Sermon on Luke 17:5-10

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

According to our Gospel reading today, we should be able to transplant trees into the ocean, it’s okay not to thank people who are being exploited, and we should consider ourselves “worthless slaves”?

Raise your hand if you find any of that troubling.

This is a pretty gross teaching. Jesus isn’t sounding like a rabbi I would want to follow.

What do we do with this?

This doesn’t make it any less gross, but it at least explains why our reading doesn’t seem to connect the mustard seed teaching with the slavery metaphor. Our reading is probably two teachings. The whole beginning of chapter 17 seems to be a collection of miscellaneous teachings of Jesus.

As we talked about two weeks ago, none of Jesus’ disciples were following him around furiously recording everything that happened. The Gospels weren’t written until decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The writer of Luke wanted us to hear these teachings of Jesus but didn’t necessarily write them down chronologically. They may have been assembled more by theme.

So, we can look at these teachings as individual units and then see if they offer any other gifts by reading them together.

First, we have the mustard seed teaching. The disciples request more faith, but Jesus teaches that even a tiny speck of faith allows incredible works like planting a tree in the ocean.

This seems a little discouraging, because I sure can’t do that—can you?

But maybe Jesus’ point is that faith isn’t a commodity to be amassed. We as Lutherans believe faith is given by God. It’s something we don’t do on our own, so we don’t need to ask God for more of it. We can trust that God has given us what we need. If God needs us to plant a tree in the ocean for some reason, we’ll have the necessary faith.

Then, the second reading is the really gross one with the slavery metaphor.

It’s troubling whenever Jesus uses slavery imagery and doesn’t condemn the practice. It’s an unfortunate example of being able to find whatever you’re looking for in the Bible, including justification for or at least not condemnation of enslavement.

But as faithful readers of the Bible, we look at bigger themes throughout—themes like liberation, love, and compassion, which are incompatible with enslavement. We use those themes instead of individual troubling verses to figure out what God’s up to in the world.

What was God up to when Jesus taught this? We know and Jesus knew that he would end up at the cross. He warned his disciples again and again. As he drew nearer to Jerusalem and his death, he taught some challenging things to try and prepare his disciples for what was to come.

It wasn’t enough to follow Jesus around hoping for a miracle and a free lunch. Following Jesus meant you might be arrested, beaten, and even killed. So, as much as Jesus’ teachings can sound harsh, it would have been unkind for him not to be realistic about what he was asking of his disciples.

So, as harsh and troubling as Jesus’ words are here, we can see them as a reminder to his disciples (who were known to occasionally quarrel over which of them was the greatest) that they weren’t following Jesus for the glory. They were, in fact, going to experience some heart-breaking trials by following Jesus to Jerusalem.

The point isn’t that slavery is okay—it’s not—or that we shouldn’t thank people—we should—but that following Jesus doesn’t mean we’ll get glory or even thanks. Instead, it has to be something that matters to us so much that we’re willing to die for it. It’s not about us. It’s about Jesus and Beloved Community.

When we take these two teachings side by side as they’re presented to us by the Gospel of Luke, we can use them as a meditation on humility.

The mustard seed parable reminds Jesus followers that we don’t have to have a massive amount of faith—it doesn’t work that way. We trust God to equip us for the journey of life that we’re on and whatever ministry God calls us to. We don’t have to worry that we’re not enough.

And the second teaching reminds us that we’re not following Jesus for the kudos.We’re doing it because the God of the universe loves us and heaps grace upon us. So, out of gratitude, we do our best to love God and our neighbor.Remembering that helps keep our egos in check.

These two teachings together remind us that: we have faith enough, and that’s nothing to brag about.

In fact, the word that’s translated “worthless” means something more like “someone who isn’t owed anything.” It doesn’t have the dehumanizing connotation that “worthless” does.

I’ve heard people complain before about cashiers responding to a thank you with “no problem” instead of “you’re welcome.” You’re allowed to have your opinions on etiquette, though cashiers have it hard enough without complaints like that.

But the response “no problem” illustrates the attitude of “someone who isn’t owed anything.” “No problem—I don’t want you to think that what you’re thanking me for caused me any inconvenience. I was just doing my job. It was no problem.”

When we’re focused on Jesus and on loving our neighbors as if they were Jesus themselves, we’re not worried about glory or even gratitude. No problem. The love is enough.

But we often worry we’re not enough.

Imposter syndrome bombards us. Insecurity sets in. We worry we won’t measure up. Or if we’re currently measuring up to our arbitrary standards, how long before we make a mistake and our self-image comes crashing down? How long before people see us as we really are?

Or we might worry that we as a congregation aren’t measuring up. We worry that we aren’t what we used to be. We aren’t as big. We’re getting older. We can’t do all the things we used to do. We don’t have a professional marketing plan. We don’t have a Vacation Bible School. We don’t host funeral luncheons the way we used to. We don’t have three services or an extensive music program.

It's easy to focus on what we don’t have. Just like the disciples worried they didn’t have enough faith.

But as troublesome as our reading today is, it does remind us that it’s not about us.

God gives us faith. God gives us enough faith to do what God calls us to do.

And God has called this community to feed our neighbors, body and soul, and we do, week after week. God provides. And sometimes God provides us to serve the needs of our neighbors. It may not be a mulberry tree planted in the ocean, but bags of groceries and a genuine smile for a hungry neighbor are far more practical and needed.

We have enough. We have enough to share.

And through the Holy Spirit and our amazing pantry director, Deenna, we have partnerships with other congregations, organizations, and community members who keep this ministry thriving.

God provides. Sometimes God provides other people to join us. That’s the beauty of the Beloved Community and the Body of Christ.

Today is World Communion Day. We remember that we’re part of the Body of Christ, connected through Holy Communion with followers of Jesus around the globe and throughout time.

In the Body of Christ, no part is more important than another. We’re all important and necessary. We’re united in Christ, and together we do what God calls us to—without worrying about glory or even thanks.

Thanks to God, we have enough faith to feed our neighbors—no problem. That is enough, and you are enough. Thanks be to God!