We have looked off and on at Luke 17:3-4 about forgiveness and repentance and going to the one who has sinned, bringing in Matthew 18:5. Now we look at some additional teaching from Jesus on forgiveness, that comes after these verses. I will share this with you as two short sermons.
Does forgiving others seven times in a day require you to be super-spiritual? Luke 17: 5-6
We start with v. 5 –
“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’”
This verse picks up from v. 4 where Jesus taught the disciples to forgive seven times in a day. The apostles must have thought – ‘That’s impossible!’ ‘Who can do this?’ ‘You would have to be super-spiritual; you would have to have great faith to do this teaching.’ And so their response is to ask Jesus, “Increase our faith.”
This is similar to the objection they raise when Jesus teaches them about divorce and remarriage. “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry” – Matthew 19:10. And it is also similar to their response to Jesus’ teaching on wealth. “When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’” – Matthew 19:25. So also here, Jesus tells them something that seems impossible to them, and they react to it.
Jesus’ response comes in v. 6.
“And the Lord said, ‘If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this Sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.’”
Lets look at what this means. First, we are dealing with proverbial imagery here:
- A grain of mustard seed was proverbial for something really small.
- Despite most translations (mulberry tree), Jesus seems to be referring to the sycamore tree, which was a large, deeply rooted tree that was used in proverbs as well, to talk about something that is difficult to move.
In this case, the idea is to speak to it so that it is uprooted and planted into the sea. This would be a spectacular sight! Mark and Matthew, in other contexts, have a similar saying where you speak to a mountain and cast it into the sea. This saying (and the others) is not meant to be taken literally. It is a proverb. It speaks of doing the impossible. Jesus means – if you have even the smallest faith, you can do the impossible.
On another level, Jesus is addressing a misconception about faith in v. 6. The apostles don’t understand the way that faith works. You don’t sit back and wait until you get enough faith so that it seems easy. You act on the faith you have – in the midst of it being difficult. And that’s how your faith grows. So their question is a bit odd. They don’t need to receive something. They need to do something with what they have already received.
Putting all this together, Jesus’ answer to the apostles is this: To do the impossible (or what seems impossible to you) all you need is to act on even the smallest amount of faith.
With regard to the difficulty of forgiving someone seven times in one day, you don’t need to be super-spiritual, or have unusual faith. You just need to act on the faith you have.
This teaching, in these verses, has to do with forgiving others seven times in a day. But it certainly applies to lots of things Jesus teaches, which seem really hard to us: Not seeking wealth, but giving it to the poor; not worrying about our economic future, but trusting in God to provide; practicing nonresistance and loving our enemies; not judging others or speaking angry words that tear others down; being faithful in difficult life circumstances; or fulfilling a special calling that God has given to you.
The message to us from these verses is that – yes, what Jesus teaches is hard. It may seem impossible to us. But if we exercise the little faith that we have and step out – we can do it.
Does forgiving others seven times in a day qualify you for special recognition? Luke 17:7-10
This passage connects with the preceding verses of Luke 17 in that it addresses the apostles’ misunderstanding that only the super-spiritual can practice forgiveness in the way that Jesus teaches. The implication being that people that can obey such hard teaching would deserve special recognition from God. The logic goes like this – you would have to be super-spiritual to forgive someone seven times in one day. And those who are so super-spiritual would surely deserve something special from God in terms of reward.
We begin with v. 7 –
“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table?’”
We are dealing with the culture of that day where household slaves were not uncommon. In this case we have a farmer with one slave who does both outside and inside chores. The question is, after the slave has worked outside all day, will you stop and feed him? Will you do something special for him for doing his work? The answer is clearly expected to be “no” in this context.
Vs. 8-9 say,
“Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?”
In this context, the slave does not gain credit for doing what he is supposed to do, which is to work hard. He worked outside all day and then has to come inside and cook for his master before he can relax and eat.
Even though he does this hard work, there is no social obligation or debt created on the part of the master so that the master would say, ‘You have worked hard, let me give you some special recognition.’ Working hard is what slaves do.
Then comes the punch line in v. 10 –
“So you also, [you are slaves to God] when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
God doesn’t owe us any thanks or any debt when we do what he tells us to do, even if it is hard. In fact, even if we obeyed God perfectly all our lives – which none of has done or will do – God would still not owe us anything. We are still only doing what are supposed to do in the first place.
The specific application here is, do you get special recognition for forgiving others seven times in one day; for being supposedly super-spiritual? No. You are only doing what you are supposed to do as God’s slave!
Again, this teaching, in these verses, has to do with forgiving others seven times in a day, but it certainly applies to lots of things Jesus teaches – which seem really hard to us: Not seeking wealth, but giving it to the poor; not worrying about our economic future, but trusting in God to provide; practicing nonresistance and loving our enemies; not judging others or speaking angry words that tear others down; being faithful in difficult life circumstances; or fulfilling a special calling that God has given to you.
The message to us from these verses is that when you start stepping out in faith and are doing the impossible on a regular basis – don’t think that you deserve special credit from God. Don’t get a big head. You are only doing what you are supposed to do.
William Higgins
Christian teaching 