Luke 12:32-40
12:32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
12:33 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.
12:34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
12:35 "Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit;
12:36 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.
12:37 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.
12:38 If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
12:39 "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.
12:40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."
Jesus is thick into teaching about the role of wealth and material possessions. Last week he dealt with two brothers who were feuding over their dead father's belt buckle collection by telling them the story of the greedy farmer who should have been rich toward God rather than toward his own self. In between that and this Sunday's text are Jesus' teachings urging Christians not to strive for or worry about what they will eat or wear (God takes care of us just like he does the birds of the air and the flowers of the field). Strive for God's kingdom rather than these things which God already is providing.
This Sunday's text is also about material possessions. Willimon is blogging on it at Theolog. I appreciate what he has to say. Especially his attention to the fact that God can be like a thief, breaking into our lives and robbing us. Something to think about these days when God is supposed to be so fricking affirming and nice. Willimon recognizes that in Jesus' words "Have no fear little flock," and connecting that to selling all of our stuff and giving away our money he is getting to the heart of the matter. What a scary thought! Getting rid of all that security! But this sense of detachment is part of getting ready for the Lord.
And what if we don't get ready? The Lord will show up anyway, and it just might be in the form of a thief to take away all that we have. I think of those whose places are threatened by the fires. . .
Anyways, whose up for this Old Testament fear of God thing-- dogs and cats sleeping together-- wrath of God, etc? God is hidden some of the time; some of the time God is hidden. How could we preach on this thieving God in a way that would lead to discussing the role of the cross in our lives? How can we talk about God in a way that takes the Anfechtung experience seriously? How can we preach a God who the 35-W'ers could relate to?
5 comments:
I sorta like this text. I think it is one where the law, in many ways, bears to us the Gospel as well. “Sell your possessions, and give alms. . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” While there is judgment in this call to sell - there is Gospel in the fact that this can turn you to new attachments. There is Gospel in leaving behind the life sucking pursuit of STUFF, and living into the Gospel Good News of the gifts of the one for whom it his “good pleasure” to include you in the Kingdom.
And so, if the call to sell your possessions doesn’t necessarily mean sell everything, then our response to this call of Jesus is quite complex.
Loader has a good line: “The complexity of our situation can be our camouflage for inaction.” He goes on “...we can be free to let our wealth go and use it (as wisely as our best caring strategies determine). This is both something which grace generates and something where the sequence is not automatic. Grace needs a shove because the sophisticated rationalisations for selfishness create heavy drag.”
Grace needs a shove.
Think on that.
x
Now that I know I can blog, I blog, therefore I am. Powell in his book "giving To God"p.52-54 says he hearda preacher preach on this- the jist of it was "we can tell what people really care about by how they spend their money. Powell says " I think he had it backwards .He was thinking, "where your heart is, there your treasure will be.." but Jesus said it the other way around "where you put your treasure -that's where your heart will end up. The point isn't that how we spend our money determines what sort of people we are, but that how we spend our money determines what sort of people we become. Jesus says what we do with our treasures affects our hearts- it determines who we are one the inside and what sort of people we become. This may sound kind of scary, but it is actualy very good news. We can make our hearts feel what they don't WE can control our hearts , dirct them in ways we want them to go...by deciding what sort of people we want to be, and than giving our treasure- to those things that we want to care about!"
Thanks Joash
pretty interesting stuff from our teacher in Columbus, eh?
Some might wonder at how that could be Good News. They might suspect that their desires and pursuits need no modification, other than satisfaction.
Yet, one need only look a little bit to see the damage caused by our disordered desires.
My disordered desires threaten to do me in!
Have no fear little flock!!!!!
How true, unde, But your desires have always been a little suspect! ha! One other interesting thing about the text is the "your"- it's plural- you all- "ya'all's treasure! Jesus is taking about the community of believers holding together, seeking together for the common treasure we hold. In this idividualistic world that's a good word to hear- it's not about me, it's about us- the treasure that God gives us! We are all pirates, rogues together on the ship of grace, given the treasure map, plotting and stealing from one another as we worry about our security. there's plenty 'o booty for all- the treasure is before us in the kingdom that is here, yet not always visible nor in it's fullness. AYE AYE- says one, says we all! Time for a cup o' grog & hard tack!
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