Today’s first reading is the only reading from Habakkuk in the entire three-year cycle of the lectionary.  Which is not too surprising, because the book of Habakkuk is just three chapters long.  Our snippet today is from the first chapter, a lament about social conditions in Judah and foreign threats, and the second chapter, God’s answer. 

I had never read Habakkuk before being assigned to lead this communion service.  Habakkuk is one of the minor prophets—so called because their books are much shorter than those of the major prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel—that everybody has heard of.  Habakkuk lived at a critical time in the history of Judah, which was all that was left of Israel.  The society was unjust, with most wealth in the hands of a few powerful people who looked after their own interests; as he says, “Justice never prevails.” Habakkuk could see that that was about to change, but not in a good way.  The Babylonian empire had arisen to the north and was busy conquering its neighbors, looting and demanding tribute.  Judah was on the main route between Babylon and Egypt, and astute people could see that the conqueror would soon overrun Judah.  The greedy Judeans would get their comeuppance, but the greedy Babylonians would replace them.

The book of Habakkuk has the form of a lament.  It begins with a complaint that things are bad and God isn’t doing anything about it.  “How long, O Lord,” he asks, will this terrible situation continue?  This has been a problem for God-fearing people forever, from the days of Habakkuk to the Babylonian captivity, to Roman rule, with its heavy taxes and cruel crucifixions, to the Holocaust; from the time of European slaves in North Africa in the seventh century, to serfdom to the time of African slavery and oppressive segregation in America.  Today it might be Ukrainians crying out, or Venezuelans, or desperate refugees from Africa or Central America.  How long, O Lord, will you watch our suffering and not intervene to bring us justice? 

The second part of the reading is from the beginning of the Lord’s response in chapter 2.  The Lord responds that justice will surely come.  He might have said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”[1]  The text of Hab 2:4 is a problem for scholars.  Our version reads, “The rash one has no integrity; but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.”  Some scholars prefer, “The proud are going down; the one who trusts in God and is faithful shall live.”  

The first reading on Sundays is usually chosen to give context to the Gospel reading.  Maybe Habakkuk can help us better understand today’s Gospel reading, in which Jesus sounds pretty harsh. 

When the disciples ask him to increase their faith, Jesus seems to accuse them of having so little faith that it’s smaller than a tiny mustard seed.  But I think Jesus is actually telling them that they already have as much faith as they need.  Faith here refers to trust in God, and also to faithfulness; when we trust God, we can be faithful and keep on doing our job.  What the disciples need now, like Habakkuk, is to endure while they do what they can and trust God to accomplish the work. 

Then comes this odd parable in which Jesus seems to call the disciples—and hence us—worthless servants, who can never do enough to please God.  This is not a parable that sits well with modern Americans.  We don’t like to think of ourselves as masters or servants—especially not worthless servants.  A better metaphor might be of manager and employee.  One of my professors at St. Bernard’s used to call Jesus “the Boss,” as in, Jesus really is the boss of me.  In any case, God is definitely the Boss, or Lord, of all of us.  And as Christians, we don’t get to retire from the work of the kingdom.  No sitting on the verandah enjoying God’s approval and a tall drink.  Yes, we’ve worked all day in the field—many of us a lot more than me—but we’re not off the hook yet.  We need to keep on keeping on, doing what we can for the kingdom of God, and trusting that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice and will get there in God’s good time.

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[1] Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” Speech given at the National Cathedral, March 31, 1968.