2nd October 2022, Proper 22 (27)

Luke 17: 5-10

[5]Καὶ εἶπον οἱ ἀπόστολοι τῷ Κυρίῳ· πρόσθες ἡμῖν πίστιν. [6]εἶπε δὲ ὁ Κύριος· εἰ ἔχετε πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, ἐλέγετε ἂν τῇ συκαμίνῳ ταύτῃ, ἐκριζώθητι καὶ φυτεύθητι ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ, καὶ ὑπήκουσεν ἂν ὑμῖν. [7]Τίς δὲ ἐξ ὑμῶν δοῦλον ἔχων ἀροτριῶντα ἢ ποιμαίνοντα, ὃς εἰσελθόντι ἐκ τοῦ ἀγροῦ ἐρεῖ, εὐθέως παρελθὼν ἀνάπεσε, [8]ἀλλ᾿ οὐχὶ ἐρεῖ αὐτῷ· ἑτοίμασον τί δειπνήσω, καὶ περιζωσάμενος  διακόνει μοι ἕως φάγω καὶ πίω, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα φάγεσαι καὶ πίεσαι σύ; [9]μὴ χάριν ἔχει τῷ δούλῳ ἐκείνῳ ὅτι ἐποίησε τὰ διαταχθέντα; οὐ δοκῶ. [10] οὕτω καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὅταν ποιήσητε πάντα τὰ διαταχθέντα ὑμῖν, λέγετε ὅτι δοῦλοι ἀχρεῖοί ἐσμεν, ὅτι ὃ ὠφείλομεν ποιῆσαι πεποιήκαμεν.

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”

–Luke 17: 5-10 NRSV (updated edn)

Comments

The passage from Luke is unexceptionable classical Greek especially in its choice of vocabulary (except for the term πίστις, which is classical, but charged with a new meaning).

5 πρόσθες ἡμῖν πίστιν: 2^nd pers. sing. aorist imperative (< προστίθημι, cf. Engl. prosthesis). The aor. imperative here denotes a one-off action, lit. ‘Add faith to us’, hence ‘increase our faith’. St Cyril of Alexandria (375-444) read the request as ‘increase our faith’.

The Apostles ask Christ to afforce their faith, to make it more intense and vital. He responds in effect: ‘Increase your faith? You haven’t any to begin with.’

6  εἰ ἔχετε πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, ἐλέγετε ἂν τῇ συκαμίνῳ ταύτῃ, ἐκριζώθητι καὶ φυτεύθητι ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ, καὶ ὑπήκουσεν ἂν ὑμῖν: a condition or premiss (‘if clause’ or protasis) followed by two independent sentences expressing the conclusion (‘then clause’, or apodosis). Christ’s words are a hybrid of two types of conditional clause: i) In the first kind the supposition is envisaged or represented as REAL. Its form: protasis = εἰ (‘if’) + verb in the indicative mood of any tense > apodosis = verb in any mood. Here εἰ amounts to an emphatic ‘if really’.

 ii) In the second type the supposition is envisaged or represented as UNREAL in the present or past. Its form:  protasis = εἰ (‘if’) + past tense in the indicative mood (impf., aor. or pluperfect) > apodosis = potential indicative (impf., aor., or pluperfect + ἂν).

So, verse 6 can be translated in this way: ‘If you really have faith as [i.e. the size of] a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry bush (συκάμινος) … and it would obey you.’

Cf. the NRSV: ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree… and it would obey you.’

The eradicating of a mulberry bush with its tough roots is difficult enough; transplanting it in the sea not only confuses the categories of land and sea, but is also an absurdity and an impossibility (an adynaton). The particular command ἐκριζώθητι (‘be uprooted’) – a passive aor.  imperative– would sit well in a pagan curse.

7 δοῦλον ἔχων: we are reminded that Christ’s society was a slave-owning society just as its contemporary cultures.

  ἀνάπεσε: another aorist imperative < ἀναπίπτω, ‘recline at the table’. A one-off action is envisaged. Cf. in English, ‘Have a seat!’

8  ἑτοίμασον τί δειπνήσω: δειπνῶ, ‘dine’, can take an acc. object. τί δειπνήσω (future) is an indirect question introduced with the interrogative pronoun τί, ‘what I shall have for dinner’.  τί δειπνήσω arguably functions as an object clause after ἑτοίμασον (< ἑτοιμάζω, ‘I prepare’), a verb of effort.  

περιζωσάμενος διακόνει μοι: < περιζώννυμαι (middle voice), ‘I gird myself’ (cf. ζώνη, ‘belt’). A slave in Christ’s society wore an ankle-length garment which he tightened with a belt for greater mobility. (Greek slaves, by contrast, wore short, skimpy clothing, as one expert notes.)  

The NRSV has the modernising ‘put on your apron and serve me’. Luke’s hypothetical slave—and he is a slave—wore no chef’s or waiter’s apron. Διακονῶ (‘to serve’; ‘to wait on a table’) gives us διάκονος (‘deacon’, ‘deaconess’).

μετὰ ταῦτα φάγεσαι καὶ πίεσαι σύ: Cf.NRSV, ‘later you may eat and drink’ (my italics), is accurate. In Greek, the second person future can express a command or permission (‘jussive future’), as here (φάγεσαι καὶ πίεσαι). But the English translation stresses ‘later’; the Greek stresses ‘you’ (σύ), which could have been omitted but is retained and comes at the end of the sentence for emphasis. In effect, ‘you may eat and drink later’.

9 μὴ χάριν ἔχει…;: μὴ introduces a question to which the answer ‘No’ is expected. The NRSV overlooks this nuance. A more faithful rendering would be, ‘He doesn’t thank his slave, does he…?’  χάριν ἔχει (‘is grateful’, ‘thanks’) is a classical Greek idiom, as is οὐ δοκῶ (‘I don’t think so’) in the same verse, which the NRSV does not translate.

10 δοῦλοι ἀχρεῖοί ἐσμεν: ἀχρεῖοι (lit.‘useless’) here probably means little more than ‘humble’, a socially expected quality for a slave.

The role reversal between master and slave is no less an impossibility and an absurdity than the transplant of a mulberry bush in the salty sea. The pericope is also interesting for the sidelight it sheds on masters and slaves in Luke’s society.