Homily 27th Ordinary Year C 2016: Lord I am not worthy . . . but only say the Word

Homily for 27^th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C 2016

Habakuk 1:2-3;2:2-4, 2 Timothy 1:6-8,13-14 and Luke 17:5-10

Introduction

The 9^th grade was not a good year for me.  I did not do well in school; I dropped from the top quarter down to the bottom quarter in my performance.  And so my mother and our pastor sat me down for a “Come to Jesus” meeting; that is an experience I never wanted to repeat.  So when I returned to school I was determined to do well.  And my new attitude paid off, so that at the end of the year, I came top of my class.  When I returned home and showed my report card to my mom, she was very pleased with my efforts and rewarded me handsomely with my first brand new pair of shoes and a small party.

Encouraged by my reward I returned to school the next year, eager to do even better.  And do well I did.  When I returned home with an even better report card, I expected the same royal treatment that I had received the previous year.  But to my great disappointment, this time round, there was no party, no new shoes.

Perhaps this was my mother's way of saying to me what Jesus says to the disciples in today's gospel: “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’”

Scripture and Theology

Like I found my mother's second response disappointing, perhaps we might find these words of Jesus rather harsh.  Is he suggesting that employers don't thank their employees, the oppress them?  Thankfully Jesus is speaking here, not about relations between human beings, but between human beings and God.

After all, that is how Jesus himself relates to God the Father.

• Jesus says that the Father is greater than him (Jn. 14:28). 
• Jesus always does the will of the Father who sent him (Jn. 6:38).
• And at Calvary Jesus cries out in humility: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done” (Lk. 22:42).
• Finally, just before he dies, Jesus obeys the will of the Father saying, “Into your hands I commend my Spirit.” (Lk. 23:46).

And so, if Jesus himself relates to the Father in this self-deprecating way, it is no wonder then that he expects his followers to do the same.  He expects complete obedience to God, who is like the Master and we the disciples like the servants.

But Jesus is not suggesting that God is dictatorial and oppressive, and that we must be blindly obedient and subservient!

·        In all the parables a master and servants, the masters are always kind and fair.  Yes, they are demanding, even strict, but they are never tyrants.  Their high expectations of the servants are matched by the equally generous love and patience which they shower on them.

·        Similarly in the same parables, the servants are not mere robots. They are free agents of their actions.  They choose whether or not to follow the master’s directives.  Of course when they don't, they face just consequences.  The servants, like Jesus himself, have a close and intimate relationship with their masters.

Christian Life

With today's parable and with all the parables about masters and servants Jesus is proposing a way of relating with God that avoid two extremes: the extreme of fear and the extreme of familiarity.

On the one hand a Christian who acts like the robotic servant does so, not out of love and obedience, but merely out of fear and obligation.

• This way of relating with God reminds me of Sheldon in the TV show, The Big Bang Theory.  If you have watched this show, you will recall that Sheldon does not like receiving gifts at birthdays or Christmas.  He is worried that accepting a gift from someone puts him under an obligation to reciprocate.  On one occasion when Penny gives him a gift, he realizes that his own gift to her was worth $13 dollars less than the value of the gift she gave him.  So, he gives her $13 dollars to even things out.
• Unfortunately we can have the same attitude, when for example, we come to Mass, out of mere obligation, rather than because we love God.  The reason for coming to Mass should be, as the saying goes, "on the road between the houses of friends, grass does not grow."  And so we visit the Lord's house regularly, to commune with him in his Word and Sacrament.
• Every now and then, I will see a Facebook posting, asking me to repost something, like a particular image of the Blessed Mother, within 24 hours, otherwise something bad will happen.  This is another example of relating to God out of fear rather than out of love.  Yes, God has some high expectations of Christian behaviour.  But like a good parent, he does not dish out his benefits only after having us jump through hoops or counting how many times we have punched the time card.

The God of Jesus Christ is not the kind of master who demands a pound of flesh.

On the other hand, the other extreme is when we relate to God in such a familiar manner, that we forget he is the Master and we are the servants.

• This is when, for example, we think we can do it all without God's help. We think that we can pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, without any help from God.  But Jesus reminds us that we are unprofitable servants, not in the sense that we have no part to play in our relationship with God, but in the sense that the part we play is not decisive by itself, but always relies on the help of God.
• This wrong way of relating with God also happens when because of our familiarity with him we expect him to put on the apron, sit us at table and wait on us.  This can happen when in our prayer we expect God to do our bidding, demanding that he must do this or that for us, after all we have done well in school, we have come back with a good report card.  We expect that because of our goodness, God owes us a big party or a new pair of shoes.  We must remember that we are creatures, we are servants of God, God owes us absolutely nothing.  What he gives us, especially our salvation, he gives us because he loves us, not because we twist his arm or we bribe him with our awesomeness.  We have to be good and to do good, for goodness' sake, simply because we love our God.
• Consider a married couple.  Does the husband whip out the calculator or note pad at the end of the week and count how many times he has been good to his wife, so that he can demand that she can reciprocate in equal measure?  No.  Each husband gives himself completely to his wife in love and friendship.

So must it be with us in our relationship with God: complete trust and faith, total love and commitment, without counting the cost, without any expectations.

Conclusion

In his famous inauguration speech President Kennedy told Americans to ask, not what their country can do for them, but what they can do for their country.  If I may slightly modify Kennedy's advice, I would say that it is perfectly okay for you and me, to ask God what he can do for us, as we also ask what we can do for him.  But when we ask God, let us not expect that he is going to grant our wishes in exact proportion to what we have done for him.

For we are unprofitable servants, who say: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the Word, and my soul shall be healed."