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Luke 17:1–10 (ESV)
1 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”
It's always messy when people begin to live together, whether that’s students at a weekend retreat or a weeklong camp, college students who have roommates or housemates for the school year, or a newly married couple as they begin their life together. It’s difficult and challenging as people do “life together” (to quote Bonhoeffer), even for Christians.
This passage gives three quick teachings that serve to help believers live in Christian fellowship with one another.
The first has to do with sin and forgiveness. In the original Greek, verse one is more forceful and would be better read, “It is impossible for scandals not to come!” Jesus is warning His disciples that Christian fellowship will inevitably be a flawed community. We are, after all, flawed human beings, and Jesus sternly warns His disciples not to be the cause of sin for others.
The remedy for healing from sinfulness, Jesus says, is repeated forgiveness whenever someone confesses and repents, and here’s the thing that we must grasp; forgiveness must be unconditional, not keeping count, but rather freely given without limit just as the Lord has done for us, even if it means “seven times in the day.”
“An unforgiving spirit is a cause of stumbling in the Christian fellowship, and that ‘scandal’ can only be avoided when sins are not counted but forgiven.” James Edwards.
The disciples react to Jesus’ teaching with the sudden understanding that their faith might not be up to the job.
Jesus then gives them the second instruction of the passage; it’s not about the size of your faith, but rather it’s about acting on your faith, whether your faith is big or small.
What matters here is that they, and we, need to be centered on the Lord. It really isn’t about the size of your faith; in fact, the size of your faith is meaningless if your faith isn’t centered on Christ alone. N.T. Wright had a wonderful analogy in this regard: “If you want to see the moon, the size of the window you’re looking through isn’t important; what matters is that it’s facing in the right direction. A tiny slit in the wall will do if the moon is that side of the house. A huge window facing in the wrong direction will be no good at all. That’s what true faith is like. The smallest prayer to the one true God will produce great things; the most elaborate devotions to a ‘god’ of your own making, or indeed someone else’s, will be useless or worse.”
Finally, Jesus reminds the disciples that they, and we for that matter, are simply servants of the Lord who are to follow Jesus wherever He leads. We are not to think that our service somehow is counted to our credit, rather we are to work from grateful hearts, humbled by God’s love for us, unequivocally demonstrated in the giving and sending of His Son Jesus into the world.
Perhaps it’s humility that ties these three teachings together. Without humble hearts we will always be keeping track of wrongs suffered and the number of times forgiveness is given rather than giving forgiveness freely and without measure, we’ll always be gauging the greatness of one’s faith rather than acting in faith, and we’ll always be looking to what we’re owed from God rather than remembering the countless ways we’re loved and forgiven.
Life together is messy and challenging, but a humble heart, fixed upon Jesus, is the engine that enables us to build one another up in love as we follow Jesus together.
God bless you and know that you are constantly in my prayers!
Scott
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