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The twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, 08/07/2016
Sermon on Luke 12:32-40, by Pari R. Bailey
Jesus said to his disciples, "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
"But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." Luke 12:32-40
Our senior year in seminary, my husband and I were driving through the upper peninsula of Michigan, having just interviewed at a couple of little churches in the Ontonagon area. It was January and quite snowy with a good layer of ice over everything. The roads were much worse than we expected, and we were delayed. We had made reservations about 90 miles away, in the town where the synod office was, at a little Bed and Breakfast. But by the time we got there it was almost midnight. We drove up, and the inn was all lit up, welcoming and warm-looking. So we pried open the iced-over trunk and struggled with our luggage up to the front door. We were bone tired, drained emotionally and physically. Trevor raised his hand to knock on the inn door but before he could, the door opened immediately, and there was the innkeeper—smiling, taking our coats and luggage and inviting us in. She said that she had waited up for us, and was glad we’d gotten there safely.
This week in the Gospel, Jesus tells a similar story about some servants waiting for a master who has been delayed at a wedding supper. But before we can get to that, we have to deal with the first part of the lesson. Yes—you guessed it: Jesus is still talking about money, just like last week. What does money have to do with people waiting around for a late person? Just wait. You’ll see.
Remember last week? Jesus told the story of a rich man who foolishly thought to store up all his grain, building bigger barns, but he died that night without ever realizing that to be rich in things and poor in soul is stupid, and fatal—eternally fatal. Jesus said to us, “life does not consist in the abundance of possessions!”
This week, just a few verses later, Jesus makes even plainer what he means—but with a twist. He says, “Sell everything. Give the money to the poor. Make purses that don’t wear out, and unfailing treasure in heaven where your heart will be—not with earthly things.”
Sell everything and give to the poor the money you get from the sale? Yeah, right. And if that’s not bad enough, he says that we’re supposed to wait for something that we don’t even know when it will be.
Sure. That’s easy. I’ll just go right out and do that. Good idea, there. And I’ll just wait right here, always ready.
See what I mean when I say that Jesus makes everything plain, but with a twist? What does he mean, sell everything? What does he mean, be on guard at some door?
Many people don’t like to wait. We’re impatient. We want things now—buy now, pay later! We don’t even like to wait in the grocery store line. Kids don’t want to wait to open their birthday or Christmas presents. We just don’t want to wait! And very, very few of us would ever seriously consider selling everything and handing out the proceeds to the poor.
And--wouldn’t it be easier if Jesus would just tell us when he was going to come again, and then we’d have everything all ready for him, and in the meantime could go about our lives as we wanted? I mean, what kind of guest doesn’t tell his host when he’s going to arrive, and instead makes them wait around, and around, and around until he decides finally to show up?
The kind of guest who is also the Master, also the Host, that’s who. We missed some important verses in between last week’s lesson and today’s. Let me read them:
Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
You see, before Jesus tells us to sell everything, and after he tells us that life is more than possessions, Jesus reminds us that God provides for our every need. That’s how Jesus dares to say that we should make purses that don’t wear out. That’s how he can say that we should not be so attached to our possessions that we couldn’t sell them all and give alms to the needy. That’s how he can tell us that treasure in heaven—faith, hope, love, charity, righteousness, walking in God’s way, belief in Christ—these things are more important than money, land, stuff.
Those whose hearts are in the wrong place, with the wrong kind of treasure will be like that rich fool—lots of things, but no faith in God. But for those whose hearts are in the right place—fixed on Christ—for them, this world is not their home. And so they can be generous and giving and free with the things God gives them, because they know that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give them the whole kingdom. We might not see that kingdom, but faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things unseen.
The people who know this, whose hearts are in heaven, they will be eager to be alert, with the lamps lit, ready to open the door the minute the Master knocks. That’s what this all has to do with my story, and Jesus’ illustration about the waiting slaves. Our citizenship is not here on earth. It may feel like it, because you and I get awfully comfortable here in this beautiful world of God’s. It seems like every year in confirmation, the kids and I have at least one extended conversation about the second coming of Christ. Many, many times they have said “But, I want to live my life! I want to experience the world. What if Christ comes tomorrow? I won’t have gotten to do anything I wanted to do, or enjoy the things I wanted to.” Always I have gently said to them—“do you think it’s more important to have a husband or wife or family, or travel the world, or make lots of money—more important than seeing the One who made the world? Who gave you all these wonderful things to enjoy?” I can see in their eyes that they are torn. And so are we all.
It may seem strange for Jesus to talk about wealth and his second coming in the same sentences, but it’s not, really. Those who are so fixed on the world and their things, or lack of things, will not be ready when the Master comes unexpectedly. They will not be ready who are impatient and just want to get on with their lives, living them as if they have no relation to the fact that Christ may show up this morning an hour after church ends, and then what does your job or your land or your house matter? Excess attachment to stuff, to treasure stored in worn-out purses, to the trials and busyness of this world will mean that you miss the Master coming home.
It would be easy if Jesus would just tell us when he was coming back, just like it would have been easy for the house owner to know when the burglar was coming. But it doesn’t work that way. God calls us to leave everything, like he called Abraham and Sarah, who were faced with the promise of a homeland they could not see, a promise from a God they could not see. Even the promise of a baby. Even after they were long past childbearing years. And yet, they trusted and believed anyway.
The same God calls us to wait only on him, only for him. To trust him that he will provide for our needs, even as Abraham trusted that his descendents would be as numerous as the stars, though he sure couldn’t figure out how since he and Sarah were so old. Jesus wants us, his little flock to trust him, not wealth, earthly pleasure, other stuff we turn into little fake gods. He’s promised that we will have enough, that he will give us everything. And he wants us to be ready, not asleep, or drugged into stupor by all the good stuff in the world. Ready. Alert. Listening for his return, even as that Michigan innkeeper listened for our van, peering with worried eyes out the windows and immediately came to greet us before we could even knock on the door.
Be dressed for action, and have your lamps lit. The Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. Amen.