Do not be afraid - Redeemer Episcopal Church (9 Pentecost)

Luke 12:32-40

32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Watchfulness

35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 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. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand 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. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

The time from Pentecost to Christ the King Sunday— this season that we are in right now— is considered the “time of the church.” It is when most of the readings deal with what it means to be a community that confesses Jesus as Lord. What it means to be a community together. In other words, this is the time when we learn about discipleship. How to follow Jesus. 

These couple of verses in the gospel text this morning feel sort of disjointed and like the beginning of Jesus’ self-help book “How to be a Christian.” They don’t seem to have much in common, and even more than that, they don’t seem to tell a story that makes much sense. 

There is a thief… but is the thief Jesus? Is it the Spirit? Is a thief a good thing in this story? Or someone we should protect ourselves from? Should we be excited about the coming of the Kingdom of God, or should we be frightened by the prospect, guarding our home against it? And who are we? Are we servants? House owners? Thieves along with Jesus?

I remember in seminary, my New Testament professor spoke so quickly had said so many wonderful and ground-breaking things that I could never write or type fast enough. When I went back to try to read my notes and make sense of what he was saying in class, it just ended up being a bunch of disjointed sentences that maybe formed a whole thought at one time, but didn’t make a whole lot of sense anymore. 

And, of course, it leads me to way more questions than any answers. 

That’s what this passage feels like to me. You’ll notice this, because this sermon is mostly just a series questions.

So what could these pieces and parts of Jesus’ lecture to his friends tell us about discipleship? What could they tell us about what it means to live in community with one another? 

“Do not be afraid, little flock” is how Jesus begins, “for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” 

What more is this than identity? This is what God promises us in the waters of baptism, in the very beginning of our journey. Do not be afraid. Because we are God’s children, God’s little flock. And it is God’s pleasure to give you the Kingdom. We are the ones who are able to walk through the world without fear because we have been promised something greater. We have been promised a new creation, a new life in Christ. 

This is the beginning of discipleship. It starts with our identity as children of God, washed in the waters of baptism, and created anew as those who will inherit the kingdom of God. 

But then we move on to this conversation about treasure… sell your possessions, Jesus says, and give alms. Know that your treasure is in heaven and not on earth. Know that your heart will follow wherever you understand your treasure to be. 

What does this have to do with discipleship? Is Jesus really expecting us to sell our possessions? All of them? Some of them? Maybe just the most expensive ones? Maybe just the ones that are most important to us? I don’t know. If you heard 50 different preachers talk about this text, you would probably hear 50 different sermons about what you should do with your possessions. 

What I think is most important is that Jesus understands the human condition. Jesus knows that we have a tendency to invest ourselves in the things of this world. We have the tendency to attach ourselves to possessions, things that we can see and touch and grasp. And what he seems to be saying here is that we must learn to detach ourselves from possessions so that we can get rid of the fear we have of losing them. As disciples of Christ, we must begin to understand where our treasure lies. 

That is the core of discipleship, isn’t it? Once we have found our identity in Christ, once we have fully understood ourselves to be children of God— then we have the chance to examine our lives and begin to wonder where our hearts lie and where we find our treasure. Once we understand the gospel promise— that God loves us enough to promise us the Kingdom— then we can start to understand what we value. 

Perhaps that will lead us to selling our possessions. Perhaps it will leads us on a pilgrimage. Perhaps it will lead us to an entirely different path in life. The gospel has a way of doing that sometimes. But first, it starts with identity, and then what we do with that identity. 

Finally, Jesus moves on to this interesting monologue about being prepared. My Bible titles this passage “watchfulness.” 

But what are we watching for? Jesus seems to be talking in circles here. Are we servants waiting for our master? Are we the owners of the house? Who is the thief? Jesus? The Holy Spirit? And if the thief is Jesus, then is the thief coming a good thing? Something we should be excited for? Or is it something we should be afraid of? 

I guess that depends on the answers to our last questions… do we still have treasure in this world? Do we have things that we are afraid might be stolen by a thief in the night? 

Or perhaps we are a part of the heist. Perhaps we are accomplices on Jesus’ holy mission as a thief coming into the house at an unexpected hour. 

It does sort of sound like that, doesn’t it? “You must also be ready.” Maybe we aren’t the owner of the house, keeping the thief away. Maybe we are inside the house, staying up at night, and waiting for the right time to light the lamps, unlock the doors, and prepare the house for the thief. I kind of like that… holy mischief perhaps… mystery and sneakiness on behalf of the Kingdom.

Of course, Jesus isn’t actually breaking into someone’s house. But the Holy Spirit is breaking into this world, and we are here to help that happen. We are here to stay awake and notice where the Kingdom of God is coming into this world.

Because of our new identity in Christ, because we do not have to fear the thief in the night, we can look with anticipation and excitement at what God is doing in the world. Because we know where our treasure lies, and we aren’t afraid of it being taken away… we can bring others into this exciting anticipation too. 

This is the core of discipleship. This is the start of the church and our community with Christ. 

Do not be afraid. Sell your possessions. Be prepared. 

Know your identity as a beloved child of God. Know what you value. Notice the Kingdom of God. 

Amen. 

Lord's Prayer - Redeemer Episcopal Church (7 Pentecost)

Luke 11:1-11

11 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 So he said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, may your name be revered as holy.
    May your kingdom come.

3 

    Give us each day our daily bread.

4 

    And forgive us our sins,
        for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
    And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

Perseverance in Prayer

5 And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything out of friendship, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for a fish, would give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asked for an egg, would give a scorpion? 13 If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Let us pray. May the words of my mouth and the mediation of each heart here this morning be acceptable and pleasing in your sight. Amen. 

Most of you probably know that both my husband and I are pastors. My husband is the pastor over at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church on Hendricks Avenue and I know I haven’t been here in a few weeks, but I am one of the priests here at Redeemer. It’s good to see you again. (Haha) 

As a double clergy household, we try to pray with our children as often as we can. We aren’t great at it, but we try. 

Our 4 year old will often sit down to dinner and remind us to pray before we eat. And one thing we do everything single night, is pray together before he goes to bed. 

In the story we heard this morning, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. We know Jesus isn’t very good with clear answers, but here he does give a pretty good answer— he basically gives us what we will use for thousands of years, known as the Lord’s Prayer. 

But then, because of course he can’t just stop with a simple answer, Jesus goes on to tell this story of a man and his sleeping neighbor. And the reason Jesus tells this story is that when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, they weren’t really asking for a prayer they could recite. What they wanted to know was about their relationship with God. 

Before then, if a person had the good fortune to encounter God, they were known to drop dead immediately. But somehow Jesus had this sort of normal, casual relationship with God and the disciples were curious about it. And as Jesus tells this story, he invites the disciples into an intimate relationship with their creator…

When I began praying with our son, I would ask who we should pray for and he would list off people in his class, his teachers, his grandparents, the neighbors… I’m not even sure if he totally knew what we were doing. But then we would bow our heads, fold our hands, and I would pray for all of the people he listed off. 

But he started to get sort of bored and squirmy with that way of praying, so one night a few months ago, we started saying the Lord’s Prayer together. Kids are like sponges, so it wasn’t long before he had the prayer memorized and would pray it with me. And then eventually he insisted on praying it by himself. 

A couple of weeks ago, something different happened. I would ask “do you want to pray tonight?” And he would say, “no., I’m too tired” or he would say he felt too overwhelmed or distracted to pray. I’d ask, “Well, could I pray for you tonight?” 

So I’d start the Lord’s Prayer and by the second or third line, he would be saying it with me, whispering under his breath the words that he knows so well now. Every night, this is how it happens.

There is something so good and familiar in that prayer, that it seems that he simply can’t resist praying it. 

That is what our relationship with God is supposed to feel like— something that is just so familiar and good and comforting, that we cannot help but join in the community. 

Jesus tells the story of a visitor has just arrived at a man’s house and he has nothing to feed him. So this man walks over to his neighbor’s house in the middle of the night, wakes him up, and asks him for some bread. The text we read says that because of his persistence, the man gets up and gives him whatever he needs. But a better translation would be shamelessness. Because this man is so shameless in coming to ask for bread in the middle of the night, the neighbor gets up and gives him whatever he needs. 

And it *is* shameless isn’t it? Imagine the kind of relationship you must have with your neighbor to go pounding on their door in the middle of the night? I know people who have been living in the same house their entire lives and they don’t have that kind of relationship with their neighbors. It’s shameless and vulnerable to go to a person in the middle of the night and ask for bread. 

You see, I don’t think Jesus is teaching his disciples about what kind of prayers to pray, or even the frequency or urgency with which to pray. Jesus is telling a story about the kind of relationship we are invited into. Unlike ever before, the disciples were invited to be vulnerable and shameless before God. 

When the disciples say, “Lord, teach us to pray,” what they are really saying it, “tell us about our relationship with God.” And Jesus gives them the most well-known prayer in all of Christianity, a prayer that begins with “Father.” Not “Lord,” or “Almighty” or any other number of names for the our most holy and ever gracious God, but Jesus invites his disciples and invites us to call God “Father,” “Abba,” “Dad.”  

We are invited into a relationship so intimate that Jesus says we can ask anything of God. And God says that this relationship is so good and wonderful that God will not only gives us everything we need in this life, our daily bread, but God will also give to us the Holy Spirit. 

You see, prayer is not about how, or why, or when we pray. The invitation to prayer is an invitation into a relationship with the Trinity, an invitation into a relationship with God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

It is the same invitation that allows us to come to this table and eat the body and blood of Christ Jesus. It is the same invitation that dips us into the waters of baptism and renews our spirit. And God in Christ has already accepted this invitation for us, we don’t even *have* to respond. 

But we get to. We have the incredible privilege of reaching out to our creator, the one who was, and is, and will be forever more, the one who created the interstellar workings of the entire universe. And more than that, God listens. God wants to be in relationship with us and even more, the only reason we are able to reach out to God and be in this relationship is because God first began this relationship with us. In the very beginning. And continued that relationship despite our nonsense, when God sent God’s very self in Christ Jesus to be with us, journey with us, die on the cross, and be raised again for the forgiveness of our sins. That God— our God— as ridiculous as it sounds, wants us to be in relationship, to talk, and listen, and converse with us. That’s wild and full of grace and mercy and it truly doesn’t make much sense, but it is true. 

God created you and adores you and wants to be in relationship with you. 

And Jesus has gifted us these words— these familiar, comforting words that many of us have had memorized since we were 4 years old— to be in relationship with God. When the world feels too overwhelming and we don’t know what to pray or we simply don’t want to— we can turn back to these words that we know, these words that are like coming home… and we can join in this prayer and engage in relationship with our God. Amen. Amen. 

Tame Jesus - Redeemer Episcopal Church (3 Pentecost)

You may read the sermon below of listen to it at this link.

Luke 9:51-62

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

A Samaritan Village Refuses to Receive Jesus

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for his arrival, 53 but they did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 When his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 Then they went on to another village.

Would-Be Followers of Jesus

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus[c] said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 And Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

I’ll be completely and totally honest with you this morning— this is not the kind of Jesus story I really like. 

I like the stories of tame Jesus. I like the stories of Jesus feeding people. And the stories of Jesus healing people. I would even much rather the story of Jesus putting a legion of demons into a whole herd of pigs. 

Even give me the story of Jesus cursing a fig tree or clearing sinful people out of the temple. I’m okay with all of those kinds of stories of Jesus. They are tame… or if they aren’t tame, they seem to target the most powerful and sinful of the people Jesus encounters. And surely that’s not me, right? 

But this story… this story is convicting and makes me uncomfortable. Not because of my wealth or my status in society, but because of my faith life— because of the way I walk with Jesus. 

Perhaps I have been here at Redeemer too long, because when I read this story, I could hear Father Wiley say that he is not interested in ethical questions of good vs evil. It’s when we start to think about good vs good is when things start to get really interesting. 

That’s what we hear this morning. That’s why this story is so very convicting and makes me so very uncomfortable. 

First half is about Jesus’ mercy to people who really have no intention of following him in the first place. 

Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem and are passing through a village of Samaria. The people there had maybe heard of Jesus, but knew he was on his way to Jerusalem, so they didn’t have any interest in even receiving him and his disciples into their village. 

The disciples are eager to teach the Samaritans a lesson and ask if Jesus wants them to bring down fire from heaven to consume the people there. The disciples lack faith in so many different ways, but as soon as they see someone snub Jesus, they think they can bring down fire from heaven to avenge him. The disciples are such an interesting bunch. 

But Jesus says no, and continues on his way. He extends mercy to the Samaritans, even though they wouldn’t welcome him into their village. 

But then Jesus talks to some other people along the road. These folks are different than the Samaritans because they are already there with Jesus, walking with him to Jerusalem. 

“I will follow you wherever you go.” One of them says. Jesus replies with a sort of coded message, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” He seems to be saying, “you say you’ll follow me wherever I’ll go, but you don’t know where I’m going. I don’t have a palace somewhere and I have nowhere to keep you safe once we get to Jerusalem.” 

“Are you sure?” Jesus seems to be saying to this follower. 

To another person, Jesus said, “Follow me.” 

But the man said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 

And Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 

Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 

And Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

This is why this story of Jesus makes me so uncomfortable. It makes me shift in my chair a bit as I read it. I don’t *like* this version of Jesus. I don’t want to follow someone who would say something that seems so callous and unloving. 

But then I remember again what Father Wiley says. The questions of good versus good are so much more interesting. I don’t think that Jesus is saying that it is a bad thing for people to want to go back and bury their loved ones. I don’t think Jesus is saying that it is a bad thing that this follower wants to go and say farewell to the people that he loves. 

But Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem and nothing is going to stop him from doing what he was sent to earth to do. He expects his followers to have the same kind of determination that he does. Perhaps that was unfair to some of his followers at the time— after all, they didn’t know how the story would turn out. They don’t have the same privilege that we do, knowing that the end of the story with Jesus’ death was only really the beginning of the story of the Kingdom of God. 

But we do. 

There will always be things that divert our attention away from the gospel. There will always be excuses that we come up with— even good, valid, and important excuses— as to why we cannot follow Christ right now. 

There will always be reasons why it would be easier to just catch up with him later, when it’s more convenient. 

There will always be times when we have to choose between what is good and what is the most important and pressing thing to God and the Kingdom RIGHT NOW. 

And I don’t think these choices are going to get any easier. Over this summer, we will spend time going all the way through Luke’s gospel and what I think we are going to find is that the longer people follow Jesus, the most difficult it is to choose between good and the gospel. I think we will find that as well. Things are not going to get easier. They may, in fact, get much more difficult for us as people of God. 

But we have the promise of the Holy Spirit in the baptismal waters. We have the promise of the feast to come in the Kingdom of God in this holy meal. We have a cloud of witnesses before us and a community of saints among us to help us understand and discern exactly what it means to follow Jesus in these times. Like I said, it’s not going to be easy. And there will be people who are bent on distracting you from resurrection and restoration. There will be so many reasons to choose the easier path, to make excuses why it is just too risky to do it right now. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Christ is with you. Amen.