Reflection on Luke 17:
5-10
by John
Gibbs, PhD
The contemporary quest for spirituality
often hopes to receive “faith” passively without actively undertaking
what the Presence does. As the apostles said to the Lord, so
many contemplatives on retreat say ‘til this day: “Increase
our faith!”
But the contemplative life is
neither so passive nor so simple, as Jesus’ response insists.
It’s a matter of doing (v. 10). It’s a matter of living in whatever
circumstances the life of the kingdom of God 17:21). It’s a
matter of some neighbor’s repentance receiving our forgiveness
(17:1-4), time after time. It’s a matter of enacting all that
we Christians were ordered to do, and doing so as faithful servants
rather than as seekers for our own prizes and rewards (17:7-10).
As Eugene Peterson has insisted,
Christian spirituality is not about us and our fulfillment,
but about God and the fulfillment of God’s purposes. Words of
faith are worked out in community action, and in deeds of faithfulness
to our neighbors, all creaturely neighbors including the human
ones.
Our contemplation leads to the
making of “transparent lives” that faithfully make clear God’s
redemptive purposes in this world.“Congruence” develops between
what we do and how we do it, between our words and our deeds,
between our inner life and the kind of world we build around
us. [See Peterson, “Transparent lives: the contemplative Christian,”
The Christian Century, Nov. 29, 2003; Vol. 120, #24,
pp. 20-27.]
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