God's Little Ones

In my reading and study of the Gospels I have learned to observe links between dialogue, action and the illustrations Jesus used in teaching.  A lot of valuable information and meaning can be lost when these connections are ignored.  Keeping the immediate context is of great importance to shed light not only on what happened but how the passage instructs us and why.  Observing these connections brings us right into the middle of the action, for teachings of Jesus to His disciples are instructions for us to take to heart.

Luke 17 begins with Jesus warning people over offenses.  He said it would be better to have a millstone hung around our necks and be thrown into the sea rather than offend one of His little ones.  He said in Luke 17:3-4, "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴ And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."  Jesus prefaced His statement that we ought to take heed to ourselves that we forgive others. The faults of our brother who sins against us seven times in a day is not to be our focal point:  our Master commands us to rebuke this brother so he might be restored, to forgive him when his offences are repeated again and again.  We cannot excuse our lack of forgiveness for his sin, for Jesus has given us this command and an example to follow by forgiving us.

Luke 17:5-6 reads, "And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." ⁶ So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."  The disciples rightly connected forgiving others with faith in God, for with God nothing is impossible.  Our sin would be the death of us--like having a millstone lashed to our necks and being thrown overboard a ship in the middle of the ocean--but by faith in Christ we can have victory over sin and put it far from us.  A little faith in God can uproot a well-established tree of unforgiveness and cast it into the depths sea with the rest of our transgressions (Micah 7:19).  By faith in God we can respond to the rebuke of Christ for our lack of forgiveness, repent and forgive as He has freely forgiven us.

The instruction of Jesus to His disciples concerning their responsibilities before God continued with an illustration in Luke 17:7-11:  "And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'? ⁸ But will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'? ⁹ Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. ¹⁰ So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'"  Jesus taught His disciples by using a familiar example.  The role of servants were to cater to their master, to serve him until he was completely done eating and drinking.  After he was finished it was appropriate for the servants to enjoy the meal provided by him.  The servants did not do this out of the "goodness" of their hearts:  they did this because it was their responsibility and duty.

It might be when we forgive someone for an offence against us we feel we are being very generous and kind to them--like we are doing them a huge favour at our expense.  The story Jesus told shows it is not to our credit to rebuke or forgive anyone, for it is what Jesus requires of us as His servants.  Others may do as they will, but we (as one of God's little ones!) are to obey our Saviour and Master Jesus.  Our faith in Jesus is increased as we obey Him, trusting He is aware of our needs, how we feel and all we have suffered.  We can forgive others only because we have been forgiven by Jesus and been filled with the Holy Spirit.  Thus when we forgive it is not out of our goodness, fortitude or quality of character but because we are doing our duty as His servants.  In this way God receives the glory for our service unto Him in forgiving others and trusting Him, and He sees to it our needs are abundantly provided at His table.  Isn't God awesome?