11th Sunday After Pentecost Proper 14

August 08, 2010

the Rev. Ken Kroohs

(Genesis 15:1-6; Ps. 33:12-22; Hebrews 11:1-3 & 8-16; Luke 12:32-40)

WHEN JESUS ISN’T WATCHING

St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, High Point, NC

MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH ... AND THE MEDITATIONS OF ALL OUR HEARTS ... BE ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU --- OUR STRENGTH AND OUR REDEEMER AMEN

    РThe Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.П

    In Luke this passages comes immediately after the one where Jesus tells the parable about the farmers whose fields were so productive he decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones so he could look at the wealth of his grain. The farmer is told that on that very night his life would be taken from him .... a very unexpected hour.

    The other Рunexpected hourП we hear lots of talk about is the end of time, or the second coming of Jesus. Of course some people donМt believe that will be unexpected. Ignoring the science or anthropology involved, some people believe that because of the Mayan calendar the world will end in 2012. Others argue they can find the date based on Biblical passages. Forget that Jesus said we would not know Т they know more than Jesus!

    Interesting but I wonder if either situation is JesusМ point today? I wonder if he means our physical death or the end of the world. As I read this passage Jesus is speaking about something much more important .... the Son of Man arriving unexpectedly into THIS life. Into the life we now live.

    The end of life judgement we might expect. .... The end of the world, whenever it happens, we might expect. But do we spend even a moment thinking about Jesus dropping in on us this afternoon? Or next Wednesday? I doubt it and that, I believe, is JesusМ point. We donМt think about His presence in our lives.

    I told you about the person who tried to convince me the world would end in 2012 because of the Mayan calendar. After listening for a while I pretended to be convinced and told him I knew what he needed to do to prepare Т he needed to give all of his money to the church so he had something good to tell God about!

    I am still waiting for his check to arrive.

    Meant as a joke but to some extent that is what Jesus is telling us. Not to give away every penny, or every minute of our lives but to prepare for His unexpected arrival by considering what really matters in our life. РWhere your treasure is (time and money) there your heart is also.П

    Which is not all bad. If our treasure is with our family, our church, our community С than that is a good place for our hearts to be. And a focus on our family, our church, our community can help make a purse for us that does not wear out, a treasure in heaven.

    But what might be the most condemning part of the teaching, Jesus says if we KNEW, if we knew for certain when Jesus would arrive in our lives than we would do those things which show our hearts in the right place. But when we donМt know, or more honestly, when we donМt think Jesus is watching we tend to be .... somewhat less loving. When we donМt think about Jesus watching, we tend to place our treasure in less commendable places.

    Which could make it sound as if we should live out of fear Jesus is watching us. Not true. Jesus begins this teaching by telling us that the kingdom ... GodМs world ... GodМs love for us is already ours. In other words, we live in RESPONSE to what God has already given us, AND, to avoid losing Т by our own actions not by GodМs choice Т losing what God has given us and wants us to have. Losing the wonderful, loving life God has designed for us.

    And right now that is a difficult lesson to remember. Right now when people in this room are unemployed, under employed, scared about their retirement, fearful about the jobs they do have, worried about their homes ... in times like this JesusМ words are hard to hear.

    I do not believe for a moment Jesus would tell us NOT to worry about losing our homes, or NOT to worry about how to feed our families or anything like that. Rather, I believe Jesus is speaking about knowing where our desires lead. What is it we want with our lives?

    A roof over our heads, a meal on the table are all reasonable desires. I believe Jesus would agree. Jesus frequently spoke about helping those without a roof or a meal so I donМt believe He meant for us to lose ourМs.

    But to know what is the most important in our lives ... that I believe is what Jesus was teaching about. To understand that what ultimately is most important is the kingdom .... GodМs presence .... GodМs love that has been given us. Ultimately that is what matters. That is what will make us happy. That is what will satisfy us.

    For example, remember a time when you purchased a car, and then kept noticing the next one up the price line. The times you have looked longingly at the new sofa in the store even though the one at home is fine, the new clothes, the vacation brochures.

    None of those are essentially evil but I hope you can see how seldom any of those satisfy. They are more likely to generate a desire for more or better than a feeling of satisfaction.

    What can satisfy is being with God. Of course once we get a tiny glimpse of what it really means to be with God we will desire more! We will be both amazed and satisfied Т and desiring more.

    I was struck with a comment this week about Рcloset atheistsП. Frederick Parrella said that too often we focus on God being part of our small world, rather than we being part of GodМs immense universe. Too often we focus on how God could help us, rather than how we can help God despite the fact that us helping God is where the joy and satisfaction happens.

    Remember for a moment a time when someone gave you a gift. You might have been appreciative, even happy.

    Now remember when you did something especially nice for another person С made their lives better. ..... Which was a more satisfying time? When we do something for God, that is when we will get the reward of joy.

    You probably all have similar stories Т at least 20 years ago a friend and I noticed that our elderly neighbor did not have a Christmas tree up. So on Christmas Eve we bought a cheap tree, put on a couple strings of lights and a few bulbs. Maybe we spent $20. and an hour of our time.

    I cannot tell you what material gifts I was given that Christmas. But 20+ years later I can tell you about the joy and satisfaction that tree gave us.

    In our prayers we ask God for health, for friendships, maybe thank God for certain gifts. How often do we honestly and sincerely ask God to open our eyes to see how we can serve another person?

    All of this MAY tie into the question of JesusМ unexpected, and long delayed second coming. I believe the passages which say that is not for us to know, mean exactly that Т there is no secret code in the Bible!

    That said, St. Paul believed Jesus would return right away. The Gospels were written after PaulМs time when it had become clear the second coming had not happened immediately. So Luke and the other writers thought back to JesusМ teachings to try to understand why not. Why hadnМt Jesus already returned?

    No one explained that. BUT, possibly we may have a hint in this passage and others. Jesus tells us the kingdom, GodМs presence in our lives, has already been given to us. Fair to say that few of us experience that fully, if at all.

    Jesus also talks about serving God is various ways and that such service is HOW we grow into GodМs presence.

    Could it be that we are being given the opportunity to grow into GodМs presence?

    Our lives are full of missed opportunities. The Rev. Bill Price who helped found St. ChristopherМs died this week. I always wanted to spend time with him to hear him talk about those early days. Never did - never took advantage of the opportunity.

    Could it be that we are being given the opportunity to grow into GodМs presence by doing those things we plan on doing someday? But not today? The important part of our life is being with God ... we can agree on that ... but there are these other things which need to be done first Т or so we think.

    Life is too short to spend time and money on the less important things. TODAY is too short to spend time and money on the less important things.

    If Jesus peeked into your life, what would you want Him to see? .... If Jesus peeked into your life, what would you rather He did not see?

    Jesus said the kingdom of God, GodМs presence in our life is already given to us. I have an image that GodМs presence is already given to us and we are only separated from it by a flimsy curtain. A curtain we move when we notice a person in need, and help. A curtain we move when we focus our calendars and checkbooks more clearly on God. A curtain we move when we work to end a social injustice. A curtain we move when those actions either follow, or lead to a new spiritual awakening.

    A flimsy curtain separates us for being more fully with God. A curtain we can move so very easily Т but we spend our time on other things. ....... Why?

               AMEN

We have previous sermons on our website. To read an earlier recent sermon just enter: www.st-christopher.org/sermon.html.

CLICK HERE TO RESPOND: I would enjoy reading your comments about this sermon. Please feel free to discuss content or presentation. (If you wish to use another email system send your comments to: ken@st-christopher.com)