Donatello – The Prophet Habakkuk (1386?-1466)
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
First Reading – Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
Psalm – Psalm 37:1-10
Epistle – 2 Timothy 1:1-14
Gospel – Luke 17:5-10
Today’s readings call us to believe in God’s ability to make the impossible possible. Habakkuk is called to patience and faith in the face of incomprehensible evil. Paul encourages Timothy to endure in power and love, guarding the truth of the gospel. Jesus teaches that faith thrives in simple obedience in Luke’s Gospel
Faithfulness, endurance, patience—these are the themes of walking the faithful life with God. For the people in the prophet’s time, it was to endure in faithfulness through generations in exile. In the time of Jesus, it was for the disciples to find their way to trust in Jesus, because Jesus couldn’t just give them the ability to magically trust and be faithful. For Paul’s day and following, it was for the followers to continue to live in faith by what they had been taught and had witnessed. For us, we are called to be faithful because of our tradition, our teaching, but also still, hope for the New Day, which began long ago and we can read through the prophets, through the Gospels, and through the Epistles: hope that God will continue to do a new thing, and that we will remain faithful to God.
Everywhere we turn, we see the need for reform. Sometimes our society seems like a house we can’t get clean. We get one room in order, but then another confronts us with disarray. If we improve the environment, we still have problems with education. If we manage political reform, we are still troubled by the unjust allocation of resources or the abuse of children.
Our frustration with the public scene can be mirrored in our own lives. There we find the same ups and downs: a career achievement offset by a damaged relationship; progress toward a personal goal–the setback of an illness. How does faith view this roller coaster?
In today’s gospel, Luke consoles us with the good news that even minimal faith will suffice in the face of both worldly concerns and our own particular challenges. To the apostles who picture grandiose schemes, Jesus offers the image of a tiny seed. Perhaps we won’t reform the world in our lifetime, he seems to say. What matters more is the simple service, the generous response to the demands of our particular situation. Jesus uses the ordinary example of providing food and drink, a service many people perform so often we don’t even think about it. Faith transforms duty so that even our unconscious efforts nurture many.
Peace activist John Dear writes: “Without our faith, nothing happens. The mountainous violence of the world doesn’t budge. But with our faith–behold! All things become possible. Non-violence. Disarmament. Justice.” The scriptures offer us confidence, vision, reassurance. How do they clarify our own vision?
These passages point to the importance of living in the spirit of Jesus and aiming high in our faith journeys. Aiming low leads to personal and social destruction. In contrast, a life of faithful discipleship creates circles of well-being that transform families, communities, and nations
II. Summary
First Reading – Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
We don’t know much about Habakkuk. It is surmised from his writings that he was, perhaps, a member of the temple choir (cf. 1:2-2:4). This reading features a dialogue of some bravado between the prophet and God. The setting is around 600 B.C.E. God’s people are in trouble. They have been unfaithful, and another nation is making war against them
In a time when Judah, the southern part of Israel, was threatened by enemies from without and by moral and social corruption within, Habakkuk struggles to understand God’s ways and timing. He cries out about God’s apparent toleration of injustice and violence. God explains that the Babylonians will be the instrument of God’s judgment.
Habakkuk then complains that, while Judah was corrupt, Babylon was even more unrighteous. How could a holy God send the wicked to devour God’s chosen people?
God answers, not in explanation, but in assurance; the time of full vindication will come. Meanwhile the righteous shall “live by their faith”–not mere theological belief, but faithfulness, steadfastness and absolute trust
Habakkuk is known for his views on vision—moving away from the law because the people won’t follow it, and moving instead towards vision. Vision gives us hope. Vision points the way. Vision says to live by faith, that though things are terrible now, God will see the people through if they wait in faith. The selection closes with “the righteous live by their faith.” Living by faith is living with vision, a vision that moves us forward and points us in the right direction. It may take a while, but we will see that God has seen us through.
God asks that he write the vision and make it plain on tablets. It needs to be clearly incised so that a runner may see it. The message is similar to the reading from Lamentations in Track 1 – wait for it. God seems anxious that the people wait and seek after God. The component that is necessary is not right action necessarily but rather faith – a faith that is revealed in faithfulness. Righteousness is seen on this waiting attendance upon God and what God will reveal.
Psalm – Psalm 37:1-10
Psalm 37:1-9 sings of trust in God. If one trusts in God, they commit their life to God and to God’s ways, and God will lead you through life. The psalmist reminds the listeners to remain faithful and to be patient, and not to turn to anger, wrath and revenge—those ways lead to evil, but remaining faithful to God will bring peace.
This psalm is an acrostic, with two lines devoted to each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The psalm is written as a wisdom psalm with the notion that though the wicked seem to be better off – do not be jealous of those who do wrong – they will soon get their just reward – for evil doers will be cut off.
There are striking images in the psalm, the withering grass, the fretting of the righteous, dwelling in the land and feeding on its riches. There must have been a great deal of looking at the successful cultures that surrounded Israel. It appeared that their gods allowed for Canaanite prosperity. The psalmist asks the people to repent of (turn away from) such gazing over the fence, and to focus on the land that God has given them, and to enjoy the riches of the land
Epistle- 2 Timothy 1:1-14
We have moved from the first letter to the second letter to Timothy. There are several clues from this letter that indicate that the Church was settling down and defining itself. Timothy received the “gift of God” (v. 6; Greek, charisma) by the laying on of hands/
The veteran Saint Paul had made the young Timothy a bishop by the laying on of hands, the gesture we still use in confirmation, ordination and the anointing of the sick. The laying on of hands conveys God’s presence in ways that renew our spirits and give us power to be God’s agents of creative transformation.
Timothy received gifts of the Spirit then, but he is responsible for choosing to exercise them (stirring them into flame). Paul refers to his own imprisonment, and does not want that condition to bring shame on his protegé Timothy.
Paul writes to encourage Timothy to live out his calling. Paul gives thanks for the faith of Timothy’s mother and grandmother, who have been this young man’s models in discipleship. Paul is able to face his sufferings because of his faith in Christ. He knows that whether he lives or dies, he belongs to God. God’s vision of salvation in Christ nurtures and sustains him and enables him to face suffering with hope.
2 Timothy 1:1-14 begins with encouragement to the praising Timothy’s faith, and acknowledgement that grace given by Jesus has been available since “before the ages began” (vs. 9). In other words, this Christ has been in the beginning with God and has been with God throughout time and history, revealed through the person of Jesus who has now risen, and is now being lived out through the gospel that Paul proclaims. Be faithful to Jesus but also to the teaching of Paul, for there are teachers of another gospel out there. He is encouraged to be strong in the face of those who are diluting the Gospel, or teaching strange interpretations of the Gospel.
The faithful life is not easy, and there is suffering, but God will see us through if we are faithful.
Paul gives thanks for what exists between him and the church, and between him and his protégé, Timothy. He rehearses the history – Paul’s personal history that leads him to Christ, but that does not necessarily cause him to completely abandon his past. Paul sees Christianity and Judaism as in continuity.
Gospel – Luke 17:5-10
This section of Saint Luke’s gospel gives us two of Jesus’ sayings: one about faith and one about how demanding it can be to live as a disciple.
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.
The image about the tree is a great exaggeration, emphasizing that the issue is not the power of faith, an unquantifiable concept, but the power of God. Faith commands according to God’s will. He’s responding in a ridiculous way to a ridiculous question by the disciples. They either have faith or don’t.
It’s about outrageous obedience. The disciples hopefully will see the connection of obedience and faith. What is their obedience like (a Mulberry tree) or their faith (a mustard seed – small)? Jesus reminds them that only a little faith can transform the world.
The parable in the second paragraph, found only in Luke, is based upon the hard reality of a slave’s existence but it is based on slave’s duty. Jesus is placing their request, increase our faith, in a social context. Is their discipleship a competition or a seeking after wisdom? Jesus explains what kind of service they have volunteered for – the service of a slave.
It describes a common scene among the people and that in the class understanding of that day, there is no way a slave would eat at the table. Now, in other places, Jesus might have told this parable differently and talked about the first being last and the slaveowner inviting the slaves to the table, but that wasn’t the point he was trying to make. He was just pointing out the obvious that if they follow Jesus and his ways, that should be enough to trust him and to have faith, just as a slave ought to do in their society of that day.
The passage smacks of hyperbole both in its description of tree-moving faith and its chiding the disciples as “worthless slaves” for just doing their duty.
Luke suggests that faithfulness and loyalty to Christ’s way are not optional, but mandated for believers. Faith is a lifestyle as well as a belief system. There are certain things that Christians simply do because they are Christians! We need to expect great things of ourselves and great things of God. We are not to settle for such half-hearted sentiments as “Christians aren’t perfect, they’re just forgiven,” but aim high in our ethic and spirituality. We are to aspire after lives of holiness and wholeness, living with our imperfection and knowing
Increasing faith emerges in the everyday events of life. . Faith is a matter of life – it is a “how” and not a “what.” Belief finds its fulfillment in our responses to ordinary events. The word is made flesh at the work place, driving a child to school, dealing with conflict, and facing the challenges of difficult relationships or challenging family situations.