Today is World Communion Sunday, and
we’ll gather with believers around the world for the great feast of
the church, Holy Communion. As we partake of bread and wine we’ll
be pressed to remember that Jesus is faithful to us, and that he
calls us to be faithful to him.
It is fitting that the Lectionary takes
us this day to the story of another meal, the final in a series that
began in a contentious dinner party with Pharisees. It is an ordinary
meal prepared by a lone servant after a hard day of work in the
field. He came in, not to sit down and rest before a table already
prepared, but to work again by cooking and cleaning for the master.
He did what he was expected to do. And he was faithful.
Webster defined “faithful” as firm
in adherence of duties, exact in attending to commands; true, exact,
in conformity; constant; true, worthy of belief. According to Jesus
this is the minimum that is expected of his followers.
The tension, of course, is with the
Pharisees with whom Jesus had been contending. He essentially told
them in no uncertain terms, both through a series of rabbinic stories
and direct speech, that due to their unfaithfulness they would no
longer be stewards of God’s kingdom. They were no longer invited to
supper “in Abraham’s bosom” because they had not been faithful.
Having had enough of their
self-righteousness, Jesus turned again to the disciples. “It is
impossible that no offenses or stumbling blocks should come,” he
said, “but woe to them through whom they come!” In other words,
woe to the Pharisees who strain at gnats and swallow camels, who
refuse to enter the kingdom and stand in the way of those who would
like to (Matthew
23:1-36). He told them it is better to wear a 100-pound millstone
necklace in deep water at high tide than to cause the unsteady in
faith to be offended and fall away. Apparently the Pharisees were
being custom-fitted for the latest in millstone fashion.
If someone offends you, Jesus said,
warn him. But then forgive him. As often as you have to. This is the
function of grace within the community, when others cross boundaries.
Correct and forgive. Or as Paul put it, speak the truth in love.
Apparently this was a tall order for
overwhelmed disciples. “Increase our faith,” they requested.
Jesus responded that little faith was needed to do great things, like
uproot trees and plant them in the sea. Then he described what it
means to have faith, or to be faithful.
The scenario is a lone servant, working
for the master in the field all day. Jesus asks, “If you had a
servant, plowing or tending sheep, would you fix supper for him and
have it ready when he comes in?” Of course, the answer is no. that
would be ridiculous. The servant would finish his outside work and
then come in to do the inside work, preparing supper for the master.
Only after the master is finished eating can he sit down, eat, and
rest.
Another question. Does the master thank
the servant for working first outside all day and then inside
preparing meals? Again, the answer is no. It is his duty. It is what
is expected. That is the mark of servanthood. It is the mark of
faithfulness: knowing what to do, and doing that.
Paul the apostle coached
protégé Timothy in much the same way. Calling attention to
Timothy’s genuine faith, Paul reminds him to “stir up the gift of
God that is in you.” God has given us grace in “spirit of power,
and of love, and of a sound mind” to accomplish the work of the
kingdom. Hold fast, he urged, to the pattern of sound words taught in
faith and love through Christ Jesus. That is, remain faithful.
Habakkuk the prophet, weary from years
of oppression from foreign powers, asked
God how long the violence would continue. God replied, “write
the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads
it.” God clarified it was for an appointed time and that
Habakkuk should patiently wait for it. Then he said, “the just
shall live by faith.” So remain faithful.
To be faithful is to remain constant
and true to what we have been given to do, and to not expect special
treatment for doing what is required. Jesus said, “When you have
done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are
unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”
Jesus’ Pharisee dinner partners in
Perea missed that. They thought their personal piety alone would gain
them special seats in the eternal banquet. As it turned out, they
didn’t even get kitchen duty and a chance at the leftovers. They
weren’t faithful.
Jesus is calling his church to be
faithful to his command to transform the broken world, and we have
much work to do. Today, as we come before the table set for us this
World Communion Sunday, let us receive elements of bread and wine
remembering that through life, death, burial, and resurrection of our
Lord Jesus we have a Lord to follow and a work to do. Let us remain
faithful to that work, remembering that we are unprofitable servants,
doing what is our duty to do.
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