What does the first part of this Sunday’s Gospel have to do with the second?

[1Lord1Faith]

What does the first part of the Gospel have to do with the second part?

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
The Lord replied,
"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

“Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’?
Would he not rather say to him,
‘Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished’?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded,
say, ‘We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.’”

 

[Hodos]

2753. Looking Forward to Sunday Morning (3 Year Lectionary): Pentecost 17 – Dr. Carl Fickenscher, 10/2/19 - Issues, Etc.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

I’m not sure I understand what the professor is saying, if anything, about the second part of that gospel reading.

 

[Wesrock]

Perhaps it’s because the apostles asked for faith (to help them carry out the hard stuff that precedes this gospel reading), and Jesus is telling them in a parable what it means to live faithfully.

 

[Limoncello4021]

To have faith is to humbly serve the Lord, like unprofitable servants.

 

[irenaeuslyons]

The common thread is that our faith is profitable to us. Challoner’s take below is that our faith is unprofitable for the Master, but not us.

Unprofitable servants. Because our service is of no profit to our Master; and he justly claims it as our bounden duty. But though we are unprofitable to him, our serving him is not unprofitable to us; for he is pleased to give, by his grace, a value to our good works, which, in consequence of his promise, entitles them to an eternal reward. (Challoner)

 

[De_Maria]

What does the first part of the Gospel have to do with the second part?

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
The Lord replied,
"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

“Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’?
Would he not rather say to him,
‘Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished’?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded,
say, ‘We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.’”

From the Sacred Page:

It’s not immediately apparent what the connection is between this saying of Jesus and the previous teaching on faith. Maybe it’s this: sometimes those who do great works of faith think they are doing God a favor. Jesus says in a different place, “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’” (Mt. 7:22) These are works of faith. However, to these individuals, Jesus responds, “Depart from me, for I never knew you, you evildoers.”

We don’t do God favors by serving him. Paul says, “If I have faith to remove mountians”—alluding to a version of our Lord’s teaching in Luke 7—“but have not love, I am nothing.” Great works of faith do not add to God’s glory. Nor does our holiness.

Jesus is reminding us here that we can’t actually put God in our debt, and that even a holy life is only “normal” for God to expect of us. After all, holiness is normal, it is sin and evil that is abnormal. Sin may be typical, but it is still abnormal. Mary was the first normal human being since Adam and Eve fell.

If we live a saintly life, in a sense it is nothing exceptional. All we’ve done is to be truly human, to fulfill the destiny for which we were created in the first place.

It makes me think of an anecdote a friend of mine shared with me this week. A construction crew was rebuilding a Carthusian monastery and came across the grave of a monk. Opening the casket, they found him incorrupt. Wondering what to do, they called the nearest Carthusian monastery, which was in another country. “What shall we do with the body?” they asked. “Bury him again”, came the reply. “But he’s incorrupt!” they protested. “All Carthusians are supposed to be holy,” came the answer, “this is not exceptional. Bury him again.”

This Sunday’s Gospel is calling on us not to pat ourselves on the back every time we turn away from temptation or do an act of mercy. It is only normal. Holiness should be ordinary.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

Perhaps it’s because the apostles asked for faith

They didn’t just ask for faith. And I think that’s part of the reason for the answer that Jesus gave. They asked for an increase of faith.

Jesus is telling them in a parable what it means to live faithfully.

What does the parable about living faithfully mean to someone who asks for an increase in faith?

Does it mean that someone either has faith or doesn’t have faith? That there is no “increase” in faith?

Does it mean that faith is an action, like love, and not just a belief?

 

[1Lord1Faith]

To have faith is to humbly serve the Lord, like unprofitable servants.

That is awfully succinct.

But, is that what God said to Habakkuk in the first reading?

Then the LORD answered me and said:
Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets,
so that one can read it readily.
For the vision still has its time,
presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint;
if it delays, wait for it,
it will surely come, it will not be late.
The rash one has no integrity;
but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

Mary was the first normal human being since Adam and Eve

Holiness should be ordinary.

“Bury him again”, came the reply.

These ^ are kind of tough to swallow.

I didn’t realize this gospel reading was going to be so difficult.

 

[De_Maria]

De_Maria:

Mary was the first normal human being since Adam and Eve

Holiness should be ordinary.

“Bury him again”, came the reply.

These ^ are kind of tough to swallow.

Why?

I didn’t realize this gospel reading was going to be so difficult.

You do know that the Church Teaches that God made Adam and Eve
in a state of original holiness, right? That is the state which was intended for us,
as well.

374 The first man was not only created good, but was also established in friendship with his Creator and in harmony with himself and with the creation around him, in a state that would be surpassed only by the glory of the new creation in Christ.

375 The Church, interpreting the symbolism of biblical language in an authentic way, in the light of the New Testament and Tradition, teaches that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were constituted in an original “state of holiness and justice”.250 This grace of original holiness was “to share in. . .divine life”.251

376 By the radiance of this grace all dimensions of man’s life were confirmed. As long as he remained in the divine intimacy, man would not have to suffer or die.252 The inner harmony of the human person, the harmony between man and woman,253 and finally the harmony between the first couple and all creation, comprised the state called “original justice”.

377 The “mastery” over the world that God offered man from the beginning was realized above all within man himself: mastery of self. The first man was unimpaired and ordered in his whole being because he was free from the triple concupiscence254 that subjugates him to the pleasures of the senses, covetousness for earthly goods, and self-assertion, contrary to the dictates of reason.

378 The sign of man’s familiarity with God is that God places him in the garden.255 There he lives “to till it and keep it”. Work is not yet a burden,256 but rather the collaboration of man and woman with God in perfecting the visible creation.

379 This entire harmony of original justice, foreseen for man in God’s plan, will be lost by the sin of our first parents.

 

[Brian_K]

They’re asking for an increase of faith, but He tells them that first they have to do the works He commands (ie, “serving at table.”) And in His roundabout way, He tells them that what they think is faith is not yet it, (“IF you have faith the size of a mustard seed…”)

What the Apostles have experienced give them some idea of who they think Jesus is, but they don’t yet have any idea on par with Who He Is. And I believe the reference to serving at table foreshadows the Last Supper, though Jesus will be the one to “put on the apron.”

 

[PetraG]

I think He is saying that if you trust in God, God will accomplish great things with you, things you cannot imagine doing.
When that happens, you will not expect God to be impressed.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

Why?

You do know that the Church Teaches that God made Adam and Eve
in a state of original holiness, right?

Why? Because it’s a hard teaching to live up to.

I would assume that the Apostles were aware of Adam and Eve and whatever was taught about them back then. They apparently didn’t make the connection about “normal holiness” either.

I don’t know if you’re trying to say that it should be obvious that we were always intended to be in an original state of holiness. If you are, I don’t think that’s the case. So, I don’t think that would have much to do directly with this particular gospel reading.

 

[De_Maria]

Why? Because it’s a hard teaching to live up to.

True.

I would assume that the Apostles were aware of Adam and Eve and whatever was taught about them back then. They apparently didn’t make the connection about “normal holiness” either.

Sure they did. There are other passages which illustrate this. Have you not read this one?

Matthew 5:48 New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
48 So be perfect,[a] just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Or this one:

Matthew 5:20 I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

I don’t know if you’re trying to say that it should be obvious that we were always intended to be in an original state of holiness. If you are, I don’t think that’s the case.

I’m trying to say that this is a Catholic Teaching.

So, I don’t think that would have much to do directly with this particular gospel reading.

You asked the question. I provided the answer given by a Catholic Scholar. I agree with his assessment.

 

[Gorgias]

Why? Because it’s a hard teaching to live up to.

Welcome to Catholicism: easy to understand, difficult to live up to.

So, I don’t think that would have much to do directly with this particular gospel reading.

I don’t think it’s about a “state of holiness”, per se, so much as it’s about expecting to win acclaim for having the kind of faith that produces works of supernatural merit…

 

[Nik]

This is something that worries me from time to time. See I’m always super pleased with myself when I know I’ve taken the right path in a given situation. I don’t tell people all about it but I’m secretly pretty smug in my heart. Which God knows all about right?
So does that feeling of pride then render the original act meaningless because it’s something I should have done anyway?

 

[De_Maria]

This is something that worries me from time to time. See I’m always super pleased with myself when I know I’ve taken the right path in a given situation. I don’t tell people all about it but I’m secretly pretty smug in my heart. Which God knows all about right?
So does that feeling of pride then render the original act meaningless because it’s something I should have done anyway?

God is the Judge. There’s no way for us to know whether your pride is such that it would nullify your good deed. But, it is something that you might want to bring up with your Confessor.

 

[Brian_K]

The fact that you’re aware of the pride is huge, and a sign of humility.

None of us will ever have perfect humility this side of heaven. Being of the earth as we are, everything we thing and do will always be somewhat mingled with earthly connections.

But pleasing the Lord pleases you…that’s Charity right there! Or at least Piety. In other words…sounds to me like you and God are in sync, my friend!