My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, grace and peace be with you.

Today, on this 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we hear a challenging and profound Gospel from Luke (17:5-10). It is a teaching from our Lord that speaks directly to the demands of Christian discipleship in any age, including our own. This passage gives us two key lessons: a lesson on the power of faith and a difficult lesson on the true meaning of humility in service.

The Power of a Mustard Seed

The Gospel opens with the Apostles, feeling overwhelmed by Jesus’s recent teaching—especially the radical command to forgive a brother who wrongs us seven times in a single day. They respond with an honest cry: “Lord, increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5).

They felt inadequate. They thought they needed a super-sized faith to handle such a monumental task.

Jesus’s reply is a masterful re-orientation. He uses the image of the tiny mustard seed and the uprooting of a deeply-rooted mulberry tree. He is telling them, and us: You don’t need more faith; you need to trust the power of the small faith you already possess.

The issue isn’t the quantity of your belief; the issue is the quality of the object of your belief. The power lies not in the size of the seed, but in the power of the soil and the God who makes it grow.

For Today’s Society

In our modern world, we often feel like the Apostles. We look at the great “mulberry trees” of our time—the deep roots of violence, division, injustice, and personal sin—and we cry out, “I don’t have enough faith to change this!”

Jesus’s message to us is to stop waiting for a heroic, once-in-a-lifetime burst of spiritual power. Start acting with the small, genuine faith you have right now. The call of a disciple today is to:

Forgive the person who hurt you yesterday.

Serve that one neighbor who needs a helping hand.

Pray that one consistent prayer for justice or peace.

That is the mustard seed in action. Don’t worry about moving the mountain; worry about using the faith God has already given you to take the next faithful step.

The Humility of the Unprofitable Servant

Jesus immediately follows the lesson on faith with the challenging parable of the slave returning from the field. After a long day, the master does not thank him or release him to eat; he orders the servant to prepare dinner and wait on him first. Jesus asks: “Does he thank the servant for doing what was commanded?” (Luke 17:9). The implied answer is no.

The lesson ends with this difficult line: “So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.” (Luke 17:10).

This is not a teaching about poor labor practices. It is a teaching about attitude and discipleship.

For Today’s Society

This parable is a powerful counter-cultural message to a world obsessed with merit, recognition, and reward. It is a necessary check against spiritual pride.

Service is Not a Transaction: God owes us nothing for our obedience. Our service is not a transaction for which we earn a bigger heavenly paycheck or special thanks. It is simply the expected duty of a child of God, a creature responding to the goodness of the Creator.

The Mark of Humility: As Christians, whether we are a priest, a parent, a teacher, or a travel advisor, we must resist the temptation to believe God needs us or that our good works somehow make us superior. When we serve, when we give, when we forgive—even when we do mighty things in Christ’s name—our final word must be, “I only did my duty.”

This humility sets us free. It frees us from the need for external praise, it frees us from becoming resentful when our work goes unnoticed, and it frees us to be what we are truly called to be: faithful, humble instruments in God’s hands.

So let us pray today for the grace to use the small, powerful faith we have, and the humility to be tireless, yet joyful, servants of the Lord.

Amen.