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S. Pentecost 17.25 Luke 17:1-10

‘So you also, when you may have done all that you were directed, say that we are worthless servants; we have only done what we were bound to do’.

Or, as Luther put it in a note by his death bed, his last words, summing up the whole Gospel in a nutshell: “it is true; we are beggars after all”.

I complain a lot! about bible translations because every major English translation (starting with the King James 1611) was done by Calvinist majority committees who wouldn’t recognize the actual Gospel of Jesus Christ if it jumped up and bit ‘em in the butt!

But this Gospel today’s butchered beyond belief! I had to do major surgery and simply going through the corrections hopefully will help you see how the Calvinist bias destroys the Gospel that Jesus came into the world to save sinners gratis, and—instead of a safe haven for sinners—makes the church a coolie labor camp for the self–righteous prigs who need no repentance…

You could pull out an ESV bible that I sometimes wonder why I leave in the pews uncorrected?, and follow along. If you have a pencil, you could write in the corrections (if you have decent handwriting 😉 like that scene in “Dead Poets Society” where Robin Williams has the boys rip out the bad pages. The ESV isn’t quite that bad; and, with a sharp pencil, we can fix it and in the fixing maybe see what Jesus is actually telling us—where we really stand with him. (And, as you are able, pull up Step Bible on your phone and read the Greek).

But you can also just let art flow over you 😉

“And away we go!”

The first sentence is not—as the ESV has: “Temptations to sin are sure to come, and woe to the one through whom they come.” The Greek reads (like Yoda—Jesus sounds exactly like Yoda! throughout the scriptures; actually, everyone sounds like Yoda in the scriptures. It’s how those old-timers talked, back then 😉 “Mmm, mmm; Impossible it is, the scandals not to come! But woe to the one by whom they come!”

First off, it’s not “temptations to sin” but literally σκανδαλα—scandals—in Greek! Which are, in Greek, exactly what they are for us: miserable things that trip us up literally and metaphorically. Also, it might seem like a small thing—turning a negative into a positive—but it shows a Calvinist view of original sin and of God’s grace, right off the bat. It makes it sound like the Sovereign God is sending scandals our way, fast and furious, and we’re just puppets dancing on the strings he pulls for good and evil, but… NO!

It was Adam and Eve’s sin that scandalizes us (and God) and it’s impossible (without destroying us!) for the scandals not to come! But woe to the one by whom they come! (Father Adam, we’re looking at you, Dude!) And a scandal is not a ‘temptation to sin’. Nah, it’s unbelief—stubbornly rejecting God’s Word and ways and going our own way while demanding others get on board or get out of our way!

The millstone around the neck would just get the scandalizer to hell quicker and make the way for the rest of us a bit less fraught—like taking out the trash 😉

The next problem is a Greek textual one. Jesus says if your brother sins against you in the Byzantine text tradition which the early and medieval church all followed until the 19th century when they liked the novel Alexandrian text which leaves out the quite important “against you”. But, we’re not appointed as hall monitors to keep our brother in line! The only sin we need to pay any attention to is the one our brother specifically does against us!

The Greek for “sin” here isn’t scandalize, BTW, but αμαρτη which the ESV kinda gets; but, it’s not indicative mood! NO! It’s an aorist active subjunctive—so not “sins” but may sin—a possibility, not something inevitably our brother is always doing all the time because “Anyone who believes in total depravity can’t be all bad!” 😉

Next: a theological issue that befuddles us and the Apostles. If our brother sins against us 7 times in the day and seven times says “I repent!” you must forgive him! The Apostles respond: “Increase our faith!” The Apostles immediately recognize they do not have enough spiritual resources to do that, and ask for a faith increase…

But Jesus clears up their confusion that faith is something greater or lesser and lets us know faith is an ON/OFF switch!—an EITHER/OR—you’ve got it or you don’t. No doing sizes on faith!

By saying: “if you had faith like a mustard seed you could say to the mulberry tree, ‘be uprooted and cast into the sea’, and (here’s another translation correction!) NOT “it WOULD obey you” but the Greek is υπηκυσεν αν υμιν “it might heed you”. The ESV leaves out the Greek αν—a marker for a hypothetical situation.

Jesus is not saying, “If you have faith you can uproot mulberry trees, and make them fly a hundred miles, and land ‘em in the sea!” NO! He’s saying if you had ANY FAITH AT ALL!, you could say to the mulberry tree ‘be uprooted and cast into the sea’ and hypothetically speaking, under certain conditions, it just might give hear to you. I just noticed the αν Friday prepping the sermon and what a massive difference it makes!!!

Simply put: if you have faith, you won’t need to be uprooting mulberry trees and casting them into the sea—unless a strange set of circumstances occur in which it is obviously God’s will that you do this. It never happens in holy scriptures, so I think it is highly unlikely the faithful will ever need to do that. But, of course, as Paul says: “Judge for yourselves!”. The day may come! I pray, all the time, it might come for me 😉

Finally, in the end, vs. 9, the master doesn’t thank the dutiful slave. The word is GRACE! Does the master GRACE us for doing what he directed? NO! God’s grace comes gratis! without our works or deserving!!!

Then, another subjunctive rendered as an imperative: “when you may have done all you were directed, say”—not ‘unworthy’ but literally “say we are worthless slaves; we have only done…” not our ‘duty” but “what we were bound to do!”

Here is Luther’s masterpiece, “Bondage of the Will”! We are worthless slaves; and if we do as God directs, it is not our doing but our bondage to Christ that compels us to walk his way (though highly imperfectly!) in a way that brings us no ‘just desserts!’

Calvin thinks the elect are puppets directed by God—a Sovereign Totalitarian Tyrant—and grace is a power like the Force that enables us to do what God commands.

And we’re back to where we started. Luther sees our true state as lost, straying sheep whom the Shepherd forgives gratis; and as beggars after all, picks us up and carries us home. And, by grace through faith in Jesus alone, the Peace surpassing all understanding guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.