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.” Peter said, “Lord, are you telling
this parable for us or for everyone?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the
faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves,
to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave
whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will
put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says to
himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and if he begins to beat the other
slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that
slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he
does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful. That
slave, who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what
was wanted, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did
what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom
much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has
been entrusted, even more will be demanded.
Sunday evenings in our house in days gone by: The Vicar of
Dibley. I could never really take her seriously as a person of faith but I
nevertheless enjoyed the programme, if only for the deconstruction of the joke
at the end with Alice, the verger, misunderstanding the point in epic style.
Did you ever notice the poster above Geraldine’s desk?
Jesus is coming back –
look busy.
For those who believe in Jesus, this is a day they can look
forward to with joy and expectation. It is the day when everything we have
believed in without seeing, will become visible and be fulfilled.
But many people don’t think of the second coming of Jesus as
something joyful. I have heard many Christians talk of how they lived in fear
of the second coming: they lived a life of constant anxiety because they didn’t
know whether they were ready to meet Jesus when he came again.
Unfortunately, many Christians have fed this fear by preaching
about the second coming in a scary way. They seem to believe that they can
threaten people into becoming Christians if they remind them that Jesus will
come again to judge them.
But that’s not at all how the Bible tells it. Neither Jesus
nor the apostles tried to scare people into faith by threatening them with Jesus’
second coming and judgement. When they invited someone to receive Jesus, they
did it by describing salvation in Jesus and the love that he has shown
us in that he, who was God, became a human being like you and me so that we
could identify with him and know him and through him know God.
When Jesus talks about his second coming, it’s to encourage
those who already believe in him. It’s to tell them that all the promises that
he's given them will one day be fulfilled in a visible way.
Today’s Gospel contains a beautiful image to help us
understand what is going to happen when Jesus comes again: It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching
when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them
recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
Just think about that for a moment.
This just isn’t the way things work. It should be the
servants who would have to wait on the master, but when Jesus comes again,
God’s own son will put his apron on and be the servant of those who have been
expecting him.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never before thought about
it in those terms.
So, while this passage from Luke is introducing Jesus’
encouragement to be watchful, always ready for the Son of Man’s unpredictable
return, these verses are also the conclusion of Jesus’ well - known words about
being free from worry that began a few pages earlier: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or
your body, what you will wear. Remember those words - how he points to the
ravens, and the lilies and the grass - and says, “If all of these are under
God’s providential care, so are you. Stop striving; cease your vain, anxious
seeking. Seek God’s Kingdom instead, and the rest will come.” And then he concludes
with the beginning verses from today: Don’t
be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
Sell your possessions and give alms.
Seek God’s Kingdom, as most translations put it. Not: build,
grow or advance God’s Kingdom: these are the terms we use to describe our own
initiatives to usher in God’s Kingdom but those aren’t the Bible’s words. We
are invited to seek the Kingdom, and receive it. It’s the Father’s good pleasure
to give the Kingdom, a Kingdom no amount of money can build, hence all the
advice about wealth, greed and hoarding we’ve had in previous weeks. God
himself is the great philanthropist, here. God is the giver. We seek and
receive.
Jesus tells us what makes the Father happy: giving the
Kingdom. And then he invites giving as a way to characterize our own lives, as if
rejecting possessions and money is the natural way of life for a people who
worship a God who, in giving us Jesus and the Spirit, has given us everything
we need.
As a little imitation of God, our giving is an end in
itself.
Nevertheless, Jesus tells his disciples about his second
coming because he wants them to be ready. He tells them several parables where
he explains that it may take a while before he comes again. It’s worth
remembering, too, that in New Testament times there were some people who made
fun of Christians because they were walking around waiting for Jesus to return.
The apostle Peter knew all about this.
They will say, Where is
this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as
it has since the beginning of creation. (2 Pet 3:4)
In response to the question of the delay of Jesus’ second
coming, Peter continues: But do not
forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand
years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his
promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not
wanting anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance. But the day of
the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the
elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it
will be laid bare. (2 Pet 3:8-10)
Well, the language of the end times may seem a little overblown for modern tastes but that Jesus’ second coming may be delayed is something he
wants us to be prepared for. But he also wants us to be ready to receive him
when he comes. He also predicts that there will be some people who are not
ready.
So, what does it mean to be ready?
First of all, one thing must be clear, and that is what being
ready doesn’t mean. To be ready doesn’t mean to know when Jesus is coming.
Jesus makes it crystal clear that no one knows when he'll come again. His second
coming will be as equally surprising as his first coming. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour
when you do not expect him. (Luke 12:39-40)
Jesus himself did not even know when he would come again. But about that day or hour no one knows, not
even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Matt 24:36) Nevertheless, many people appear
to believe that to be ready means to know when Jesus is coming, so they make
themselves busy trying to interpret the signs of the times, usually using that
most misunderstood piece of scripture, the book of Revelation, attempting to
work out the countdown before Jesus’ return, almost like an Advent
calendar for the second coming. And again, it appears that the purpose is to
scare people: we have now progressed this far according to the schedule of the
end times and now we are getting closer and closer, so now we have to be
looking out.
No we don’t. No one knows but God.
Have you ever heard of Harold Camping? He was an American,
famous for issuing multiple failed predictions of dates for the End Times,
which temporarily gained him a global following - and millions of dollars of
donations.
He predicted that Jesus would return to Earth on May
21, 2011 when the saved would be taken up to heaven. There would then follow
five months of fire, brimstone and plagues on Earth, with millions of people
dying each day, until on October 21, 2011 the final destruction of the world
would happen. You have to admire his chutzpah: He had previously predicted that
Judgment Day would occur on September 6, 1994.
But people believed him.
So, what does it mean to be ready?
Well, in our Gospel passage for today Jesus explains his
parable. The servant who is not ready, he says, is the one who says to himself: ‘My master is taking a long
time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and
women, and to eat and drink and get drunk.
In other words, the unfaithful servant is living his life as
if his master would not return. He thinks he can abuse his power as much as he
wants, because no one will hold him accountable. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect
him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him
a place with the unbelievers. For
those who are not ready, Jesus’ second coming will be an unpleasant surprise.
The servant that is ready, on the other hand, is the one who
constantly does what his master entrusted him to do. The Lord answered, Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the
master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the
proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so
when he returns.
This faithful servant does not have to make any special
preparation when the master comes. He is always ready. He doesn’t need to know
the time of his master’s arrival, he's ready, anyway. That's how Jesus is encouraging
us to live our lives and the good thing is we know what Jesus expects of us. We
know what Jesus wants us to do. Earlier in Luke’s Gospel Jesus was asked the
question, What must I do to inherit
eternal life? In fact the answer was given by the same man who asked the
question, Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your
mind and love your neighbour as yourself.
Maybe that’s what the Vicar of Dibley’s poster means: Jesus is coming back – look busy.
No. Be busy.
No. Be busy.
Jesus is coming again and this is what we need to be busy
doing: loving the Lord our God with all we have and our neighbour as ourselves.
Amen.
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