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"Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms, provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
"Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning, and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
Then Peter said to Him, "Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?" And the Lord said, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."
- Luke 12:32-48
In yesterday's reading, we read that a man from the crowd asked Jesus, ""Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." But He said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?" And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." Jesus gave a parable in response: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." ' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."
"Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms, provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." We continue the theme of emphasis on the riches of spirituality, of the Kingdom which comes first, from yesterday's reading. My study bible points out that the words "little flock" is a reference to the "band of disciples who have left everything behind in total commitment to Christ and the kingdom." It also says that "material riches suffer corruption; spiritual riches abide eternally." I think it's highlighted that it is the "Father's good pleasure" to give them the kingdom! What is this tremendous gift? What does it uphold and do in their lives? How will they live as part of this kingdom? And in these few verses, the tremendous poetry of the Bible is on display, of the treasure that doesn't fail nor grow old, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. Finally, there is the great summing up of all we understand about faith: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." We must take heed what we love, and what we worship, what we treasure -- because it is going to become central to who we think we are. My study bible points out this meaning behind it: "This verse expresses a basic principle of human behavior: a strong warning to guard the heart, the door of inner spirituality."
"Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning, and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Jesus begins - for the first time in Luke, it seems - to give us a hint of His Second Coming. In these verses, He tells us what we are to be about in this period after the Passion, death, Resurrection and Ascension what they and we are to be about. "Let your waist be girded" is a reference to military armor; my study bible says it "renders one ready for action. Lamps burning suggests alertness in doing God's will." It points out that the return from the wedding is a reference to the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. When the master returns, he wishes to find his servants watching, alert, wakeful; and he in return will gird himself and serve the servants at that meal. Finally He tells us plainly, we must be ready, "for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." My study bible says, "The point of Christ's admonitions is that we should constantly be prepared for His Second Coming, the date being unannounced."
Then Peter said to Him, "Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?" Here's an important question! Is this "little flock" extended? My study bible says that the nature of these admonitions suggests Jesus is speaking about matters of concern to all people.
And the Lord said, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more." These verses give us Jesus' answer to Peter, and much more also. We are all to be vigilant, but there are some to whom much is given -- we have begun our reading today with Jesus telling the disciples, the little flock, that it is the Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom. We are all servants who are instructed to be alert. But those who have authority under the master, and this most certainly applies specifically to those like the band of disciples who will become leaders in the Church, will suffer the greater for the lack of discipline while the master is away, for the abuses committed to those under their care. The servant who is aware of his master's will and yet violated it, shall be beaten with many stripes -- yet even those who do not know that will, and committed things deserving of stripes (that is, the "stripes" left by a whip, an ancient instrument of punishment) will still be beaten but with few. My study bible says, "The master requires not merely vigilant waiting, but also actively doing God's appointed tasks."
Today, many of my friends in New York are relieved to have electricity, water, telephones, transportation, and the return (mostly) of the life of the normal, modern City. But the hurricane effects of the past week or so remind us how interconnected we are, and increasingly so. We may share a degree of freedom that tells us that we have the power to make decisions within a kind of autonomous value system, at least choices for our own behavior, but in effect the networks within which we are all interconnected link us up in particular ways which in history haven't been felt so deeply before. As we enter into the third millennium of Christianity, we find ourselves in a world that is, in fact, increasingly interconnected, where events in one place have a profound impact on events elsewhere and around the globe. A crop is wiped out in one area, and world prices for certain goods go up. Warfare which we think of as limited to one place in effect creates vast movements of populations and affects other countries around the world. A news event in one place instantaneously is known everywhere, and affects markets, politics, and outlooks of vast numbers of people. We can think of many instances as examples of our interconnectivity, for example this blog written over the internet, which reaches all kinds of people in all kinds of countries around the world, is translated through the internet into languages I can't speak at the touch of a button in networks available to (just about) anyone where internet is a part of life. Images (and hence culture) from one place go everywhere through television and all media. And this interconnectivity, the depth of impact of one event upon community and world community, is only going to grow more deep, more swift, and more powerful as world populations and technology grow. In New York, the electrical system and how it increasingly functions for all daily needs means a tremendous loss, in this storm, of all kinds of ways that people function, from telephone to water to transportation and internet access for all kinds of communication. My point is that this time of watchfulness, and awareness of waiting for the return of the Master is happening now in a time when community, whether we like it or not, has effectively become greater and more powerful than ever. We are dependent upon and connected with one another to an extent greater than we may understand, and the powerful impact of our choices - as a group, as a nation, and even as an individual - may be felt in ways more potent than ever in the past, and affect countless numbers of other people. Therefore our vigilance, our need to know what it is to be a neighbor, our awareness of our responsibility and choices and what we treasure - especially regarding this gift and true leadership - is in many ways more powerful and essential than ever. Are we ready? Are we watching? Do we know what we and our Master's business are about? Are we good stewards of all that good gift we're given?
