5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. 7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
At the start of today’s gospel, the apostles ask Jesus to increase their faith, although Luke does not tell us their motivation. Perhaps, they want to be better people or perhaps they simply want to perform miracles – which would mean what they’re really searching for is admiration (and thus suffer from pride). Jesus’ response suggests the latter. Notice that Jesus does not give them what they ask but rather tells them how powerful even the smallest amount of faith can be.
The parable that follows relates to slavery in the ancient world, which was not based on race. In fact, owners frequently freed slaves after long service. The type of service they performed could vary greatly. Some jobs were horrible, such as working in the mines while other slaves occupied important positions in the household. Jesus asks his apostles to put themselves in the position of a slave owner and consider what they would expect a slave to do. Perhaps, this person was not very wealthy and had only one slave who had to work in the fields and in the house. No slave, of course, would be thanked for their work or invited by their owner to dine with him.
Notice too that Jesus specifies three jobs the slave is expected to undertake: plowing the field, looking after sheep, and serving food. These have featured in other parables and suggest that Jesus is really talking about church leadership. The true leader, like Jesus himself, is the servant of others. Jesus hammers home this point by switching the apostles from the role of master to that of slave in verse ten. Church leaders must act as servants to God – and they should not expect any thanks for doing the duties they are given. As Henry Wansbrough wrote in his book on Luke: everything that God gives is a gift and completely unearned by us. We should expect no particular praise or thanks for doing our job but simply feel gratitude for all we have received.
St. Joseph's Paris: Bible Study Website 