No stumbling blocks, please!

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (17, 1-6)

“Jesus said to his disciples, “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.”

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

This is the word of the Lord.

Three things came to my mind when I read this gospel selection. One: that during the whole of our life we will have to face occasions for stumbling. Two: that we are to seek repentance and offer forgiveness. Three: that to do this we need faith.

Jesus told his disciples: “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come”. We can err because we are travellers all the way, all through our life. We Christians are always reminding ourselves that we are sinners, not that we enjoy being labelled in this way. I am sure that deep down we would like to be saints, for God inscribed this command in our hearts: “Be holy, for I am holy”, and we cannot forget that we were made in His image and likeness. But we are sinners, and it is good that we accept this fact because then we can also acknowledge that we need God’s help, just like a sick person needs a doctor or as young children need their parents’ protection. Indeed, we need healing and protection. We, then, will also accept Christ’s advice in today’s gospel “Be on your guard!” “Be prepared!” Baden Powell prescribed this phrase as motto for his Scouts. And he explained: “you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty”. We Christians are not supposed to be dull and see sin everywhere. As children of God we are asked to be healthy in mind and body, and to be joyful for we are people of the resurrection.

Jesus also said: “Woe to anyone by whom they [these stumbling blocks] come!” To show how serious this is he added:  “It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” Here Jesus said “Be on your guard!” He is saying two things: first, that each one of us is to do his utmost so as not to be a stumbling block to others, not to little children, not to anybody because for Jesus the phrase “these little ones” refers to people of all ages who are trying to follow Him. Second, He is saying that we are to help those who sin to find their way back to Christ through repentance and forgiveness. I am always remembering the way Pope Francis loves to say it: “We are sinners, but we are not corrupt” and he explains that a corrupt person is not one who sins, even frequently, but one who enjoys being in sin and so does not repent and does not seek forgiveness.

John the apostle wrote: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 Jn 2, 1) On the other hand we cannot imagine that God could be a defender of the corrupt, for Jesus is the light and the corrupt are darkness. Indeed, light and darkness cannot be in the same place at the same time.

Feeling the responsibility and the enormity of what Christ told them, and being aware of their own limitations, the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith”. In his reply Jesus told them that faith is not a question of size. How can we quantify faith? Jesus told them that even faith as small as a mustard seed, which is very small indeed, can do marvellous things. It can move trees and mountains, as Luke and Matthew reported.

What Jesus is asking from us is that we put to good use the faith we have, be it big or small. I remember people selling key-chains or necklaces made out of big beautifully coloured seeds. These seeds will never bring forth any fruit for if a seed is not sown it will surely die barren. Our faith will die if we waste our time preoccupied trying to quantify it. “Be on your guard” the Lord tells us and spread the seed of your faith. It is He who will bring forth its fruit. If our faith is only a decoration we wear when convenient, we would be just as bad as people given to corrupt practices. Perhaps it would be easier for a corrupt person to convert, than the one who wears his faith only as a decoration.

Our prayer should be: “Father, teach us how to love you; teach us how to follow your Son; teach us how to lead others to the way of truth. Lord, we are people that long to see your face”. Amen.