October 5, 2010
The sermon on Sunday 3rd October was taken from Luke, ch 17, verses 5 to 10. There are two passages in these verses. In the first, Jesus' disciples ask that he make their faith greater. Jesus' reply is that if their faith was only as big as a mustard seed they'd be able to make a tree uproot itself and plant itself in the sea. How literally should we take this? If the tree could uproot itself, it'd be suicidal if it planted itself in the sea so we can assume that Jesus was simply using a rich metaphor to chide the disciples for not having enough faith and for asking for more. What was true 2,000 years ago is true today; if we trusted more in God and in our own abilities and relied less on others to do things for us, we'd accomplish a lot more and be a lot more content too.
Nowadays, many people demand their rights and never consider their responsibilities or their duties. Not that long ago, doing your duty was an honourable characteristic of the majority of people but arguably and sadly that's no longer the case. The second passage speaks to this in asking the disciples to consider how a servant is treated. Not many of us have servants nowadays but many of us employ or manage staff. Jesus asks his disciples to consider how, shall we say "staff", are treated. When they do their job, they may or may not get thanks and appreciation but his point is that they should not expect any special gratiutude for doing their duty; it's what they're paid to do. In our case, doing what's right is what a Christian is expected to do. Therefore, Christians shouldn't expect to be rewarded simply for doing what's right; for doing our duty. So, don't make bargains with God. Don't say, "I'll do this for You, if You'll do this for me." And in our day to day lives, let's just do the right thing for others without seeking any reward save that of knowing we did the right thing.