Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Monday, March 11, 2013 Read - Luke 17:1-10 As we move into our reading for today we need to recall that Luke has been dealing with the perils of wealth. In chapter 17 we discover that Luke has attached a number of pieces to what he has told us in chapter 16 which ended with the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Luke shares some of this material with Matthew and Mark although both Matthew and Mark place the material in other contexts. The ending of our reading today is uniquely from Luke. Perhaps you have noticed that for a long time now Luke has not been following his main source which is Mark. When the journey to Jerusalem was beginning Luke followed Mark for a time and then laid Mark aside. That is still the case in this section of Luke’s gospel, however, Luke is aware of Mark and it appears that he just briefly refers back to something Mark shared right after Luke had laid him aside – that happened at Mark 9:40 = Luke 9:50. In Mark we hear Jesus’ warning that it would be better for someone to have a millstone tied around their neck and be cast into the sea than to cause a little one who believes in Jesus to sin (Mark 9:42). Instead of following Mark, Luke had set out on his own venture with his statement in Luke 9:51 that Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem. Seven chapters have gone by with scarcely a word from Mark! Luke will pick Mark back up soon, but for now we have a brief reminder of his primary source. The point for Mark in his saying about the millstone had nothing to do with wealth. Luke places Mark’s words in this context and uses them to warn against the great peril of wealth. Readers of Luke do not want to be like the rich man in the previous story – to be so would be like having a millstone around their neck and thrown into the sea. Luke’s point is again clear. Luke follows this story with another saying he shares with Matthew. Matthew’s saying is much longer and comes in that section of Matthew’s gospel where Jesus is teaching about discipleship and the church (Matthew 18:15-22). The saying is about providing correction to a brother or sister who is sinning and the need to forgive. Luke’s use of the saying clearly has to do with his concern about the perils of wealth. If you see your brother or sister sinning and they repent forgive them – even if the sin is repeated seven times in a day. Luke has been harsh in the use of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus – now he proclaims the need to forgive the repentant ones. To this saying Luke adds another that he shares with Mark – although he finds it much later in Mark’s gospel. We have noticed before that Luke is not hesitant to rearrange Mark pulling things from a later time in Mark and moving them into a new context. In Mark Jesus has entered Jerusalem and cleansed the Temple, having cursed a fig tree on the way to the Temple and observed its withering on the way out. The disciples in Mark ask about the fig tree and Jesus ignores there question with the response, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him” (Mark 11:23). When Luke is telling the story of Jesus “purifying” the Temple, he never mentions the fig tree or Mark’s strange saying in response to the disciples’ question. We’ll say more about that when we get to that part of Luke’s gospel. At this point in his gospel Luke is once again reflecting on the perils of wealth. The disciples in Luke ask Jesus to increase their faith. Who wouldn’t ask for Jesus to do that given the hard sayings they have just heard about the perils of wealth and especially the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus? Luke’s point is that even the smallest faith is large enough. For Luke there seems to be an either/or going on – either one trusts wealth or one trusts God. Such trust is not a measure of quantity – you either have it or you don’t. Incidentally, there is a possibility that once again Luke found this saying in both Mark and in “Q” – something that we have noted to be unusual. Matthew actually tells the saying about faith as that can move mountains twice (Matthew 17:20 and 21:21). In the second instance Matthew is faithfully following Mark and the story of the fig tree. Matthew had also attached this saying to the healing of the epileptic boy – a story he shares with both Mark and Luke. Does this hint that Matthew found the saying in two places and thus used it twice? Perhaps. The saying in Matthew and Luke refers to a mustard seed which is absent from Mark. It really is of little importance whether or not the saying is in both Mark and “Q”. Luke attaches one final story at this point – a story that only Luke tells. In a way this story sums everything up regarding the perils of wealth. Jesus tells a ridiculous story of a slave who has the arrogance to think that perhaps his master will serve him upon his return from the field. We are led to imagine a scene in which a slave is fed a fabulous banquet by his master – a rich man feasting at his table! Such a thing would never happen. No, every slave knows that the proper response to their master is to say that they have only done their duty. Even the wealthy can join in such an economy of the Kingdom of God – the rich man has no right to expect to feast at his table when poor Lazarus lies at the door. There is no privileged class in the Kingdom of God!