Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Year C
The Righteous shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4)
Fr. Udoekpo, Michael Ufok
§ Hab 1:2-3;2:2-4;
§ Ps 95:1-2,6-9;
§ 2 Tim 1:6-8,13-14
§ Luke 17:5-10
The importance of faith, a supernatural
gift from God, which enables us to believe him and in the teachings of the
Church, is central in today’s readings. How do we remain faithful and trusting
in God’s plans, and believe in him, in
the midst of hardship, threats, terrorism, war, joblessness, no shelter, no
food, frustration, poverty, illnesses, temptations, corruption in some political
capitals and all kinds of injustices, prevalent in our world today. For Habakkuk, the righteous, people like
Abraham, Noah, Joseph etc, no matter what, shall live by faith. We are all
invited to share in this righteousness and to live by faith. And we do have our
personal stories when we feel God is not listening to us, or acting fast to
assist us in our troubles.
Habakkuk of today’s 1st reading
must have felt this way. In the midst of sufferings, threat of the Babylonian
armies, hunger, deprivation of his people Habakkuk says to God, “O Lord I cry
for help, but you are not listening. Actually, God was listening. It will only
take faith, patience, and humility, righteousness to realize that God listens
to us in a divine, and mysterious way! As was the case with Joseph and Mary,
during her mysterious pregnancy, God spoke to Habakkuk in a vision, in a dream,
that he was listening to his cry, prayer, lamentation, and to the plight of his
people. The Babylonians will not reign forever.
In the 2nd reading, Paul also
realize that it was nothing else, but the gift of faith from Christ Jesus that
enabled him to move without shame from being a persecutor to a believer. It was
the same faith, steadfastness in the love of the Gospel that sustained his
confidence, trust, endurance, courage, strength and self-control to proudly
bear his sufferings and hardships, including imprisonment throughout all his missionary
journeys! With faith, we can bear our temporary sufferings, and carry our
crosses to follow Christ!
And this is what Christ expects of his
disciples in today’s Gospels. When the Apostles asks the Lord to increase their
faith. Jesus says, yes, surely, if you have faith, even as little of the size
of the mustard seed, everything is possible. With faith, you could say to that
deep rooted tree be uprooted and be planted in the sea, and it will obey you.
It is all about faith, trusting in God in
the face of dangers, in the face of terrorism today, in the face uncertainties,
poverty, inequalities in our society; in the face of illnesses, and in the face
of the loss of our loved ones. Sometimes, it is easily said, that done. Let us
like Christ’s disciples, ask the Lord at this Mass, to “increase our faith.”
1.
What have we learned from the Prophet
Habakkuk?
2. Are we sometimes skeptical in matters of
faith?
3.
In moments of trials and difficulties do we
keep our faith with perseverance and prayer?
Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Year C
The Righteous shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4)
§ Hab 1:2-3;2:2-4;
§ Ps 95:1-2,6-9;
§ 2 Tim 1:6-8,13-14
§ Luke 17:5-10
Few days
ago, my last lectures of the week on the “the Prophetic Books,” was actually on
the prophecy of Habakkuk. During the lecture I was really very passionate
and enthusiastic in explaining and sharing the theology of Habakkuk. I noticed
one of my students, beaming with smile. I mean he was all lit up. You could see
the joy, and sense of affirmation on his face. When I inquire
from him, why he was smiling, He said to me “Fr. That is (i.e., the
faith story of Habakkuk) this coming Sunday’s reading,” which is today.
And beginning with
Habakkuk, the very theme, from my own point of view, that runs through
today’s reading is how do we remain faithful and trusting in God’s plans,
and gifts of believing, in the midst of hardship, threats, frustration, poverty,
illnesses, temptations and all kinds of injustices.
Each of us I
believe has personal stories that we can share on the feeling of seeming
indifference of God in the midst of dangers and frustrations. Each of us can
relate to the person and the faith story of Habakkuk. This prophet was
contemporary of Jeremiah, Nahum and Zephaniah- shortly before the Babylonian
exile. Habakkuk witnessed not only the internal problems in Judah but the
sufferings, injustices and threats of colonialism imposed on them by the
eternal forces of the Chaldeans. In the face of this, the first reading
presents Habakkuk as a man of prayer. Like Job, he is a person who pours out
his soul, mind and heart to God in prayer and songs. He prays not only on his
behalf, but on behalf of his community. He is a patriot. He takes the peoples
complaints and needs to God. But he is surprise that God has not acted as
swiftly as he would think, to punish criminals and eliminate injustices.
God being God, he
is never silence, nor reacts as human does! God gives his divine response to
Habakkuk through a vision, and divinely commands Habakkuk to write it down on a
tablet (2:2-4), so that everyone can see it. And the message of the vision,
which will come to pass at God’s appointed time (2:3a), is that the arrogance,
the bad behaviors and the injustices of the Chaldeans are just temporary. When
the end comes the righteous, the remnant and the just will live, but the
arrogant and the proud shall be punished (2:4-5).
What happens
between the times of the fulfillment of the promise given in this vision, the
end, is how we cherish this gift of faith- the ability for “the righteous to
live by faith,” while in transit to God’ fulfillment. How do we remain
faithful, steadfast, firm in love and forgiveness in the midst of hardship,
while waiting for God to act?
Being former
anti-followers of Christ, Saint is aware of these dilemma and difficulties,
too. This is why he encourages folks, in his Second Letter to Timothy, that it
was nothing else, but the gifts of faith from Christ Jesus that enabled him to
move without shame from being a persecutor to a believer. It was the same
faith, steadfastness in the love of the Gospel that gave him confidence and
courage, strength and self-control to proudly bear his sufferings and
hardships, including imprisonment throughout all his missionary journeys!
In fact, Paul
seems to also be fully aware of Habakkuk. Lamenting over humanity that seems to
have lost the sense of the Gospel Paul says in Rom 1:17, “for in it is revealed
the righteousness of God from faith to faith’ as it is written, ‘the one who is
righteous by faith will live.” In Galatians 3:11 he repeats, “no one is
justified before God by the law is clear, for the one who is righteous by faith
will live.” And the same endurance and faith is stressed in chapter 10 of the
Letter to the Hebrews (vv.37-39).
This same theme
continues in today’s Luke’s Gospel. Here, Christ recommends same faith to his
Apostles, who must see themselves as servant in the ministry. Taking up the
importance of forgiveness as a case study, Christ in the preceding
verses to this Sunday’s reading told them it does not matter how many times
injustices have been committed against you or one has been offended, you must
forgive (Luke17:1-4). The reaction is obvious in the portion we have just
read! They said to Christ, O my God, then “increase our faith,” (vv 5-10).
Of course it is
Christ’s teaching that with faith, no matter how little, one can say to a
stubborn tree like the “mulberry” move from here to the sea, and it will
happen. In fact this tree, according to rabbis has a network of complicated
root system that it will take about 600 years to untangle them. But with faith
this could be done within a twinkle of an eye.
The point here is
that with faith we can do something that ordinarily looks impossible. For
example, forgiveness! With faith one can forgive easily. With faith one
can endure hardship like Paul and his contemporaries. With faith we can relate
to Habakkuk and his contemporaries, in the face of illnesses, frustrations and
all kinds of injustices that we may experience today, in our world, society,
communities and neighborhoods. And we want to strengthen this faith by
practicing. And the best way to practice our faith is to constantly stay in
touch with Christ in Word and Sacraments, and in charitable relationship with
our neighbors. For the righteous shall live by faith (Hab 2:4).
Reflection Questions
1.
What have we learned from the Prophet
Habakkuk?
2. Are we sometimes skeptical in matters of
faith?
3.
In moments of trials and difficulties do we
keep our faith with perseverance and prayer?
