Reflections on the Gospel: Luke 12:32-40

Read the text here: Luke 13:32-48
God’s Great Delight
Jesus is on the way towards Jerusalem.  Beginning in chapter 9 immediately following the Transfiguration, Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem.  But along the way Jesus, accompanied by his 12 disciples and a host of others who come and go as the journey proceeds, spends the time teaching, telling stories (parables) and answering questions.  But throughout all of this a couple themes emerge:  First, the Kingdom of God is come now, in Jesus!  We do not have to wait for the Kingdom to come down the road in some distant time and place.  The Kingdom is NOW!  As you experience Jesus, you experience the Kingdom.  Also, the Kingdom is not something we can earn, or accomplish, or forcibly establish – it is a gift of God’s.  And it is God’s delight and joy to give God’s people this gift. 
So what prevents us from accepting and fully appreciating this incredible gift of God’s?  Well, lots of things: Led by worry about tomorrow we accumulate wealth and possessions and status.  We fret and stress over whether we have enough or not.  And, of course, we don’t, so we worry more and we grasp and we hoard for ourselves, building up treasure on earth.  But in pursuing riches on earth, we make ourselves poor in God.  Last week’s parable of the Rich Fool pointed us in that direction.  This man has become so self-centered and self-focused that his world completely revolves around himself.  Despite his many possessions he is poor in relationship with others and poor in his relationship with God.  So then how do we become rich in God?  As we look back over Jesus’ journey towards Jerusalem we can see the answer to this question: Reach out in love and care to your neighbor (Good Samaritan, chapter 10); Spend time listening to Jesus – in prayer, in God’s word and in Worship (Mary & Martha, chapter 10); Work on giving to God our worry about tomorrow, recognizing that like the lilies of the field and the birds of the air God will provide what we need for life (chapter 11); Work on freeing ourselves from the weight of dependence on our possessions (chapter 12); Dine with Jesus as often as possible through participation with God’s community in the Sacrament of Holy Communion (chapter 14).
Jesus is calling for us to open ourselves to a gift that God is giving to us freely.  These are not ways to earn God’s Kingdom – it is very easy for us to misunderstand this and begin to think that all of this action on our part is required, or else no Kingdom for you!  Not true, all of this action is encouraged in order for us to be able to receive and experience this gift fully! … for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom… says Jesus.  Actually a better way of translating this would be this: … it is the Father’s great delight  or … it is the Father’s delightful decision.  Think extravagance! God is not parceling the Kingdom out to us a little bit at a time, as we make ourselves worthy!  No – God is excited and can hardly wait to give us the whole gift of the whole Kingdom, now, as soon as possible.  When God created the heavens and the earth, God surveyed the work of creation and determined it was TOV – good, fantastic, incredible, awesome!  Now, Jesus tells us that God has come up with a new plan and this plan includes a beautiful, joyous, delightful new idea – and that is giving the Kingdom to God’s beloved children through Jesus.  (This is the literal meaning of the Greek eudokia which is used here: eu = joyous, wonderful, beautiful and dokéo = thought or idea!). 
That is the gift which is held out to you freely – the gift of the Kingdom of God, through Jesus; the gift which is God’s joyous, wonderful, beautiful new incredible, amazing, delightful thought or idea!  Here it is – it is yours!  Nothing can take it away – but lots of things can get in the way of your fully receiving, enjoying and experiencing the gift.  So, beginning with coming to the table to receive and experience eucharist – literally eu = joyous, wonderful, beautiful and charis = grace, steadfast love – let us go forth as citizen’s of God’s Kingdom bringing this gift everywhere we go and to everyone we meet.

 The focus of the lectionary texts for these few weeks are quite clear about how God gives to us the gifts of the Kingdom freely, without condition.  And this is a direct contradiction and condemnation of what has become known as the "prosperity gospel."  The insidiousness and  danger of this very unbiblical doctrine - which is the core of the preaching of Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen - is addressed very well in this article: "Why I Called Out Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen" by Rick Henderson

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Funeral Sermon on John 14

Once more I have had the unpleasant experience of having to listen to a "pastor" expound on the John 14 text in a way which focuses exclusively on "what we get when we get to heaven." Central to this position is the insistence that "you better believe in Jesus - have a personal relationship with Jesus" or else you won't be getting one of those nice mansions." This is not the Gospel and it is not what this text is saying. In fact I find this approach to funeral sermons to be reprehensible as it subjects vulnerable and grieving men and women to a manipulative religious diatribe which is totally irrelevant to the occasion - the loss of a loved one. Not only that, but I have experienced also the dishonesty of evangelical "pastors" enlisting the deceased in their manipulation (e.g. Mildred believed in Jesus so you all should be like Mildred and believe in Jesus). This is NOT the Gospel. This is manipulation and it is irresponsible. So, for al...
Read more

Reflections on the text: Genesis 33:1-11

Image
Please note - I am replacing the Lectionary text appointed for Proper 14 with this text. This text is the climax of the narrative we have been hearing for the previous 3 weeks.  I will say that I think it odd that this text was not included in the series of texts appointed this summer.  Leaving the story and jumping to the Joseph cycle over this climactic story is kind of like following Captain Ahab on his quest for Moby Dick and then jumping to a new story just about the time that they lower the whaling boats.  So, here is the climax of the story:  Genesis 33:1-11 Confrontation! As morning breaks Jacob moves from his campsite and there he sees his brother approaching with 400 (armed?) men.   After the experiences of the previous night his fear and foreboding seems to have been replaced with a sense of inevitability.   He spent the night wrestling with an unknown and unknowable assailant and in the morning he has determined that in this assailant he h...
Read more

Reflections on the text – “David and Goliath”

Image
Read the text here: I Samuel 17:1-49 Five Smooth Stones* Of all the stories in the Old Testament perhaps there is none which is as well-known and well-loved as this story of the little shepherd boy, David, defeating the big, well-armed Philistine champion Goliath. The entire construct of this story – the little guy defeats the big guy - has entered into our national consciousness and is often referred to when a small community, for example, is able to prevail over some large corporate conglomerate.  But there is a lot more to this story, so much more in fact, that it is impossible in one week to examine the story completely.  In preparation for this week I read a number of articles and sermons – one of the best is an essay on the nature of religious violence: “After He Killed Him, He Cut Off His Head: David, Goliath and Sacred Violence” by Dan Clendenin – find it at: http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20090615JJ.shtml   So, what is your exper...
Read more