And If you
are a parent you’ll know that is the question every journey starts with.
“Are you
ready? It’s time to go?”
And I’ve
discovered being ready is a relative term…”are you ready?”
“Yes”
“Why are you
still on the computer? Where are your shoes? And it’s going to be cold later so
where is your jumper?” And if you’re a Hitchhikers
guide to the galaxy fan or simply going swimming or to the beach or on
holiday that all important question “have you got your towel?”
“Surely
you’re not going to go out in that? Have you brushed your teeth? Have you
brushed your hair?” “Did someone feed the cat? Lock the back door? What do you
mean you just need to pack!
I thought
you said you were ready?”
Then, if
you’re like me, once you’ve got everyone ready it’s usually …“are we ready? Oh
wait! Where did I put my keys? Where is my wallet? Where are my glasses? Where
is my towel? “Have I got those tickets? The directions? And yes I know we could
just use google maps?”
Are you
ready? Get ready? Live ready? This is the imperative Jesus gives his disciples
in the passage we had read to us this morning from Luke 12. Be ready for the
coming of the son of man.Are you ready? Be ready, live ready…
We are working our way through Luke’s account of Jesus final
journey to Jerusalem: His journey to the cross and resurrection; A journey that
takes up the central third of the gospel (ch10-19); a journey in which the
narrative focuses on Jesus teaching on what it means for us to follow him. Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking at
Jesus teaching his disciples about being faithful and wholehearted, about being
faithful and wholehearted in the face of opposition and persecution and the
pull of wealth and possessions. In each case he has pointed out a sin they
needed to avoid, hypocrisy and greed, and encouraged them not to fear not to worry but to trust in God’s goodness and faithfulness and care. In each
instance Jesus invites his followers to live faithfully now in light of the
coming of the kingdom of God. The coming of the kingdom of God: inaugurated,
started, by Jesus life, death and resurrection, where the rule and reign of God
had broken into the realms of humanity…and awaiting its consummation,
fulfilment, when the Son of Man returns. Are you ready? Get ready, live ready…
It’s interesting that when we talk about the idea of end
times or the coming of Christ, many people want to focus on the signs of the
times. They want to look and see how does what is happening in the world today
line up with what the Bible says about those times, they fit and squeeze the
happenings of their day into the vivid images of books like Revelation. They
want to know if it’s close so they will be ready…But when Jesus talks of the
times to come, he focuses on three things. The first is certainty: certainty
that the son of man will come. We see that in parables that Jesus tells here,
the master does return, the thief will come. Secondly uncertainty, that no one
knows the hour or day… the thief comes in the night, the unfaithful servant
discovers that the master returns on the day he least expects him. Thirdly in
light of that certain return and in the face of that uncertain timing God’s
people need to be ready, watchful and waiting, but waiting isn’t a passive
thing. It’s not the impassive sigh, as we stand around and wait, because dad’s
rushed back into the house for the third time to get something he’s forgotten. It’s
not the pensive walking up and down the platform at the train station because
the trains late…AS we see in the parables we had read today it’s about
persevering in serving and faithful loving your fellow servants and doing the
things God has called you to do. It’s keeping on keeping on following Jesus,
wholeheartedly and faithfully. Are you ready?
The two parables Jesus uses in this section use the imagery
of a roman household, in particular the slave/ servant relationship with his
master or Lord. The first parable tells the story of a master who is late
coming back from a wedding banquet, we tend to forget that such banquets could
go on for days in the Ancient middle east. The faithful servants continue to be
ready for the master to come even if it is after midnight, well actually closer
to dawn. They are there ready and waiting and open the door for him. And Jesus
paints a wonderful picture of the master’s reaction; he changes his clothes and
serves them. WE have a foretaste of that whenever we celebrate communion, as it
Jesus who invites us come to his table, where he meets us, feeds us,
strengthens us, and we remember how he served us and saved us in his death and
resurrection. It’s a foretaste of sitting down with the Lord when he returns. Our
Lord, who came not to be served but to serve.
The parable is flipped on its head, as Jesus says if the
master knew what time the thief was coming he’d be ready for him and the house
wouldn’t be broken into. You could imagine getting a phone call from bob and
bob ‘the considerate burglars’ just to let you know that they were planning on
breaking into your house between 2am-3am tomorrow night and they hoped it was
convenient and they would appreciate you not calling the police as for some
strange reason the police seemed to be spoiling their business a lot lately. That
does not happen… Jesus says we simply need to Be ready today now because we do
not know the time or day.
The second parable is about a manager. Someone who has been
put in charge of the household while the master is away. This person is
responsible for caring for the other servants, feeding them and looking after
them. But the manager decides that the master is taking a long time and abuses
his position of power, not feeding them, it becomes quite violent and he beats them
both the men and the women. He hordes the food and drink and binges and is
drunk. When the master comes we find that the manger is punished, and treated
as if they are a non-believer.
Between these two parables Peter had asked Jesus a question.
AS we’ve worked our way through Luke chapter 12 we’ve seen that Jesus has been
going backwards and forwards between speaking to the large crowd that had
gathered and speaking directly to his disciples. And Peter is helpful here
because I guess like most of us who are reading this passage we are kind of
confused at this stage as well. Who is Jesus speaking to? So Peter asks is he
talking to everybody or just to the twelve, just to the disciples? Jesus answer leaves the door open to it being
both. Jesus had started this whole section with a warning against the yeast of
the Pharisees. These parables could be seen as a critic of the history of
Israel and the fact that they have missed the coming of the Son of Man. The
second parable resounds with words such as those in Ezekiel 34 where the Lord
judges the leadership of Israel for feeding themselves and not the flock, and caring
for themselves while the needs of the sheep go unmet. It open enough to apply
to us all, but also Jesus focuses on the people who have positions of
responsibility within the household of God, to be faithful in fulfilling those
roles, feeding and caring for God’s people. To those who much is given, both
God’s people Israel and the church, much is expected. The only time there is
negative talk and talk of punishment for those who believe in terms of our
future hope is for leaders who abuse their power, do not care for the
poor. In the church it is a great
challenge to those of us who feel God’s call to lead.
I want to bring this back to today and where we are and
where we live. What does it mean to be ready, to live ready for the coming of
the son of man? It’s been two thousand years since these words were spoken.
What does this passage say about perseverance, and keeping on keeping on?
It would be great is Jesus would provide us with a check
list wouldn’t it. Like you see pilots use and tick off as they get ready to
take flight. The pre pre-flight check, the pre-flight check, the pre take off
check etc… But he doesn’t. In this passage it’s parables, stories which are
quite open ended and non-specific.
But quickly I see three things. The first is clothed ready
for service… while it comes from the Old Testament and the exodus when the
people of Israel were to eat the pass over meal dressed in their travelling
clothes so they could leave when the time was right. In the scriptures the
right clothes is also an image for salvation and forgiveness. Our dirty rages
of unrighteousness, our clothes stained by all we have done wrong, as we ask
Jesus to forgive us and put our trust in him are exchanged for spotless
garments. Being ready is to know daily the great reality of what Christ has
done for us. That we are forgiven and set free: Our live are transformed by
knowing Christ. And each day we live our life out of that wonderful reality. I’m
using the bible in a year app for my devotions. It has a bible reading from
psalms or proverbs, the new testament and the old testament along with comment
from Nicky Gumble, who heads up Alpha, a programme to introduce people to the
Christian faith. It’s great but I found myself thinking Nicky must think I need
salvation because every day every devotion pulls us back to Jesus life and his
saving love for us. But I’m getting it know, this great love is at the centre
of our faith, it is the motivation of our love for God and for each other. We
need to be reminded and experience it daily to be ready for it fulfilment.
The second thing is the lamps burning. In the Olivet discourse in Matthew’s gospel about the end
times, Jesus tells the parable of the ten virgins, waiting for the bride groom,
who again is late and comes towards dawn. Five of them have kept their oil
supplies up and five did not, and it speaks of the need for us to continue to
be filled by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Keeping up our
devotional life and spiritual life. A vibrant prayer life and bible study,
allowing God to speak into our lives, and minister to us. So we can give to
those around us. We need to focus on keeping our lamp bright.
The third thing is the call to be committed to loving one
another. To keep our faith vibrant and ready for Christ we need each other.
Genuine faith is worked out by how we care for each other. Our love for God is
reflected in our love for neighbour. Faith without works is dead. There is much debate about journeys… Is a
journey all about the destination or the getting there. Is it about the goal
achieved or the process we go through? In his insightful book ‘11’ Leonard
Sweet says that for the Christian it’s neither but rather who we cross the
finish line with. The Christian journey
is a team sport. If you’ve watched the ‘tour de France’ you’ll see that the
rider who wins the race is dependent on his team to do their part. They keep
cover over his nearest rivals. Lead him out when he needs to make a break, they
will lead him out for the last sprint. Sweet says it’s the same for the
Christian faith we need each other… In fact he says there are 11 indispensable
relationships we need.. We need an encourager in our lives, and an editor, we
need someone to kick our butt, we need a trusted friend, someone who will mentor us, and someone we
can pass things on to, we need people who haven’t got it together who need us
to help and people who do have t together and can help us get it together ourselves.
We find that in the church, sadly when people feel like giving up they will
give up on the church before they give up on Christ. But in this rag tag group of
people together we have the people we need to love and be loved by to be and
stay ready for Jesus. Even sadly when there are times that we beat up on each
other.
Lastly. We need to live ready because the hope of the
appearance of the master is not just a future hope. It is a reality that we can
know today. The image I used for the service this morning is one I took up at
the batch at Sandy Bay we stayed at last week. It was dusk and the whole sea
and coast turned silver as the sun began to dip over the hill. I looked across
at the open door and saw how the beauty of the scene had stepped across the
threshold of the batch by being reflected in the glass of the old fashioned
door. Be ready for Jesus live ready for Jesus, because in our everyday life,
Jesus may appear at the door, may come and step into the darkness with us
bringing his light. Be ready live ready for the kingdom of God because in our
lives and our community and our world, because we are there and faithfully
serving and loving, the kingdom of God can break into the day and night we are
waiting in. To bring hope, salvation, healing, wholeness, justice, peace, God’s
rule and reign. It may be just a glimpse or a foretaste of what is to come. But
it brings the creators presence and power. So Be ready, live ready, you never
know the hour, but the son of man will come.
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