12th Sunday after Pentecost, 08/15/2013

Sermon on Luke 12:32-40 (RSV), by David M. Wendel

"Faith in God--our Greatest Treasure!"

"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

[33] Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. [34] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
[35] "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, [36] and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks. [37] Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them. [38] If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those servants!
[39] But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. [40] You also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour."

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Afraid-of Money Talk!

I have to say that just after Jesus says, "do not be afraid", in our Gospel lesson, I can almost hear some of you saying, "I am afraid the pastor is going to preach about money again." Or, "I'm afraid we're going to have yet another sermon about possessions, and selling all you have to give it away." It certainly strikes a curious chord, when first Jesus says, "Do not be afraid, little flock!", and right after that he speaks about money and possessions and treasure. It's curious because many of us are afraid to speak about money. Many of us are hesitant to talk about such things in polite company, and are offended when we talk about them in church. And yet, where should we talk about it? In the home? Many husbands and wives don't talk about money because they are afraid, yes afraid, that it will either (A) bring up difficult issues, or (B) cause an argument. And maybe that's why Jesus prefaces his comments about possessions and giving alms and having treasure, not on earth, but in heaven, with the exhortation, "Do not be afraid, little flock." Jesus says this, surely, because he knows that we are at times afraid--and afraid specifically, of any serious discussion about possessions and wealth. Afraid, largely, because we are afraid what's coming next! Because when Jesus talks about possessions and material wealth, he's always, I think we can say always, urging us to give it away! And that--well, that's what bothers many of us. We see our money, income and wealth as pretty much a private, individual thing. We don't want anyone knowing how much we make, and what we do with our money--and we certainly aren't comfortable with someone else, even Jesus, telling us what to do with our possessions and accumulated wealth. It bothers us when people do that--and it can bother us when Jesus does that. It bothers us especially, when Jesus says things like he says in the first few verses of our Gospel lesson--"sell your possessions and give alms." Sell your possessions? Sell our possessions, when we've spent a lifetime acquiring them? Give our money away, when we've worked so hard for it, and planned so diligently to keep it, and grow it!? We're a little afraid--Jesus doesn't know what He's talking about--at least, when it comes to our money and finances. And yet...

Finances-or Faith?

Is Jesus talking here about money and finances? Is that really what Jesus is talking about here, when he speaks about treasure in heaven, and where your treasure is, there your heart is also? Is that what this is about, truly? If that's what you think, then I'm afraid, you're mistaken. Because when Jesus talks about possessions and giving alms away to the poor and needy, and building up treasure in heaven, what He's really talking about--is faith. And He's talking about faith, because He knows our propensity, our tendency to want to place faith, not in God, but in ourselves, and our own ability to earn and provide and build up resources that will fill our barns with riches to last us through the years. At the heart of the matter is the fact that we human beings have a hard time ever trusting God, and placing our faith completely in Him. Like Adam and Eve before us, we share in original sin, which is nothing more or less than our desire to be like God--or rather, to be God ourselves. We think we know better than God, we think we can manage our lives, and our money better than God, so we create our own little kingdoms of wealth and possessions, and sometimes land, and we rule over them as if we are demi-gods. We may consult God on occasion, for his help with little matters; when we have a bout with illness or uncertainty in life, when we need a little extra assistance getting things to work out the way we want. But normally, we would prefer to run things on our own. I wonder, at times, if this isn't why so many men are absent from church--because it would threaten their ability to be god over their own realm. "Go to church?"some men say. "I'd rather do it on my own, and not have someone, even some god telling me what to do with my life, my money, my possessions. Besides, I'm afraid I might not like what God would tell me to do."

Yes, many of us are afraid when Jesus tells us to "sell your possessions and give your money away." And we're afraid, largely, because He's calling for faith--faith in God, rather than faith in ourselves, and faith in our material wealth, income-earning potential, or money-management skills. For those who don't believe in God, those who don't submit to God's authority, are really trusting in no one but themselves--placing ultimate faith, not in God, but in themselves. And that's why Jesus speaks so directly, and so often, about our misplaced reliance on wealth and possessions--because it's so connected to, related to, faith in God.

Of course, Jesus knew what Martin Luther points out, that "whatever your heart hopes for, clings to, confides in, that is your god!" And what Jesus is always proclaiming is the good news that there is a God, and he's not us! What Jesus is always announcing is that faith is properly placed in God, not in our own material goods, bank accounts, or investments. What Jesus wants us to know is that in Him, we are free--free not to have to be god, not to have to rule the world, not to have to work our way to the top--not on earth, and certainly not in heaven. "For," as Jesus says, "it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom!"

God's Good Pleasure to Give!

This is probably as important and significant a passage of Scripture, as "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved, through Him." These passages are equally powerful, because they similarly proclaim the good news that we are saved by God's grace, through faith, and this is not our own doing, it is the gift of God! That's what Jesus is saying here, before He calls for us to re-orient our lives, not placing our possessions and wealth first in life, but putting God, above all else. For that's what faith is--having God first in your life--because it is God who created you, God who has redeemed you, God who continues to provide for you, regardless your station in life, regardless your employment situation, your account balances, your income level. Faith, Luther said, is letting God be God! Faith is acknowledging that you are not in control, that God is sovereign in your life, and that it is God's will that we seek Him above everything else. That's what we see in our first lesson, when God says to Abram, "Do not be afraid, for I am your shield, and your reward shall be very great!"

The Witness of Scripture

Abram's reward would be an heir, and descendants as many as the stars in the night sky. And Abram believed the Lord, Abram placed his faith in the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. The author of Hebrews speaks similarly about faith in our Second Lesson, as he says, "now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible." By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. By faith Enoch was taken so that he didn't experience death. By faith Noah respected God's warning and built an ark. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. By faith he stayed in a foreign land; by faith he receive power of procreation, though old. All of these lived by faith, by trusting, not in themselves, but in the power of God to create and sustain, and guide and protect them all the days of their lives--even though they died without seeing the fulfillment of the ultimate promise of God, the coming of Jesus. And yet, still, they lived by faith, always looking off in the distance, for the coming of Messiah, Christ--Jesus.

Focusing on Our Greatest Treasure!

And that's what Jesus is calling us to do--to always be looking for His return, to always be watching and waiting for His coming--not focusing on our worldly things, not sitting in our vault like Uncle Scrooge counting our gold coins, not being pre-occupied with our jobs, and our earning, and our saving, and our bottom line. The truth is we can do those things, without having them as our primary focus in life. The truth is we can live as good stewards of our finances, without making them our gods, placing our ultimate trust in them. The truth is we can live in a world of money and possessions, without being possessed by them. We can live in the world, without being of the world-- with God, still as our God, placing all our faith in Him, as we wait for the coming of Christ--dressed and ready for action, with the lamps of our faith lit, like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet.

"You also must be ready," Jesus says, "for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." And we are ready, when our faith is burning brightly. We are ready when we are trusting, not ourselves, but God, whose good pleasure it is to give us the kingdom. We are ready when our greatest treasure, our heart's desire, our highest aim in life, is faith in God.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel
Columbus, OH, USA
E-Mail: dwendel@thenalc.org

Bemerkung:
The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel, ís
Assistant to the Bishop for Ministry and Ecumenism
The North American Lutheran Church

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