Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost: Gospel, Luke 17:1-10                              

Luke 17:1-10

The early portion of our gospel reading this week evokes from me personally, a gut reaction. It isn’t theological, though I hope it is correct theologically. It’s not a measured response either. I see in Jesus and his followers tremendous authenticity here. “Let’s keep it real,” to use a  common phrase. It all hits home.

Jesus spells out that temptations will surely come to all His disciples. Up front. Jesus keeps it real. We will neither out-run, nor out-smart the devil, our flesh, or the world. The answer is His cross and resurrection. Those are the targets of our faith and that is precisely what Jesus’ followers address here when they realize their impotence against sin and temptation. “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith’” (17:5). A flash of God-centeredness guides their request. We can almost hear, “Lord, we need to fall on Your work, Your death, Your indestructible life for our release, our liberation. We do.” That’s them (and us) keeping it real with Jesus. Faith alone. Faith that grasps and is empowered to continue to hold on. Faith that says, “I see Him as the all-sufficient answer to the temptation that will most surely come my way.” We have no other answer. It’s the real answer. God be praised!