By Father Paul Nord, O.S.B.
Sunday Scripture
First Reading: Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4; Response: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9; Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Gospel: Luke 17:5-10
In Habakkuk’s prophetic text, he asks why the Lord God allows violence and injustice. Habakkuk calls out: “How long, O LORD? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not intervene.” Considering that God is all-good and all-powerful, why does God allow evil? Habakkuk wrestles with this. He asks this question directly to God. We, too, can ask this vexing question and still have sincere faith in God. Inspired biblical texts like Habakkuk demonstrate that asking this question can lead us into a deeper relationship with the God who made us and loves us.
Habakkuk 1:6 says, “Now I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impulsive people, who march the breadth of the land to take dwellings not their own.” “Chaldeans” is another name for the Babylonian Empire. After 612 B.C., the Babylonians became the dominant power in Israel’s region — between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean’s eastern shore. Habakkuk 1:12 says that the Lord God will allow the Babylonians to inflict judgment and punishment upon the residents of Jerusalem and its region who commit injustice.
Habakkuk cries out in lament to God. He sees “ruin … misery … destruction and violence” (1:2-3). But the Lord responds to the prophet: “Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily” (2:2). This is followed by five “Woe” oracles in 2:6-20. Each is a message from God that warns those who do injustice. Each warning begins with a Hebrew word that can be translated as “Alas!” or “Woe!”
The first warning (2:6) is “Woe! You who store up what is not yours!” The second (2:9) is: “Woe! You who pursue evil gain for your household!” The third warning (2:12) is: “Woe! You who build a city by bloodshed!” The fourth (2:15) is: “Woe! You who give your neighbors the cup of your wrath to drink!” The fifth warning (2:19) is “Woe! You who say to wood, “Awake!” to silent stone, “Arise!” This last “Woe” is a warning against worshipping idols — made of wood, stone, silver or gold.
In distress, Habakkuk observes these many injustices among his own people. Habakkuk awaits God’s judgment and redemption of his chosen people. This prophetic work ends with a poetic prayer (3:2-19) that describes God’s redemptive action. The prophet says to God (3:13): “You came forth to save your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the back of the wicked, you laid him bare, bottom to neck!” In thanksgiving, the prophet exclaims (3:18-19): “I will rejoice in the LORD and exult in my saving God. GOD, my Lord, is my strength!”
Today’s responsorial (Psalm 95) selects verses that contain three exhortations. First: make joyful thanksgiving to the Lord. Second: worship the Lord. Third: do not harden your hearts and rebel against the Lord.
Psalm 95 begins with an exhortation to joyful thanksgiving for the events of the Exodus, when God rescued his people Israel from Egypt. Afterwards, the people thirsted in the desert, so God instructed Moses to strike the rock at Horeb (Exodus 17:6). Then God provided water from the rock to drink. Verse 1 refers to this event: “let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.”
The second stanza (v. 6-7) exhorts them to worship: “let us kneel before the LORD who made us.” The Israelites worship God because “he is our God” and “we are the people he shepherds.”
The third stanza (v. 8-9) makes another exhortation: “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert.” This refers to the Israelites’ rebellion which provoked God to provide them water from the rock to drink (Exodus 17:1-7).
The second reading is an exhortation addressed from the apostle Paul to Timothy. Paul recalls Timothy’s sincere faith, and then says: “I remind you, to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). After Paul encountered Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9), the Holy Spirit inspired the Church at Antioch to send Paul and Barnabas as missionaries to proclaim the Gospel in new lands (Acts 13). With these words to Timothy, Paul is reminding Timothy that he has been commissioned by Paul to likewise participate in this ministry — “through the imposition of my hands.”
Today, the Church continues this sacred liturgical action during the rite of ordination of Catholic priests. Paragraph 112 of the Rites of Ordination reads: “Through the laying on of hands by the Bishop and the Prayer of Ordination, the gift of the Holy Spirit for the priestly office is conferred on the candidates.”
Paul continues his exhortation by telling Timothy to show “love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord” (1:7). This is Timothy’s mission — to give testimony to the Lord Jesus, redeemer of the world. Paul notes that he is now “a prisoner for [Christ’s] sake.” Paul exhorts Timothy also to “bear your share of hardship for the gospel.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus indicates that if his disciples had faith “the size of a mustard seed,” then in Christ’s name they would be able to command a mulberry tree to be uprooted, and “it would obey you.” According to the Strack-Billerbeck commentary, the mulberry tree was known for being particularly deep-rooted. Jesus insists that faith will accomplish even the most difficult things.
Next, Jesus describes the duties of a servant. Even if the servant has just finished working in the field, when he comes into the house, the servant is duty-bound to first prepare food and drink for his master, if that is requested. Only afterward can the servant satisfy his own need to eat and drink. Jesus teaches his disciples to do as they are commanded without complaint. He tells his disciples to consider themselves “unprofitable servants.” Jesus insists that his disciples must be humble servants, just as he also commands them to “take up your cross and follow me.”