Luke 17: Doing our duty

The Christian life requires humility. We must be content to work in obscurity; we shouldn't expect a pat on the back for every good deed we do, or prayer we say, or temptation we resist -- not even from ourselves.

Rather, Jesus tells his disciples, "[W]hen you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty'" (17:10).

The Christian life is one of duty. When we love our neighbor -- or even our enemy -- with heroic and indefatigable love, it's nothing more than what Christ expects of his followers. We're not doing God a favor; he is not in our debt. Everything we have -- indeed, our very existence -- is an utterly gratuitous gift from God. He doesn't owe us anything.

Nevertheless, God sometimes chooses to reward his unworthy servants. If we ever find ourselves in that position, we would do well to recall the example of St. Thomas Aquinas, the 13th-century Dominican priest who was one of the most brilliant philosophers and theologians of all time. Near the end of his life, Thomas was praying in a chapel and heard a voice coming from the crucifix which said: "You have written well of me, Thomas; what will you have as your reward?"

And Thomas replied, "Only yourself, Lord."

(Image: attr. Botticelli, "St. Thomas Aquinas," 1481-1482)