Doing Our Duty - Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 20C
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
7 “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? 8 Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? 9 Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”
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Talk of
slavery is always difficult, especially in the United States, where race-based
slavery is part of our national story. It is as Jim Wallis calls it our “original
sin.” Most people in this country who are of African descent are descendants of
men and women who were brought here without their consent to serve their white
masters. It took a war to end slavery and another century to end Jim Crow. We
continue to deal with the ramifications of slavery to this day. So, reading a
parable like this one from Luke 17 is difficult. To do so a week after the
dedication of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture,
even as football players protest against injustice and oppression by kneeling
during the National Anthem, and the nation tries to make sense of two more
shootings of black men by police, this passage seems out of place. With this as
our context, what should we make of Jesus’ parable about the proper behavior of
a slave?
We
could simply focus on the parable of the mustard seed. It’s always a favorite.
There’s not too much controversial about it, especially if you assume that telling
the mulberry tree to uproot itself is to be taken metaphorically (I am tempted
to tell a few hostas to get up and move to a new location, but it’s my fault
that I planted too many of them too close together). Unfortunately, Jesus
follows up the mustard seed parable with a word about the expectations placed
on a slave. One would assume that it answers the question of faith, but still
the comparison of the life faith to a master/slave relationship should be
troubling to us. Is this really how Jesus understands our relationship to God?
Despite our discomfort, we can’t erase it. According to Luke, this is what
Jesus said to his audience. Kimberly
Bracken Long suggests that we remember the context. First century slavery was
different than American chattel slavery. In context at least some slaves worked
for a period of years and that at the end would be released from their bonds.
This is called indentured servitude. In this case you have a duty, you fulfill
it, so why would you expect to be thanked? Long writes in response that “what
Jesus describes is a relationship between master and servant that is marked by
mutual accountability and expectation. The master expects the servants to
perform their duties, and the servants, in turn, expect that when their work is
done they will receive nourishment and rest and protection” [Feasting on the Word, C:4, p.142].
I will
confess that I’m preaching on a different text this week, one that better
matches World Communion Sunday (though it also has its issues. If only Luke was
more selective in the words he chose to share from the lips of Jesus). Whether
we like it or not the parable of the worthless slave can be found Luke’s Gospel
and is part of the lection for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost. Even
with Long’s interpretation, what do we do with it?
I
titled the reflection “Doing Our Duty,” in large part because it appears that
this is the message Jesus is communicating. The life of faith (vs. 5-6) can be
seen as doing one’s duty. Jesus offers this message in response to a request on
the part of his disciples for more faith. According to the parable of the
mustard seed, they should have sufficient faith already. After all, a mustard
seed isn’t all that big! Why is such a small amount of faith sufficient? Could
it be that what we really need is obedience, unquestioned obedience? Indeed,
according to the parable it would seem that disciples are slaves of God, and should
do what is commanded.
Having
recently completed binge watching the Stargate
SG1 series, which calls into question blind loyalty to false gods, whether
the Goa'uld or the Ori, I’ve been pushed to ask why we should even offer blind
loyalty to the God revealed to us by Jesus? I’m not saying that the God I
worship is the same as the Goa’uld or the Ori, but is blind loyalty a good
thing? Is it not the foundation for all kinds of evil (as was perpetrated in
the name of the above false gods)?
In the
parable, which illustrates the life of faith, this time in a master/slave
analogy, we are told that we should not expect commendation from the master,
for “we have done only what we ought to have done!” One thing I’ve learned over the years is that
Jesus has a tendency to push boundaries. He exaggerates things on occasion. He
usually doesn’t leave clear clues when he’s doing that. Many people understand
religion in terms of duty. They go to church week in and week out because
that’s what’s expected of them. They give their offerings to the church on a
regular basis. Some give every week. They’ve been doing this since childhood.
To be anywhere else on Sunday morning would be strange for them. Of course,
this sense of duty seems to be on the decline as time passes. The younger you
are the less likely you are to see things in this way, which may explain why
many mainline churches have a preponderance of older people in the pews. For
their consistency of presence, I’m thankful!
There
is nothing wrong with duty. In many ways duty is about habits that are formed
in the course of life. They keep us going. They enable stability. In one sense
the life of faith is an adventure. In another it is a disciplined journey.
There is a pathway and there is a guide. The life of faith involves taking that
pathway and following the guide. To do otherwise is likely to lead to trouble.
The parable might appear rather stark and off-putting to us, but if we partner
it with other passages that assure us that God is loving and compassionate,
then the edge is taken off. Indeed, let us remember Jesus’ own words to his
friends and disciples as he prepared for his own death: “For who is greater,
the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the
table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27).
Let us consider this parable in light of that message. Jesus comes not as
the master, but as the servant. This is an appropriate thought for Wold Communion Sunday, for in John 13, Jesus washes the disciples feet as a sign of his station as servant. In that context we can the word that duty has
its place!
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