The Righteous Live by Faith

6 October 2019 –– Proper 22 Lectionary 27

Luke 17:5-10

When the apostles request that Jesus increase their faith, perhaps hoping that he would do something dramatic to give them more reason to believe in him, he gives them a lesson on fidelity, on how they are to relate to God, view their service to God. Faith, in Greek, pistis, is thus more than mere belief or intellectual assent to doctrines and dogmas. Pistis in the translation of the biblical books used by Greek-speaking Jews throughout the diaspora, and likely familiar to Luke’s audience, regularly translated the Hebrew word emun, or emunah (in English translated as “faithfulness,” or “fidelity”). Faith, then, is not at all about some spectacular assurance that Jesus is for real; on the contrary, it has to do with fidelity to God in the daily round of life, recognizing ourselves as servants doing our duty. However, Jesus assures us that it only takes just a tiny bit of faith, the size of a miniscule speck of a seed, to accomplish what, without any faith at all, would seem utterly impossible, perhaps even pointless. –– Lisa Marie Belz

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

A contemporary of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Habakkuk describes Judean society on the eve of the neo-Babylonian . . . invasion of Judah in 587 BCE, a time of political and judicial corruption, rampant violence and deep societal divisions. God seems remote from Habakkuk’s urgent cries for help, unable or unwilling to save the nation from its own violence, avarice and corruption. The greed of Judean society will ultimately lead to its own ruin as its deep divisions will make it vulnerable to outside forces. Ill-gotten wealth, affluence obtained unjustly, become Judah’s newest idols. Indeed, the human condition, Habakkuk observes, is like a fish attracted to bait on a hook; humans worship what will ultimately ensnare and destroy them.

Although God may seem distant, yet does the prophet stubbornly persist in his prayer, and through his persistence is able to discern God’s response and God’s action in the world and in contemporary political events, even in Judah’s enemies, even in the much-dreaded and impending invasion of the Babylonians. It is this vision of God’s action in Judah’s darkest hour that gives Habakkuk reason to hope and warn about how societal divisions can lead, to a nation’s collapse. . . . Those who persist in prayer will be able to perceive God’s action in the midst of calamity, drawing greater good from horrific tragedy, and greater life from the ashes of defeat. –– Lisa Marie Belz

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Paul knows that the grace of vocation is not to be taken for granted; it must regularly be “rekindled” if it is to be kept alive in the midst of adversity and contradiction. Christian vocation is sheer gift. . . a genuine call to spend oneself completely in service to the Good News of Jesus Christ. . . . Thus, faith, pistis, the faith of Timothy’s grandmother and mother, is more than merely adherence to doctrines and dogmas, fidelity showing itself most genuinely in the face of adversity and hardship. –– Lisa Marie Belz

Lisa Marie Belz, an Ursuline Sister, is assistant professor of Biblical Studies at Saint Mary Seminary & Graduate School of Theology in Wickliffe, Ohio.

Homily Service 40, no. 11 (2007): 3-11.