Preparation
Luke 12 is a series of stories and parables that Jesus is teaching to both to the people that were gathered “but first of all to his disciples," (Luke 12:1). The parables and stories are shared to the disciples and others teaching and instructing them on how to live.
Jesus begins by telling his disciples, “Do not be afraid, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom…” (v. 32).
This parable that we read today is parable where Jesus has combined telling his disciples to sell their possessions and give alms with that of the story of admonishing his servants to be attentive. It seems to be a strange pairing at first.
The setting in the second part of the parable is that of a wedding banquet. Jesus describes a scene where slaves were waiting in the bedchambers. Servants would have been serving at the banquet, and slaves would be the lowest ranking staff who were waiting in the bedchambers. Jesus says, “Blessed are the slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes.” These slaves are depicted as being ready, and the ones the master finds as “ready” when he comes are termed “blessed”.
The text speaks of a thief coming, and says if the owner of the house had known when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
This past Tuesday when I got home from work, someone was ringing my doorbell around 5:30. The lady informed me she was from the Census bureau and my house had been randomly selected to answer questions about crime, both committed to me and my household. I was tired; she looked tired and harmless, and I said, “Sure, do you want to come in? I am cooking dinner”. She came and sat at my counter while I cooked and I answered questions about crime and my interactions with police , etc. This garnered the curiosity of my children, along with strange looks, and “Why is this lady in our house?” and eventually an interest in the questions themselves.
I am not sure what the Census department will do with the information; I am sure compare demographics, ethnicities, income, etc, and compare the incidence and rate of crime that someone like myself experiences, contrasted to those who are different from me. I think it was a fairly simple survey for her. For I have had no theft or crime committed against me — no violence, no threat, nothing. And limited interactions with police. I have never been shot at, tazed, detained, etc. My home has never been broken into. I truly don’t have much to steal. I truly have never spent much time thankfully having to think or worry about thieves breaking in.
This passage has two parts; The first deals with wealth and possessions and the command is to sell your possessions and give alms. The second, speaks to how we are to live: Awake - Being ready — having our lamps lit.
They seem to be unrelated things, sell your possessions, give alms, and be ready and prepared against a thief. But they are not unrelated; both are related to consumption and how we live.
I am not here to tell you to sell all of your possessions, and I don’t think that was the point. The point was to encourage those listening to think about treasurers in heaven and have your focus there. Not that you have to sell everything; but when is the last time you sold anything to give to the poor? Or sacrificed anything so that the poor would have something? Giving of alms is giving to the poor, and not out of what is left over; but from our possessions — the things that matter to us.
We live in the greatest country on earth, and quite possibly the greatest nation that has ever existed in all of time. “And to whom much is given, much will be expected.” I think of this often. Most of us are aware on some level of our abundant blessings. All you have to do is cut on the news any evening — wars around the world, poverty, food shortages, fires, floods, migration and homelessness. We do live blessed and privileged lives. The question for each of us is to question where are our priorities? What things influence our decision making on how and where we spend our money and what things may we need to adjust as we make those decisions? We each have limited resources (as does our Earth). How and where do we spend our time? Who do we spend time with? What do we do with our time? As we give of what we do have, do we give from our excess, or do we give generously to causes and needs to serve those around us to the point where it actually hurts us sometimes and we feel a little impact personally?
The second part of this parable speaks to how we are to live. Being ready. Part of being ready is “storing up for ourselves treasurers in heaven.” Being ready speaks directly to how we live our lives. That we live our lives today, preparing for tomorrow — with heaven in mind. That our true wealth and treasure lies elsewhere. With the knowledge that all of this is temporary.
We do not need to be afraid because it is God’s desire to give us the kingdom, “do not be afraid little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” 12:32
“Do not be afraid” is the hallmark of good news through Scripture and occurs multiple times in the Gospel of Luke.
Typically, “Do not be afraid,” comes before an announcement of God’s care and love and mighty deeds. It is the starting point and anchor for everything else in this passage.
If it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom, then the seduction of wealth, the constant anxiety of worldly needs and goods and accumulation, should be easier to resist as you understand what God’s ultimate intention is regarding you. It should encourage you to share what you have with others, knowing that God has the kingdom in store for you.
The point of almsgiving is to extol generosity as a mark of the Christian life, not necessarily fix a problem. It can be overwhelming when you start giving and you think, “What is this really going to do?” I think that is not necessarily the point of giving, to fix the problem; we are just told to give.
Jesus admonishment to be “ready” so that the thief does not come upon you unexpectedly, is not an anxious anticipation of the end of the world but rather a call to an awareness that there will be an ending to this world as we know it, Jesus will return, so live your life with this awareness.
What Jesus is commending is faith — faith that frees one to be generous; faith that enables one to leave anxiety behind; faith that creates in one confidence about a future secured not by human endeavor or achievement but by God alone.
Jesus does not hold out faith as a model and goal, or as a standard by which to judge us. Rather, Jesus creates faith by announcing a promise: Like a parent loves her children deeply and desperately and wants all good things for them, so also is it God’s good pleasure to give God’s children the kingdom.
God’s promise to us is that He desires to give us the kingdom.
Promises create a shared expectation about the future.
Promises create relationship.
Promises create hope.
Promises create faith.
All of our instruction about the Christian life — whether about prayer, money, watchfulness, care of neighbor, etc., — are anchored in the gospel promise that it is, indeed, God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.
So let us live our lives with this knowledge. Let us live our lives differently from the world around us, aware of the promises God has given us. Being prepared. Being different.
Amen.
Jesus begins by telling his disciples, “Do not be afraid, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom…” (v. 32).
This parable that we read today is parable where Jesus has combined telling his disciples to sell their possessions and give alms with that of the story of admonishing his servants to be attentive. It seems to be a strange pairing at first.
The setting in the second part of the parable is that of a wedding banquet. Jesus describes a scene where slaves were waiting in the bedchambers. Servants would have been serving at the banquet, and slaves would be the lowest ranking staff who were waiting in the bedchambers. Jesus says, “Blessed are the slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes.” These slaves are depicted as being ready, and the ones the master finds as “ready” when he comes are termed “blessed”.
The text speaks of a thief coming, and says if the owner of the house had known when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
This past Tuesday when I got home from work, someone was ringing my doorbell around 5:30. The lady informed me she was from the Census bureau and my house had been randomly selected to answer questions about crime, both committed to me and my household. I was tired; she looked tired and harmless, and I said, “Sure, do you want to come in? I am cooking dinner”. She came and sat at my counter while I cooked and I answered questions about crime and my interactions with police , etc. This garnered the curiosity of my children, along with strange looks, and “Why is this lady in our house?” and eventually an interest in the questions themselves.
I am not sure what the Census department will do with the information; I am sure compare demographics, ethnicities, income, etc, and compare the incidence and rate of crime that someone like myself experiences, contrasted to those who are different from me. I think it was a fairly simple survey for her. For I have had no theft or crime committed against me — no violence, no threat, nothing. And limited interactions with police. I have never been shot at, tazed, detained, etc. My home has never been broken into. I truly don’t have much to steal. I truly have never spent much time thankfully having to think or worry about thieves breaking in.
This passage has two parts; The first deals with wealth and possessions and the command is to sell your possessions and give alms. The second, speaks to how we are to live: Awake - Being ready — having our lamps lit.
They seem to be unrelated things, sell your possessions, give alms, and be ready and prepared against a thief. But they are not unrelated; both are related to consumption and how we live.
I am not here to tell you to sell all of your possessions, and I don’t think that was the point. The point was to encourage those listening to think about treasurers in heaven and have your focus there. Not that you have to sell everything; but when is the last time you sold anything to give to the poor? Or sacrificed anything so that the poor would have something? Giving of alms is giving to the poor, and not out of what is left over; but from our possessions — the things that matter to us.
We live in the greatest country on earth, and quite possibly the greatest nation that has ever existed in all of time. “And to whom much is given, much will be expected.” I think of this often. Most of us are aware on some level of our abundant blessings. All you have to do is cut on the news any evening — wars around the world, poverty, food shortages, fires, floods, migration and homelessness. We do live blessed and privileged lives. The question for each of us is to question where are our priorities? What things influence our decision making on how and where we spend our money and what things may we need to adjust as we make those decisions? We each have limited resources (as does our Earth). How and where do we spend our time? Who do we spend time with? What do we do with our time? As we give of what we do have, do we give from our excess, or do we give generously to causes and needs to serve those around us to the point where it actually hurts us sometimes and we feel a little impact personally?
The second part of this parable speaks to how we are to live. Being ready. Part of being ready is “storing up for ourselves treasurers in heaven.” Being ready speaks directly to how we live our lives. That we live our lives today, preparing for tomorrow — with heaven in mind. That our true wealth and treasure lies elsewhere. With the knowledge that all of this is temporary.
We do not need to be afraid because it is God’s desire to give us the kingdom, “do not be afraid little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” 12:32
“Do not be afraid” is the hallmark of good news through Scripture and occurs multiple times in the Gospel of Luke.
Typically, “Do not be afraid,” comes before an announcement of God’s care and love and mighty deeds. It is the starting point and anchor for everything else in this passage.
If it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom, then the seduction of wealth, the constant anxiety of worldly needs and goods and accumulation, should be easier to resist as you understand what God’s ultimate intention is regarding you. It should encourage you to share what you have with others, knowing that God has the kingdom in store for you.
The point of almsgiving is to extol generosity as a mark of the Christian life, not necessarily fix a problem. It can be overwhelming when you start giving and you think, “What is this really going to do?” I think that is not necessarily the point of giving, to fix the problem; we are just told to give.
Jesus admonishment to be “ready” so that the thief does not come upon you unexpectedly, is not an anxious anticipation of the end of the world but rather a call to an awareness that there will be an ending to this world as we know it, Jesus will return, so live your life with this awareness.
What Jesus is commending is faith — faith that frees one to be generous; faith that enables one to leave anxiety behind; faith that creates in one confidence about a future secured not by human endeavor or achievement but by God alone.
Jesus does not hold out faith as a model and goal, or as a standard by which to judge us. Rather, Jesus creates faith by announcing a promise: Like a parent loves her children deeply and desperately and wants all good things for them, so also is it God’s good pleasure to give God’s children the kingdom.
God’s promise to us is that He desires to give us the kingdom.
Promises create a shared expectation about the future.
Promises create relationship.
Promises create hope.
Promises create faith.
All of our instruction about the Christian life — whether about prayer, money, watchfulness, care of neighbor, etc., — are anchored in the gospel promise that it is, indeed, God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.
So let us live our lives with this knowledge. Let us live our lives differently from the world around us, aware of the promises God has given us. Being prepared. Being different.
Amen.