Patrick Comerford
Next Sunday, 6 October 2019, is the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVI).
There are two sets of readings in the Revised Common Lectionary as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, the continuous readings and the paired readings.
The Continuous readings: Lamentations 1: 1-6; Psalm 137: 1-6; II Timothy 1: 1–14; Luke 17: 5-10. There is a link to the readings HERE.
The Paired readings: Habbakuk 1: 1-4; 2: 1-4; Psalm 37: 1-9; II Timothy 1: 1–14; Luke 17: 5-10. There is a link to the readings HERE.
Introducing the Readings
The Book of Lamentations is a painful account of the Prophet Jeremiah’s intense sorrow over the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. As Rabbi David Aaron writes in Inviting God In, without the Temple, the people felt ‘out of touch with the presence of God within the world and within each other.’ He describes this as ‘a real tragedy and the real reason to mourn.’
But he points out that in the depth of his pain Jeremiah realises ‘that we cannot know the joy of being alive without experiencing the pain that comes with it, and that we should be thankful for the very ability to cry, since it is a sign of our ability to laugh and feel pleasure. Together they capture the miraculous experience of being alive.’
The pain and tears of that exile are recalled in the Psalm:
By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
As for our lyres, we hung them up
on the willows that grow in that land. (Psalm 147: 1-2).
In the New Testament reading, Saint Paul expresses his worries that in his isolation his former companion and fellow-missionary Timothy has neglected the faith. Paul recalls he has the same faith as his Jewish ancestors, and reminds Timothy that he has inherited this same faith from his mother and grandmother, who were practising Jews, and this faith has been strengthened by the gifts of the Spirit Timothy received at the laying on of hands.
Isolation and the feeling of a diminishing in faith are also at the heart of the apostles’ questions that lead to the parables in the Gospel story.
Lamentations 1: 1-6:
When the Babylonians invaded Judah and occupied Jerusalem in 597 BC, they deported King Jehoiakim, Ezekiel and many leading citizens to Babylon and installed Zedekiah as their puppet king. Judah rebelled and achieved a degree of freedom until 587, when Nebuchadnezzar attacked again. This time, Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed, along with other towns in Judah, and people were deported in large numbers.
The five poems of Lamentations were written as laments in response to these events.
In this reading, Jerusalem is depicted as a widow who is mistreated and has no protection in law. Her lovers and friends are Judah’s former allies, including Egypt. Now she is a vassal of Babylon and they have become enemies.
The invasion by Babylon is seen as God’s punishment for Judah’s sins. Now God is seen as acting through Babylon, and not through Judah finds no resting, and appears to have withdrawn his promise. The Temple lies in ruins and no-one comes to Zion or Jerusalem to celebrate the festivals. Because of its disobedience, Israel’s foes are now the masters her children are captives. The leaders of the people who have escaped deportation have fled and now rule nothing.
Psalm 137: 1-6:
Psalm 137 was probably written after the return from exile in Babylon. The psalmist remembers the time when the people were deportees and sat down by the rivers of Babylon, which were fed by the Tigris and Euphrates. When their captors mocked them and called for songs praising Zion as the city where God dwells, they found it difficult to sing God’s praise for Jerusalem was in ruins.
Now, when this psalm is being sung back in Jerusalem and in the Temple, they can praise God. They are reminded not to forget God, Jerusalem and their joy.
II Timothy 1: 1-14:
Saint Paul says he was made an apostle as part of God’s plan of salvation to bring eternal life, found in Christ Jesus, to all. He explains that he worships God in continuity with his Jewish ancestors.
Recalling his separation from Timothy, he hopes his sorrow may be replaced with joy.
Saint Paul commends Timothy for his ‘sincere faith.’ The word faith occurs over 50 times in the pastoral letters, and appears in the lists of virtues in these letters. Faith includes doctrinal statements and fidelity. In rabbinic Judaism, faith is related to trust in God.
Timothy’s faith has been handed down from generation to generation, he has been given and received the gift of God through the laying on of hands by Saint Paul, but the spirit of power, love and self-discipline which he received as gifts at this time have been neglected Yet, despite that neglect, God has not withdrawn these gifts, and Paul urges Timothy to rekindle them. Timothy should follow Paul in his suffering in spreading the Gospel.
Our calling is based on God’s plan and his gift of grace, and Christ has brought eternal life. The body of faith has been entrusted to Paul until the day when Christ comes again. Timothy is urged to hand on these valuable teachings faithfully, relying on the Holy Spirit, which is present and active in us.
Luke 17: 5-10:
In this Gospel reading, we are told that our relationship with God makes obedience to God a duty to be fulfilled and not an occasion for reward.
Christ has told his followers that there will be times when they will lose their faith. But if you cause another to do so, their fate will be worse than death (verses 1-2). He also tells them that if a fellow Christian sins, he is to be rebuked. If he repents, forgive him, no matter how often he sins and repents (verses 3-4).
The apostles now speak to Christ, asking him to give them enough faith to remain faithful.
They aske for an increase in faith. But I imagine, once again, like so many other occasions, are missing the mark. They want an increase in faith rather than a deepening of faith. It is one of those moments when the people involved think that quantity matters more than quality, and Chrst replies by giving a good illustration of how they might considered the concept that in many cases less may mean more and more may mean less.
The mustard seed, is very small, while the mulberry tree is large with an extensive root system, making it hard to uproot, but it would not take root in the sea. Christ tells them that with genuine faith, however small, anything is possible. The quality of faith matters more than the quantity.
Christ then tells a parable. Slaves were expected to do their duties, and no master would absolve a slave of them. So how then could a slave eat before his master? The master stands for God and the slave for his people.
There are two Greek words for service in this short passage:
In verse 8, note how the word to serve, διακονέω (diakonéo), relates particularly to supplying food and drink. It means to be a servant, attendant, domestic, to serve, wait upon. It is the same term that gives us the word ‘deacon’ in the ministry of the Church.
In the New Testament, the service of this type of servant is different to the role of a steward or a slave. It means to minister to someone, to render service to them, to serve or minister to them; to wait at a table and to offer food and drink to the guests. It often had a special reference to women and the preparation of food. It relates to supplying food and the necessities of life.
The second word, δοῦλος (doulos), in verses 7, 9 and 10, refers to a slave, someone who is in a servile condition. But it also refers metaphorically to someone who gives himself or herself up to the will of another, those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing the Kingdom.
The Greek word translated worthless (ἀχρεῖος, achreios, verse 10) means those to whom nothing is owed, or to whom no favour is due. So, God’s people should never presume that their obedience to God’s commands has earned them his favour.
Some reflections on the Gospel reading:
It is safe to say, I do not have green fingers.
Until recently, I had no interest in the garden. I like sitting in the garden, reading in the sunshine, listening to the sound of the small fountain, enjoying the shade of the trees, and in summertime, eating out in the open.
So, it is not that I do not enjoy the garden; it is just that I have always felt I would be no good at it.
It is an attitude that may have been nurtured and cultured from heavy hay-fever in early childhood, and hay-fever that comes back to haunt me persistently at the beginning of summer.
We once bought a willow tree, put it in the back of the car, and drove back across the city, with me holding on to it, in a small Mini in the early 1980s. By the time we got home, I was covered in rashes, and my eyes, ears and nose were in a deep state of irritation.
For that reason alone, you could not call me a ‘tree hugger.’ But do not get me wrong … I really do like trees.
I relish spending time in the vast, expansive olive groves that stretch for miles and miles along the mountainsides in Crete, or in vineyards where the olive groves protect the vines.
But I cannot be trusted with trees. I was once given a present of a miniature orange tree … and it died within weeks. I have been given presents of not one, but two olive trees. One, sadly, died. The other is still growing, but it is a tiny little thing.
Perhaps if I had just a little faith in my ability to help trees to grow, they would survive and mature.
You may wonder why Christ decides to talk about a mustard seed and a mulberry tree, rather than, say, an olive tree. After all, as he was talking, he must have been surrounded by grove after grove of olive trees.
But, I can imagine, he is also watching to see if those who are listening have switched off their humour mode, have withdrawn their sense of humour. He is talking here with a great sense of humour, using hyperbole to underline his point.
We all know a tiny grain of mustard is incapable of growing to a big tree. So what is Christ talking about here? Because, he not only caught the disciples off-guard with his hyperbole and sense of humour … he even wrong-footed some of the Reformers and many Bible translators.
So, what sort of trees are referred to in this reading?
Why did Christ refer to a mustard seed and a mulberry or sycamine tree, and not, say, an olive tree or an oak tree?
Christ first uses the example of a tiny, miniscule kernel or seed (κόκκος, kokkos), from which the small mustard plant (σίναπι, sinapi) grows. But mustard is an herb, not a tree. Not much of a miracle, you might say: tiny seed, tiny plant.
But he then mixes his metaphors and refers to another plant. Martin Luther, in his translation of the Bible, turned the tree in verse 6 into a mulberry tree. The mulberry tree – both the black mulberry and the white mulberry – is from the same family as the fig tree.
As children, some of us sang or played to the nursery rhyme or song, Here we go round the mulberry bush. Another version is Here we go gathering nuts in May. The same tune is used for the American rhyme Pop goes the weasel and for the Epiphany carol, I saw three ships.
TS Eliot uses the nursery rhyme in his poem The Hollow Men, replacing the mulberry bush with a prickly pear and ‘on a cold and frosty morning’ with ‘at five o’clock in the morning.’
Of course, mulberries do not grow on bushes, and they do not grow nuts that are gathered in May. Nor is the mulberry a very tall tree – it grows from tiny seeds but only reaches the height of an adult person.
It is not a very big tree at all; it is more like a bush than a tree – and easy to uproot too.
However, the tree Christ names (Greek συκάμινος, sikámeenos) is the sycamine tree, which has the shape and leaves of a mulberry tree but fruit that tastes like the fig, or the sycamore fig (συκόμορος, Ficus Sycomorus).
Others think the tree being referred to is the sycamore fig (συκόμορος, Ficus Sycomorus), a tree we come across a little later as the big tree that little Zacchaeus climbs in Jericho to see Jesus (see Luke 19: 4). We shall come across this tree and this story in a few weeks’ time in the Gospel reading on 3 November (the Fourth Sunday before Advent).
The sycamine tree is not naturally pollinated. The pollination process is initiated only when a wasp sticks its stinger right into the heart of the fruit. In other words, the tree and its fruit have to be stung in order to reproduce. There is a direct connection between suffering and growth, but also a lesson that everything in creation, including the wasp, has its place in the intricate balance of nature.
Whether it is a small seed like the mustard seed, a small, seemingly useless and annoying creature like the wasp, or a small and despised figure of fun like Zacchaeus, each has value in God’s eyes, and each has a role in the great harvest of gathering in for God’s Kingdom.
Put more simply, it is quality and not quantity that matters.
We are challenged to pay attention to the quality of our faith, our commitment, our hope, our love, and we will be surprised by the results.
Perhaps I should be paying more attention to that small olive tree on my patio.
Faith is powerful enough to face all our fears and all impossibilities. Even if our germ of faith is tiny, if it is genuine there can be real growth beyond what we can see in ourselves, beyond what others can see in us.
Luke 17: 5-10 (NRSVA):
5 The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ 6 The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you.
7 ‘Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, “Come here at once and take your place at the table”? 8 Would you not rather say to him, “Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink”? 9 Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!” ’
Liturgical resources:
Liturgical colour: Green
The Collect of the Day:
O Lord,
Hear the prayers of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Collect of the Word:
Faithful God, have mercy on your unworthy servants,
and increase our faith,
that, trusting in your Spirit’s power
to work in us and through us,
we may never be ashamed to witness to our Lord
but may obediently serve him all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God of mercy,
through our sharing in this holy sacrament
you make us one body in Christ.
Fashion us in his likeness here on earth,
that we may share his glorious company in heaven,
where he lives and reigns now and for ever.
‘If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill’ (Psalm 137: 5) … a painting of Jerusalem in a restaurant in Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)Suggested Hymns:
Lamentations 1: 1-6:
563, Commit your ways to God
653, Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom
135, O come, O come, Emmanuel
372, Through all the changing scenes of life
Psalm 137: 1-6:
398, Alleluia! sing to Jesus
135, O come, O come, Emmanuel
Habakkuk 1: 1-4, 2: 1-4:
643, Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
509, Your kingdom come, O God
Psalm 37: 1-9:
325, Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One, is here
563, Commit your ways to God
639, O thou who camest from above
II Timothy 1: 1-14:
261, Christ, above all glory seated!
102, Name of all majesty
33, O Lord of every shining constellation
639, O thou who camest from above
175, Of the Father’s heart begotten
373, To God be the glory! Great things he has done!
Luke 17: 5-10:
563, Commit your ways to God
549, Dear Lord and Father of mankind
463, Give us the wings of faith to rise
523, Help us to help each other, Lord
446, Strengthen for service, Lord, the hands
601, Teach me, my God and King
372, Through all the changing scenes of life
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).
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