Saturday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Entrance Antiphon Ps 70 (69): 2, 6 O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me! You are my rescuer, my help; O Lord, do not delay.

Collect Draw near to your servants, O Lord, and answer their prayers with unceasing kindness, that, for those who glory in you as their Creator and guide, you may restore what you have created and keep safe what you have restored. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Habakuk 1:12-2:4; Psalm 9; Matthew 17:14-20

A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said, “Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Jesus said in reply, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour the boy was cured. Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:14-20)

Little Faith I remember watching a documentary film that was taken about a Christian sect that took to heart in a literal sense our Lord’s words at the end of the Gospel of St Mark. In Mark 16 our Lord commissions his disciples to go to the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature. There will be signs accompanying those who believe. “In my name .... they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them” (Mark 16:18). This promise is not found in the accounts of the final commissioning in the other Gospels. Luke does report that to his disciples who returned to him rejoicing at what they could do in his name, Jesus said that “nothing shall hurt you” (Luke 10: 19). This was during his public ministry. The Christian sect I refer to chose to interpret the promise of being preserved from all harm, including that from serpents, as applying to them and at all times, provided they had faith in Jesus Christ. So the filming included the terrible spectacle of poisonous snakes being brought into the gathering of worship, being handled during charismatic prayer sessions, and of their being bitten by these snakes. They believed they would not be harmed, for they had faith. One who was bitten on film died as a result. On being questioned by the disturbed journalist, one of the leaders calmly said that, well, it was a mystery. There was no talk of their being profoundly mistaken as to the interpretation of Scripture. I do not know whether they were charged with manslaughter, but it was an absurd case of a simplistic interpretation of Holy Scripture. It also illustrated the point that the Scriptures should be understood with the mind of the Church out of which they came, and which confirmed them as being inspired. Were it not for the decision of the Church well after the New Testament writings were written and compiled, we would not know for certain that they were inspired, for it was the Church that determined the Canon of Scripture. So we must read the Scriptures, including their greatest books which are the four Gospels, with the mind of the Church.

In our Gospel today our Lord is presented with a case of demon possession which could not be remedied by our Lord’s disciples. In this particular case, it seems that the disciples lacked sufficient faith, for our Lord’s response was marked. “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring the boy here to me.” After our Lord had driven the demon out at a word, he told his disciples the reason why they could not cast it out: “Because of your little faith.” Then our Lord goes on to make his point with vivid hyperbole: “Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:14-20). The word “Amen” — a Hebrew/Aramaic word transliterated into the Greek — means “truly, truly.” It is a solemn utterance, and one would think, therefore, to be taken literally. But obviously not, for what follows is a typical Hebrew hyperbole. The presence of these hyperboles in Christ’s sayings is a further indication of their authenticity. These turns of phrase obviously come from the lips of the living Jesus who speaks emphatically and with colour to the people of his own time and place. They are turns of phrase, sweeping exaggerations to drive home the point of appealing to God with confidence in his almighty power. There are many hyperboles in the Gospels. Our Lord states that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to gain entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. Jewish Talmudic literature includes the following aphorism implying unlikelihood or impossibility: "They do not show a man a palm tree of gold, nor an elephant going through the eye of a needle." In Israel the largest animal was the camel, whereas in regions where the Babylonian Talmud was written, the elephant was the largest animal. All this is to say that we must interpret Christ’s teaching with balance — and this means, in effect, according to the mind of the Church, and not simply by private judgment.

Our Lord’s words show that, in saying that nothing will be impossible to us if we have faith in God and in him, nothing is impossible for God. God is the one in whom we can have full confidence, even if he chooses to answer our prayers in ways we had not intended or foreseen. We must not be lacking in faith, nor must we be perverse. In everything we should trust him and be submissive to his will. Our danger, as our Lord makes clear, is that we will be persons of little faith. Christ wants us to have great faith, knowing that nothing is impossible for God.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection: (Habakkuk 1:12-2:4)

Faith Amid Sufferings The prophet Habakkuk presents us with a perennial problem. He cannot understand why God is treating his people the way he is, nor can he understand why the good are allowed to be mistreated by evil men. And so he stands on his watchtower, waiting for an answer to his complaints. There are very many in life who are profoundly puzzled and disturbed at the way God appears to be treating them. They have tried their best in life, and now they appear to be treated terribly by life. It could be an awful sickness involving a lot of pain and in convenience. It could be some sudden and unfair loss of possessions. There seems to be no explanation.

Now Habakuk received an answer to this question (2:4). It was not an explanation of the problem as to why God allows such things to happen, but it was guidance as to what to do. The upright man will live by his faithfulness to God. So then, cleave to God amid sufferings. Cleave to him in faith amid all the difficulties.

(E.J.Tyler)

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