March 29. 2025-Maditation Luke 17:1–10 "What Is True Faith?"

 

Luke 17:1–10
"What Is True Faith?"

The first part of today’s passage speaks about stumbling blocks. The word “stumble” comes from the Greek word skandalon (σκάνδαλον), which originally meant a trap or snare for catching animals. Spiritually, it refers to something that causes a person to fall into sin or turn away from faith.

To cause someone else to stumble is more than just disappointing them—it means leading them to fall away from their faith. That is an extremely serious matter.

In Luke 11, Jesus rebukes the religious leaders of the time—the Pharisees and the teachers of the law—saying “Woe to you!” One of His indictments against the teachers of the law is found in Luke 11:52:

“Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”

These teachers lived hypocritical, self-righteous lives that were far from true faith. Because of their example, not only were they lost themselves, but they also caused others to turn away from faith. Scripture tells us that God will hold them accountable for the lives they caused to stumble.

We must never forget how grave a responsibility it is to lead someone to fall away. Living as a “Christian” in this world means carrying a weighty responsibility. The world sees Jesus and faith through our lives.

The second topic in the passage is forgiveness. Jesus tells us that even if someone sins against us seven times a day and comes back each time asking for forgiveness, we must forgive them.

Is that really possible? Honestly, it’s hard. If someone keeps wronging us over and over, it feels like they see us as a fool. So, we think, “I need to teach them a lesson.” We might worry that forgiving them easily will spoil them or let them off the hook. So we say, “Shouldn’t they first learn a lesson?”

And that’s not wrong—we should model righteousness and help others understand their wrongs. But what comes next? After we’ve shown them the right path, and after they recognize their mistake, what should they do? They will come and ask for forgiveness. Then our job is to forgive.

Correcting and convicting their heart—that’s God’s work. Our role is to forgive. Whether it’s once, twice, or even seven times. Even if their repentance seems repetitive or insincere, Jesus says that if they repent and ask, our job is to forgive—again and again.

This kind of forgiveness comes from being a person of God. How many times have we repented before God? How many times have we repeated the same sin? Yet, God never says He won’t forgive us. He always promises to forgive. That is the forgiveness of God—and it’s the model of forgiveness we are called to imitate. I pray that we become Christians who practice this kind of forgiveness.

The next part of the passage is about faith. In verse 6, Jesus says:

“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.”

We often interpret this as meaning that faith can bring about miracles and power. But that’s not exactly what this verse is about. The point is not that we can perform miracles if we have faith. Rather, true faith means recognizing that it is God who performs these miracles—like uprooting a tree and planting it in the sea, or moving a mountain.

In other words, true faith is about trusting that God is the one who works in power, and living in obedience to what He does. Faith is not about making things happen according to our own will, but about desiring and discerning what God's will is.

Are we using “faith” as an excuse to try and have our own will come true, hoping for miracles on our terms? True faith is about laying down our own will, and earnestly longing for God’s will to be fulfilled in our lives.

Lastly, the passage talks about the attitude of a servant. The proper attitude of a servant is seen in verse 10:

“We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”

A true servant does not seek credit for what they have done. They don’t demand recognition or praise. A servant sees their work as something they are supposed to do, and continues to serve quietly and faithfully, regardless of whether they are acknowledged.

Today, many in the church call themselves servants, but few actually live like one. Often, people say, “I am a servant,” but deep down they want to be a king or a hero.

We should reflect on ourselves: are we only calling ourselves servants with our lips, or are we truly living with the heart of a servant? If we are servants, we must know what a servant ought to do, and what our attitude should be after we have done our duty. I hope we live as true servants—obedient and serving faithfully.