannot earn the master’s praise or obligate the master to repay him for his good work. That’s not because the master is unkind or ungrateful. But it is because the master does not owe the servant anything, while the servant probably owes his very life to the master.

What Jesus is doing is drawing an analogy between God and the master, between the servant and us. The behaviour Jesus is discouraging is the idea that we can somehow earn God’s approval.

  Jesus makes it clear that we are simply expected to have faith – that is part of being Christian, just like serving is part of being a servant. Our faith does not require God to do anything. God does not heal us because we have faith. God heals us because God is God. God loves us simply because God chooses to love us. God’s power is active in our lives. God is present to us. God gives us more than we ask or deserve. God sustains our very life. God does all of that but NOT because we have faith. God does that because it is God’s nature to love and heal and sustain life.

Neither our faith nor our actions can earn us God’s favour. Nor can our faith or our actions earn us salvation – the other common misconception. Many people believe that they must be good or do good in order to be saved. Or, on the other hand, they believe that their current or prior behaviour makes it impossible for them to be saved. Yet there is nothing you can do to earn salvation – it is a free gift offered by Christ through his life, death and resurrection. Even as God’s love is a free gift offered with no requirements or regulations. God simply is love. And Christ’s life, death and resurrection have already saved us. Nothing we can do, no amount of faith we can generate, makes God love us more or makes us more saved. Being saved is already a done deal – an accomplished fact.

Our responsibility is to respond to God’s action in and through Christ. We are called to a life of faith; not to obtain anything from God but in response to God’s loving action toward us. We are called to have faith, not to get God to love us or heal us or to get Christ to save us. But we are called to have faith because God loves and heals us. We are called to have faith because Christ has saved us.

Our faith does not need to impress God or anyone else. Our faith simply needs to respond to what God has given us. So, the next time you are concerned about whether you have enough faith, stop and get in touch with God’s love for you. Remember that Christ’s life, death and resurrection already has made eternal life available to you. Become aware of all the gifts God has given you. And know that you are infinitely loved. Respond to God’s love with thankfulness and love in return. That is your faith. And that faith, even if it were as small as the tiniest mustard seed – that faith can transform you and the world. For God, working through you can do more than you can ever ask or imagine.

As Paul tells us in today’s Second Reading, the Lord will always give us the love and self-control we need to bear our share of hardship for the Gospel—with a strength that can come from God alone. Our task is to continue doing what He has commanded—to love and to build up His kingdom—trusting that His vision  still has its time. One day, though we are but “unprofitable servants,” we will be invited to eat and drink at our Master’s table. It is that day we anticipate with each celebration of the Eucharist