Reflective Reading: Luke 17
After telling the story of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus continues His thought in chapter 17 of Luke. Keep in mind, chapter breaks did not exist in the original Scriptures! Here Jesus says to His disciples:
“It is impossible, but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
And the Apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:1-10).
Jesus makes it clear that greedy and selfish people, like the rich man, are going to offend, but in the end, they will receive their just rewards. The rich man received hell. Jesus then shifts His teaching to the disciples regarding forgiveness. He tells them to not just forgive but forgive generously and often—even multiple times in the same day!
I don’t know about you, but dealing with a person who offended me seven times in one day is exhausting. Unlike Lazarus, I have always tried to distance myself from people like this.
Did you ever wonder why Lazarus stayed near the rich man’s house, knowing he had never received even a crumb from his table? Is it possible that Lazarus was more than a beggar in this story? Indeed. I believe Lazarus was God’s living message to a rich man. Lazarus was the rich man’s opportunity to obey God and comfort a soul in need.
Sadly, I can identify with the rich man. I imagine him looking at Lazarus without pity and thinking, “If he’d only get a job and work, he wouldn’t be in this state.” Or perhaps, “He must have done something to deserve the state he’s in.” Or “If he’s anything like the last three homeless people I tried to help, he can remain a filthy beggar.”
It would be easy to accept that Lazarus made poor life choices and deserved his begging condition. But that judgment is up to God. What is up to us is how we treat those who offend. It does seem to be, however, an unreasonable request to have to endure—and even forgive—the repeated offenses of a narcissistic person every day. That is why the disciples, unable to contain themselves, cried out, “Lord, increase our faith!” Crying out makes sense, but asking to increase their faith makes no sense to me. I would have said, “Lord, keep obnoxious people away from me!” Or at the very least, “Lord, increase my tolerance toward offensive people!”
Why do the disciples ask for more faith? Our modern understanding of faith carries the idea of a belief, an internal feeling, or an intellectual assent to a set of ideas someone holds firmly. The Old Testament presents faith and faithfulness as synonymous. In the book of Habakkuk, the words, “The just shall live by his faith” refer to steadfast, faithful obedience. The word faith— אֵמוּן—first appears in Exodus 17, translated by the KJV as “steady.”
“But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun” (Exodus 17:12).
The root word אֵמוּן appears in Proverbs in chapters 14 and 20:
“A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies” (Proverbs 14:5).
“Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?” (Proverbs 20:6).
In the New Testament, אֵמוּן surfaces when Jesus says:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you.” Or, “Truly, truly, I say unto you.”
This word for faith carries the idea of truthfulness, steadfastness, and trustworthiness. This is also where the word amen comes from. Each of the gospels close with this word. The writers are signing their gospels with “amen” to convey that what they just wrote was the truth, trustworthy—we can count on this. When we exercise faith, the same meaning is being conveyed.
By the first century, the word faith (pistis) took on the meaning of allegiance, relational loyalty, and covenant fidelity. When the disciples cried out for more faith, they were desperately saying they did not have enough relational capacity or “steadfastness” to carry out this order of forgiveness. If Jesus wanted them to obey this excessive command, then they needed an upgrade to their entire system!
To forgive a repeated offender seven times a day is emotionally exhausting. The disciples were saying that this new command was going to break them! But Jesus didn’t make things easier in His response. He increased their responsibility:
“If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.”
Jesus was teaching them that faith isn’t something stored up in reserve quantities. Faith is simple obedience exercised in small doses. The slightest exercise of faithful obedience is all that is required; God will do the heavy lifting from there.
This type of faith was the baseline for the disciples’ loyalty to Jesus’ teaching. That is why He gives this sobering illustration:
“Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.”
Forgiveness is just that—doing our duty, not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. Daily irritations need moment-by-moment forgiveness and daily repentance. God gave the rich man Lazarus as an opportunity to have compassion. And He gave Lazarus the rich man for an opportunity to forgive.
If we do not heed this teaching, then bitter roots will grow like the sycamine tree. Jesus uses this tree as the perfect illustration. A sycamine tree has a massive root system that is nearly impossible to uproot. Some of the roots are as large as the tree’s limbs. Not only does the root system grow horizontally, but it can also burrow as deep as thirty feet! The disciples learned an important lesson—forgive quickly and often, as they have been forgiven. For if they don’t, they will live a deeply rooted, bitter life. Deep, bitter roots destroy, but lavish forgiveness makes us whole. To bring this faith lesson to its conclusion, Jesus tells the faithful Samaritan leper in the next illustration:
“Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole” (Luke 17:19).
Sincerely,
Mark Hamby
M.S., M.Div., Th.M., D.Min.
Recommended Reading and Listening:
