The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time
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Overview and Connections
All three readings today speak of our faith life. Sometimes faith is tested because God feels absent. Sometimes faith flags because we are tired and weary. And sometimes faith feels impossible because of what is asked of us.
Where are you on this spectrum right now? Maybe do a checkup on faith. Ask the Spirit to guide you. What grace do you need in order to continue your walk of faith?
Habakkuk 1:2-4; 2:1-4
Every person with a growing relationship with God will eventually encounter God’s silence. It’s a fact of life. If you haven’t yet, you will. It may last a moment or a lifetime. St. Teresa of Calcutta struggled with God’s silence most of her life, revealed only in her journals after her death. And yet, there is no doubt God was with her. God’s silence does not equate to God’s absence. In fact, the opposite is usually true: God’s seeming silence indicates God’s increasing nearness. We begin to “hear” God at a level of our soul inaccessible to rational thought, which our brains translate as silence. Grappling with this truth often requires a season of lament, as evidenced by this reading from the prophet Habakkuk.
1:2 is a wonderful verse to memorize. Religion all too often teaches us a politeness with God that creates distance. Habakkuk gives us words for expressing our anger and disillusionment over God’s seeming absence and silence.
This verse also speaks of “violence,” which is a key word in this book, and refers to the violation of basic human rights. We don’t know the exact nature of the evils about which Habakkuk complains. But there will always be things that provoke similar complaints from us. It’s significant that, even though the prophet is lamenting God’s silence, he is still turning to God, an acknowledgement of God’s power: one would not turn to God if one did not believe God could somehow remedy the situation.
1:3-4 catalogs some of the injustices that Habakkuk has witnessed. He grapples with these as well as the deeper question: Is God even willing to do anything about evil in the world?
1:5-11 are God’s response to Habakkuk’s complaint. God says that God is indeed at work, and the land will be swept over by the Babylonians (Chaldeans). We might expect God to comfort his prophet, but this response is anything but comforting: You want to complain about violence?! You haven’t seen anything yet!
In 1:12-17, Habakkuk’s second complaint is that this judgment will gather up the righteous along with the unrighteous. First, Habakkuk complained that God might not be willing or able to act against all the injustice around him. So God replies that he is indeed about to act in a decisive way – by letting the Babylonians come through and conquer. So Habakkuk now complains about the way God is acting – in letting it happen this way: How can a holy and pure God allow wicked people to carry out the divine will and injure innocents in the process?
God’s silence can all too often throw us into lethargy and acedia. Habakkuk’s example in 2:1, however, is one of active vigilance. He throws himself on God and then eagerly awaits an answer. This is how we should listen to Scripture and other ways God speaks to us – with an attentive ear, to see what God is going to say to us, and with expectant faith that God is a God who listens and answers. Habakkuk has made a complaint, and now he stands ready and waiting for an answer.
In 2:2, God gives Habakkuk some sort of vision, and the prophet is told to write the vision down and share it. 2:3 is a beautiful promise of God, worth memorizing along with 1:2!
For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seem slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.
Habakkuk 2:3
What God says will surely come to pass! This will serve as a reminder to people before the destruction happens, but also as confirmation of the prophetic word after it happens.
The faith spoken of in 2:4 is not merely intellectual assent to a series of truths. The righteous person doesn’t live by their dogged determination to believe in and live out the ten commandments. This faith is intricately connected to the person’s “righteousness,” a word related to the covenant. It is a right-standing with God. Faith is upholding our side of that covenant relationship as best we can. The good news that we are to carry is that God has effected this covenant already; there are no difficult barriers to entry. All we have to do is live in it.
Habakkuk 2:4 is a key sentence of this book and is quoted several times by the New Testament, especially by Paul (see Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38). The best cultural translation for “faith” is loyalty. It suggests more than a mere emotion or feeling. It suggests action. The just shall live by steadfast fidelity to God. Is it that they shall live because of their fidelity/loyalty/faith? Or is it that they will live lives characterized by fidelity/loyalty/faith? Both are equally true, I think.
The book of Habakkuk is read only on this Sunday in the liturgical year. It’s a short book (only three chapters), and the ending is absolutely beautiful. I encourage you to take time and read the whole book.
What situations make you cry “How long, O Lord?”
How has God shown up for you in the past? Call to mind one or two concrete situations where you know God was there. How can these memories inform times of wondering about God’s silence?
What does it mean practically to “live by faith” in your daily circumstances?
Do you have anyone in your life who may be struggling with God’s silence right now? Consider sharing Habakkuk’s message with them.
If lament feels like what your soul needs right now, you might check out my recent Substack post on this topic, “The Power of Lament.”
2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14
The letters to Timothy are like a form letter to a pastor beginning a new position of church leadership. They describes expectations and responsibilities. Today’s passage grapples with what happens when a leader’s faith begins flagging.
The reading begins with the author recalling the leader’s commissioning for service. Laying on of hands brings to mind a modern ordination. A better image, more consistent with the institutional development of the time, is to imagine a person touching another person in order to impart blessing or strength. Paul had touched Timothy in such a way and gave him strength for the work. But Timothy’s zeal seems to have flagged, and his fears perhaps are getting in the way of his ministry. Paul reminds Timothy to remember the strength he once had and to seek to revive and renew it.
V7 reminds us that fear is a tactic of the enemy, something that does not come from God’s spirit. God graces us with power and love and self-discipline. Fear is good evidence of the enemy’s activity. This evokes what Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:21, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
There’s an important pattern in these verses: flagging faith often stems from fear, and fear is part of the spiritual struggle we are all engaged in. The first step is to name the situation, and then recall all the resources we have to counter it.
Next, the letter speaks of the transmission of the faith. Historically, the Catholic church viewed the “deposit of faith” as the timeless truths that are passed down from generation to generation – the doctrines and dogmas that define what we believe and how we speak of it. A major gift of Vatican 2 was a return to an earlier and broader understanding of the deposit of faith as relationship with God, rather than doctrine. This is not to say the articulation of our beliefs is unimportant, but primacy belongs to the relationship.
The faith life is rarely black and white. We often have strong faith in one area but are flagging in another. Where is your faith strong right now? Where is it in need of some bolstering and support?
Paul speaks of the importance of passing on the “deposit of faith” to new generations. In the past, this was embodied by teaching children the catechism. If this deposit is viewed as our personal relationship with God, how are you helping to pass this on?
Luke 17:5-10
The lectionary picks up with v5, but it’s important to begin at the beginning of the chapter in order to set vv5-10 in context.
V1 begins with some not-so-positive news: scandals in the human condition are inevitable. “Things that cause sin” (NAB) or “temptations to sin” (RSV) both render the Greek word skandalon. The same word is used in v2 “cause one of these…” It’s not a question of “if” but “when” and “how” we repair broken relationships caused by sin – ours and others. But the inevitability of it does not negate personal responsibility to mitigate the effects of it.
In v3 Jesus says, “Pay attention to yourselves!” He’s told them that things will inevitably scandalize the community. Pay attention to your own self that you don’t become the person through whom that happens. And then, in regard to those through whom it does happen, rebuke and forgive the one who “repents.” This is the Greek word metanoia. Not just that he says words that he’s sorry, but that his life evidences transformation.
V4 might seem contradictory. If they say “I metanoia,” and yet, they come seven times in one day, is it really metanoia? Sometimes we think transformation happens all at once, completely and forever. As though we are forever changed and there is no going back. In some cases, this does happen. But mostly, metanoia is a slow process of one step forward, two steps back. Probably in the moment, we have every intention of allowing transformation to happen, but it hasn’t yet taken root. We are not to judge the extent and vitality of another person’s transformation. We are called to simply accept what is, in the moment, and trust God to do the rest.
The lectionary then picks up in v5 with the apostle’s response: All hope seems lost! We’re going to sin and that’s bad enough, but we also have to forgive sins as many times as is needed! It’s like the apostles just don’t have enough compassion for the journey and they know it. A literal rendering of the Greek would read, “Add to us faith.” Add more faith to the faith we’ve got. It almost seems they think quantity is more important than quality (or perhaps I’m reading into it American ideals.) But remember in the desert when the children of Israel were given manna? God said you can only collect what you need; anything else will go bad. You can’t store up that grace against a rainy day. Perhaps faith is the same.
The black mustard seed was proverbially known in the ancient Mediterranean world (according to Greek and Jewish sources) as the smallest of all seeds. It grows from 6-15’ and is very hardy, surviving almost anywhere. But can you imagine a tree planted in water and flourishing? Faith can sometimes bring about surprising things! Remember that this is metaphorical language: he’s not saying that the purpose of faith is to perform worthless and meaningless wonders. Rather, he’s using it say, it’s not the quantity of your faith that’s important but rather the quality of it.
V7 begins a parable that might remind you of the one Jesus told back in 12:35ff. In fact, the word “gird” is used in Luke only twice: once in today’s reading and twice in that earlier parable.
The setting is probably a small household with maybe only a single servant. The servant has to work the fields during the day. Maybe the master is out there working as well. And when they come home, the servant then has to do things around the house. Perhaps it’s not so different from most women I know, working a full-time job, then coming home to care for her family. It can be hard for us, in our individualistic, self-actualizing culture, to hear v8. Who would not argue for a little compassion for a tired worker?! But in the ancient world, the situation as described here was the social norm.
V9 is not a statement on good manners, but rather the social obligation. The master has no obligation to do anything for the servant. It’s a rhetorical question whose answer is “no.” Some manuscript traditions even added, “I think not,” as a scribal addition, making it clear.
“Done what was our duty” (RSV) or “what we were obliged to do” (NAB) in v10 is the same word as the previous parable where the shrewd manager asks each person, “what do you owe?” or “what is your obligation?”
Jesus just told them when scandals happen, to forgive over and over again and to have a quality faith. While the disciples saw that as an impossible task, doing those things does not make his followers extraordinary, nor should we expect the royal treatment for doing these things. These are the basic demands of the kingdom, of what it means to be a disciple. The level of our faith and service does not give us the right to lay a claim on God for special treatment. It does not make us worthy of being treated any better than anyone else.
Who needs forgiving in your life right now? Maybe someone wronged you and it’s time to let that go. Maybe you can’t forgive yourself for something you’ve done. Ask for the grace to accept God’s forgiveness and then extend it to yourself and others.
Are you expecting special treatment in some way from God? Maybe you’ve had hard challenges and you subconsciously think God should give you an easier road now. These kinds of expectations can block us from receiving all that God is actually giving. Ask for the grace of an open heart to see as God sees.
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© 2025 Kelly Sollinger