Year C Proper 14, 7 August 2022
St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
“Dressed for Action”
Collect: Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Luke 12:32-40
Jesus said to his disciples, "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."
This morning’s Gospel reading is almost a midrash on the Scout motto: Be Prepared.
And that is not a bad thing, last week I warned about the “just in case” things we often do to make ourselves feel comforted. They may help or not, but we do them just to feel the comfort of having them with us. It is the adult equivalent of a security blanket.
This week, Jesus’ instructions are about the things that should bring us real and lasting comfort, Anticipation and Preparation.
Jesus instructs us of the Outcome of the hard work he asks of us. He starts with the destination so we understand the journey we are being asked to take.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Like the Father speaking to the Elder Son in the Prodigal Son story, Jesus reminds us, “All that I have is yours.” We are being made a promise before the mentions of the costs are brought up. Keep your eyes on the Prize, and keep that thought through the struggles that are ahead.
Here in Luke we have instructions added to the phrase most of us know from Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
How do we show what we hold most dear? Generosity. Be generous like God is generous. We think we cannot be because we look in our hands and see so little, but God is generous so we can be generous. It is not our meager portion that we are giving from, it is from God’s abundance. We are to be good stewards, yes, but gracious stewards. That is why Jesus can say:
“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.”
It is in our valuing that we show what we hold most dear. Your house is burning down, and you have time to grab three things. What are they? When you look at those three things you have a good idea of what you value.
What do you value most? What are your irreplaceable treasures?
In regards to Anticipation and Preparation, we must anticipate the hardships and struggles that the way may bring, and in the foreknowledge we can do what needs to be done to lighten our burdens in our service.
Jesus goes on.
“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.”
Serving someone takes a lot of Anticipation and Expectation. I trust we all have had the experience of going to a nice meal when every need was foreseen and we were cared for before we could even think to ask for anything. As our glass nears the bottom, a refill is offered. The butter has been set out soon enough so that it easily spreads. The plate is cleared once the last bite is taken. Quiet, unobtrusive, dedicated. A good servant is worth their weight in gold.
If you have ever watched the show Downton Abbey, we see Carson and so many others entirely dedicated to keeping up the pretense of the British upper class and their status. The interplay between the “downstairs” where the servants maintain the facade of the upstairs is fun to watch. They are all experiencing similar thoughts, feelings, and trevails. But the distinction between the servers and the served is intriguing to our supposedly classless society. I appreciate the British clear distinctions, as I find them a bit more honest. But from our classless American perspective (I will let you decide how to define classless), the difference is fun to watch.
In the show, the efforts made, some of them Herculean, are amazing to see. Anticipation. Preparation. The very things Jesus calls us to in our reading for this morning.
When I waited tables in seminary I learned much on how to care for people. When to step in. When to offer something. When to stay away. All of it is a dance in the service to others.
In the show, Downton Abbey, it was something special that brought the Lord and Ladies downstairs to celebrate or show appreciation to the staff. This is what Jesus is talking about. When we are attentive and encouraging, the Lord, THE Lord will serve us and show appreciation for the attentiveness and preparation that we have shown.
Anticipating the needs of the Master, and having the work done before it can even be asked is the best way to be attentive to what we are to be about.
Lastly, we are given that glimpse of the endgame again. Yes, we will be given the Kingdom, but the final step of that is the return of the Son of Man which will come “like a thief in the night.”
Be dressed for action. Keep your lamps full and lit. We never know when the day or hour could be. We need to plan and work as if Jesus were returning in another millennium, and our personal ethics need us to behave as if Jesus is coming back tonight. Both/And, not Either/Or.
We always need to be on guard. Especially when we see that things are different, or not the norm.
That is why so many of us are so tired these days. Our “New Normal” is so radically different from what came before. We are averaging about half our normal numbers before COVID. We are doing better than most. We are making the norm to have things videoed, and uploaded online. I have resigned myself that I will have a camera in my face for the rest of my career. I am not complaining, but the last three years have seen an entire rewrite to how things need to be done. Getting used to different expectations can be a hard lesson to learn.
When I used to help in the training of overseas missionaries, a story they told to help prepare people is for folks to know their context.
Two missionaries were sent into the depths of the jungle in a southeast Asian country. The traditional homes were built on stilts, with the animals kept in pens below the houses. The missionary couple had all their belongings moved into a home built for them in a village, and it was quite different from the housing they were used to living in the States.
The wife of the couple was having a very hard time adapting. Between the heat and all the jungle and animal noises she had not had a decent night’s sleep in weeks. Beside herself, one night they woke up after a long night’s sleep. The woman said to her husband, “That was the best night’s sleep I have had since we moved here!” Relaxed finally, she stretched and sat up to get out of bed. She went to put her feet in her slippers, and found that they were gone. Then she noticed everything was gone. All their clothes. All their furniture. All the pots, pans, and food in her kitchen. Wrapping their sheets around them to cover themselves up, they went outside and called their neighbor.
The neighbor came over to their house and at this point the couple shared that everything in their house had been taken, literally everything.
The neighbor could not believe it. “Were you not on guard last night?”
The husband said, “No. We weren’t. In fact, we had the best night’s sleep we had since we have been here.”
The neighbor looked at them like they were crazy. “But how could you sleep?” the neighbor asked. “Didn’t you hear the quiet?”
The neighbor went on to explain that the silence the couple so appreciated came at the cost of all the dogs having their throats slit, as a gang of thieves had come into the village to steal the things of those who did not know the signs. What was seen as a gift was actually a signal to vigilance.
When it comes to Anticipation and Preparation, a big part of that is preparing for the thief in the night, whether that be literal thief or the Son of Man’s return. Either way, the signs may change and we still need to maintain our post and be on guard.
“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit…”
We never can know when the time is or when it could be. Anyone that tells you otherwise is a charlatan. But if we stay prepared, if we keep the faith, if we continue our vigilance when the Lord comes we will be rewarded. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Amen
