Luke 17:1-10 "Jesus said to his disciples, "Occasions for stumbling are bound to come..."

“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.’”
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 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.
“Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? 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’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 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!’”  (Luke 17:1-10)

Comment:

Luke 17 is a collection of several unrelated teachings and one healing. This passage encompasses four distinct thoughts, the first three of which are better known from the Gospel of Matthew. The fourth is unique to Luke.

The important point of the first teaching is that “stumbling” is to be expected; we are not here to do everything perfectly, but to learn from the consequences of our mistakes so that we can continually grow stronger in spiritual expression. The consequences are far more severe if we deliberately cause others to stumble. To cause others to “sin” (in the Greek sense of “missing the mark”), because they trust us to lead them, generates greater negative energy for us than any error choices we may make ourselves.

The second teaching concerns the importance of forgiveness. If another person sins and then repents that sin—is willing to learn the lesson of the inappropriate choice—then you must forgive, no matter how many times it happens. The imperative of forgiveness is not just for the other person, but for yourself. Judgment and resentment of others are great impediments to our own spiritual progress.

The third teaching, which is also in both Mark and Matthew, emphasizes the practical, tangible and immeasurably vast power that Jesus affirms is in each of us. His disciples already have faith in God, but they lack faith in themselves, in their own intimate Oneness with God through the Christ of their being. If they truly understood the creative power of the Christ, then changing or transforming this human experience would be child’s play. Two thousand years later, that Christ potential is still within each of us—and still largely untapped.

The fourth teaching is somewhat uncomfortable for us today, referring as it does to the role of household slaves. But slavery was an accepted element of society at that time, and Jesus is able to use everything about this human experience to communicate his spiritual points. Luke, in particular, is fond of using the protocol of meals as opportunities to illustrate the importance of serving instead of being served. (And the Jesus Seminar feels that this particular passage is not authentically of Jesus but a Lukan addition.) After all, Paul is later to write that we are not slaves of God, but children of God, and if children, then heirs.

Nonetheless, if we set aside the questions of social order, there is a clear message that can serve us today. We are not to do our spiritual work—dissolving obstacles to knowing and expressing our Oneness with the divine—in expectation of reward. We are to keep the emphasis on being of service to others. It is as we serve others, and share freely our spiritual understanding, that our own rewards will express. It is easy to become very “self-centered” on our spiritual path—to believe that we must become masters ourselves before we have anything to offer others. The truth is just the opposite: we can only become spiritual masters by freely and joyfully giving and sharing with others.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed