In God's Arms

Learning to be loved by the Father

10/06/2019

Luke 17:5-10 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you. "Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here immediately and take your place at table'? Would he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished'? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? 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.'"

Many years ago I heard a story by Scott Hahn that completely changed my mind about the omnipotence of God and my own impotence. It was a sort of Copernican Revolution about how powerful God is and how powerless I am, putting God in the center of the universe instead of me. Hahn went for a jog around his neighborhood one afternoon and his custom was to do several laps around a few blocks. As a result, he ended up running by the same house two or three times. As he passed one house, he noticed a father outside mowing his front yard. But he was being hampered and harassed by his four year-old son. The little boy was pushing his own toy lawn mower and he was pretending to mow the grass: like father, like son. Hahn could tell the little boy was really exasperating his father, and wondered how the dad would deal with the dilemma.

Fifteen minutes later as he passed the house again, he saw the father’s solution: the man had picked up his son and was holding him in his right arm. With his left arm the man was pushing the mower. His son, meanwhile, had both his little hands on the mower and the biggest smile stretched across his beaming face. I’ll give you one guess why the toddler was so happy. The little guy thought he was actually mowing the yard himself! In that simple snapshot of the prudent father and the precocious son, Hahn saw a marvelous metaphor for our relationship with God, namely, our utter dependence on him. We are the son in the arms of the Father. In other words, no matter how old we get, we never stop being that little boy held in the arms of God, carried through life by him. Anything we think we are accomplishing – earning our doctorates, writing books, making millions of dollars, etc. – is nothing more than the mistaken joy of the little boy who thought he mowed the yard. God does all the work, and we foolishly try to take all the credit.

Jesus tells a parable in the gospel today that emphasizes that anything good we do – from beginning to end – is God’s work primarily, and we should be careful not to take too much credit. He asks: “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’.” That would be equivalent to saying to the four year-old held in the arms of his father: “Amazing job mowing the yard today, little buddy! You must be exhausted from all that hard work. Please come inside and let me pour you a tall glass of cold chocolate milk (the recovery drink). Put your poor feet up and watch some cartoons. You really earned it!” On the other hand, Jesus goes on to clarify that the right attitude should sound more like this: “Say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do’.” That is, we just did what dad told us to do: sit still, hold the handle bar, and enjoy the ride. The Father does all the hard work, and we should not try to take all the credit.

Let me suggest three ways we can apply this principle of God’s omnipotence and our impotence in our daily lives. First of all, this should help us overcome jealousy or envy or others. We sometimes feel jealous of others when we think they have something or have achieved something we wanted. My co-worker got the promotion I was working on. Fr. Martin was made a bishop and not me. And this problem is especially pernicious in families called “sibling rivalry.” But if all I accomplish is really thanks to God’s grace, and all you achieve is the same, then what is there to be jealous about? You think you’re mowing the grass, but you’re not; I think I’m mowing the grass but I’m not. Only God is mowing the grass. We are feeling jealous over a figment of our imagination.

Secondly, this principle of God’s power should inspire a profound humility. Humility comes from the Latin word “humus” meaning earth. Humility, therefore, is being down to earth. St. Paul asks the Corinthians: “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you have received it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (1 Cor. 4:7). If that little toddler was going around the neighborhood boasting of mowing the grass, all the neighbors would smile politely and congratulate him, but they’d know it’s just the exuberance of a little boy. Of course, there’s a healthy sense of pride we can feel in our accomplishments, a healthy sense of self-esteem, and dignity and worth. Those are all good things. But the more and more we mature in the Christian life, I am convinced the more and more we realize how God’s arms have sustained us, and how his grace has made possible anything good we ever said or did.

Thirdly, what is the consequence of feeling no jealousy of others, coupled with a profound sense of humility? We spontaneously give God all the glory. We can’t take the glory, and we can’t give others the glory, so we give it to God. In the Old Testament book of Job, the wise man declares: “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21). In other words, no matter what happens in our life: richer or poor, sickness or health, better or worse, give God the glory. When we see all we have and are were gifts from God and one day we will give them back to him, we take the first step of wisdom. God is clothed in glory and we are naked.

Here’s the take-home message of what God’s omnipotence and our impotence means: God loves us more than we can imagine, and our job is to let him love us. God’s powerful arms carry us throughout life. Our response to his love is not to jump out of his hands, but unfortunately, toddlers often do.

Praised be Jesus Christ!