“Seemingly inconsequential”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Luke 17: 1-10 (Forward, p. 21) CEV p. 1084
Today’s passage has three sections or pericopes that may seem to be completely unrelated. However, within them there are three teachings from Jesus that have a very real connection.
The first has to do with sin and with the causes or opportunities for sin. Unfortunately, sin, as a concept or a reality, is often misunderstood. A Face Book post that I viewed this morning spoke of a young First Nations person asking an elder from her tribe about sin. This question arose because her native language did not have a word for sin. The elder replied that ‘sin’ was merely a concept that other people devised to either shame a person or manipulate that person into some sort of behaviour.
I’m afraid that this elder was quite mistaken. Sin is something quite real and not something ‘invented’ by humans. Sin, to use the most commonly used word in the Greek, hamartia, simply means to ‘miss the mark.’ And so, obviously, it doesn’t even have to be something intentional. Other words used for ‘sin’, synonyms like error, rebellion, or inequity, can have varying degrees of intentionality, but this isn’t a requirement. Sin is simply failing to meet the standard of what is expected of us, and as such, it happens quite naturally and easily as flowing from our separation from God. Cut off from Him, we simply do what we want and so ‘miss the mark’ in some way or another. As Jeannie, in “I Dream of Jeannie” television series says, “After all, I’m only human.” Yes, that is the rub: we are only human, and sin comes, rather unfortunately, as ‘part of its package.’
The first part of today’s passage builds on this idea of sin and speaks of stumbling blocks, things that we might do, that create occasions for sin in someone else. Jesus tells us that occasions for sin happen quite easily, but then says that heaven help those who create (or leave) such occasions for someone else. It is not something that we can just ‘smile’ and dismiss as unimportant. Both our eternal destiny and that of someone else are dependent upon it. It is neither small nor inconsequential in impact.
The second part of today’s passage speaks of faith, and here even a small amount of faith is reckoned as being quite consequential. But notice its context: Jesus is speaking about forgiveness and how we should forgive someone even if they mistreat or sin against us seven times in one day! T
That sounds outlandish, crazy, in fact, to the disciples, and so they ask for an increase in faith. And here is where Jesus speaks of the impact of even a small amount of faith: “If you had faith no larger than a tiny mustard seed, you could tell this mulberry tree to pull itself up, roots and all, and plant itself in the ocean. And it would!” Whoa. A little bit goes a long way. It is surely not inconsequential at all.
And in the third part Jesus speaks of the duty or service that we owe to God, and of our conscientiousness in carrying it out. It is not something that we should applaud ourselves for, as it is simply something that is expected. Nevertheless, even the small expressions of this are important to God, and not at all inconsequential. It is so easy to overlook the small things.
The small things: we can so easily overlook them. A chance word or action, totally unaware and unintended, that causes someone else to stumble, to sin, a repeated act of forgiveness, or a bit of service to God or to others: all of these are so important. And so, let us commend ourselves to these even more day by day by day.
Forward notes: “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’” (v. 5)
“Often, I shake my head at the apostles. It seems an all- too-common occurrence in scripture for Jesus to ask his friends if they understand a lesson that is hard to grasp, and they all nod and offer an enthusiastic yes. However, on this occasion, I think their response is exactly right. They don’t fight with Jesus about who deserves forgiveness and who doesn’t or whether it’s a good idea to forgive someone who keeps acting against you. Instead, their request for Jesus to increase their faith shows wisdom.
“We can’t offer forgiveness without being grounded in faith. We can’t offer love without being grounded in faith. Faith is the root from which we draw nourishment and the capacity to respond in difficult or even impossible situations.
“Sometimes, we forget that we don’t have to do the work Jesus calls us to alone: we have each other, but more importantly, we have God. We have a stream of living water to nurture and nourish so we, too, might increase our faith.”
Moving Forward: “Perhaps there’s somewhere in your life where you feel you’re being asked to go beyond your capacity. How might you lean on God?”