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<DIV>Lk 17:5-6 Faith of a mustard seed (// Mt 17:20; Mk 11:23; Mt 21:21; Th 48;
Th 106:2; cf. 1 C 13:2) </DIV>
<DIV>Lk 17:7-10 A slave's job (no parallels) </DIV>
<DIV><></DIV>
<DIV>A brief prayer I read years and years ago is related to this text. It goes
something like: "O God, I don't pray for enough faith to move mountains. I can
get enough dynamite and bulldozers to do that. What I need and ask for is enough
faith to move me."</DIV>
<DIV><></DIV>
<DIV>I'm not sure that a lot of people really want more faith. They may want
more of the faith that will help them out – a faith that might heal themselves
or a loved one, a faith that will help them pass a test, a faith that gives them
assurance of eternal life; but do they really want a faith that will make them
more Christ-like in sacrificial giving, in sacrificial loving, in sacrificial
forgiving? I'm not sure if people want that.</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>It has been suggested that many people want only an
inoculation of Christianity – just enough of it to protect them from catching
the real thing. There is a danger in asking God to give you more faith. You
might get it – then what?</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>There was once some parents whose daughter informed them that
she was joining a Christian commune who was devoted to helping the poor. The
parents exclaimed: "We raised our daughter to be a Christian, not a
fanatic."</DIV>
<DIV align=justify>God's answer to the prayer, "Give us more faith," might make
you a fanatic – a fanatic against sinning, a fanatic about forgiving, a fanatic
about living your life as a dutiful, obedient slave of God. If you pray, "Give
me more faith," watch out, you might get it.</DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke17x5.htm">http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke17x5.htm</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Brian Stoffregen<BR>- - - - -</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT face=TimesNewRomanPSMT>
<DIV align=left>First of all, planting a mulberry tree in the sea is impossible.
It is also improbable to think</DIV>
<DIV align=left>that you could simply by believing it say to the mulberry tree,
"be uprooted and planted</DIV>
<DIV align=left>in the sea" and it would obey you. The implication of the saying
is that this impossible</DIV>
<DIV align=left>thing could be done with the amount of faith that's the size of
a mustard seed. What</DIV>
<DIV align=left>would happen if you had a </FONT><I><FONT
face=TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT>lot </I></FONT><FONT face=TimesNewRomanPSMT>of
faith? You would be able to do </FONT><I><FONT
face=TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT>incredible </I></FONT><FONT
face=TimesNewRomanPSMT>things. The</DIV>
<DIV align=left>invitation is to consider the tremendous power of a little bit
of faith and to pay attention</DIV>
<DIV>to the faith that we do have.</DIV></FONT>
<DIV><></DIV><FONT face=TimesNewRomanPSMT>
<DIV align=left>The assumption of Jesus' parable</DIV>
<DIV align=left>is that people have already received abundant and overwhelming
grace from God. The</DIV>
<DIV align=left>metaphor is not that we are slaves of God but rather that the
relationships between</DIV>
<DIV align=left>masters and slaves can help us identify dimensions of our
relationship with God.</DIV>
<DIV align=left>In each of these parables Jesus is in different ways calling
attention to dimensions of faith</DIV>
<DIV>in God and our expectations in relation to God.</DIV></FONT>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.gotell.org/pdf/commentary/Luke/Lk17_05-10_commentary.pdf">http://www.gotell.org/pdf/commentary/Luke/Lk17_05-10_commentary.pdf</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tom Boomershine </DIV>
<DIV>- - - - -</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>The metaphorical use of the master-slave relationship in a positive way is
consistent with the fact that Luke, despite its well-known emphasis upon women,
remains within a rather traditional patriarchal framework in its depiction of
the women of Galilee. For example, Peter’s mother-in-law "serves" Jesus and
those with him after he heals her (4:39), and in 8:3 several women who have been
healed do the same, although translations generally render the verb for "served"
as "provided for." </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.goodpreacher.com/shareit/readreviews.php?cat=28">http://www.goodpreacher.com/shareit/readreviews.php?cat=28</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Russell Pregeant<BR>- - - - -</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P>Remember that this whole thing began with the Apostles saying, "Increase our
trust! Increase our loyalty!"</P>
<P>And really what Jesus' response is saying is:</P>
<P style="PADDING-LEFT: 30px"><EM>Trust, and loyalty, and bonding with me don't
come in sizes. You either have it or you don't. It's like you are asking me to
increase being pregnant. You can't be more or less pregnant. You either are or
you aren't. Your silly request deserves a silly, mocking response.</EM></P>
<P>We know from the whole of Jesus' life and teachings, from his death and
resurrection, that he isn't about casting mulberry trees into oceans. That is
absurd and cheap.</P>
<P>Rather, we do know that Jesus is about bringing into reality here on
earth the realm of God. About demonstrating how to live as citizens of a distant
land called the Kingdom of God.</P>
<P>This text invites us to ponder whether we too would like to become citizens
of God's Kingdom - or not.</P>
<P>But please, whatever questions you may have about this, please don't ask
Jesus to increase your citizenship! You either are, or you aren't.</P>
<P><A
href="http://www.holytextures.com/2010/09/luke-17-5-10-year-c-pentecost-october-2-october-8-proper-22-ordinary-time-27-sermon.html">http://www.holytextures.com/2010/09/luke-17-5-10-year-c-pentecost-october-2-october-8-proper-22-ordinary-time-27-sermon.html</A></P></DIV>
<DIV>David Ewart</DIV>
<DIV>- - - - -</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>