ready or not, here I come

from my sermon on 8/8/10 from Luke 12:32-40

"You must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." Are you ready? Most of life happens unexpectedly, not like our experience of a geyser at Wai-o-tapu in New Zealand. Cathy and I visited this national park on the north island where many geothermal features were--springs, mud pots, steam vents. One thing that they advertised was a geyser that went off at 10:15 every morning. I got to thinking about it. How could they be so sure that it would be that precise? I have been to Yellowstone. Old Faithful goes off about every hour, but there they give a range, say 53 minutes to 65 minutes. How does a geyser go off so regularly? At 10:15, we were standing with about 100 people looking at a cone coming up out of the ground. A park ranger came out with a microphone, and said, "This geyser would erupt about every 36-72 hours without any other kind of stimulus. What happens is that a layer of cold water traps the layer of hot water underneath until sufficient pressure builds to erupt. We change the surface tension with some soap." Then he put in some bars that look like ivory soap, and a minute later, the geyser started blowing, growing up to 50 feet or more in the air.

Most of life is not that predictable. Most of life is like this: "You are being laid off next week. I am sorry we no longer need your services." "I am pregnant." "We have to move next week." "It's cancer." "I want a divorce." It is unexpected.

How can we be ready? I think this passage has some wisdom for us.

First, Jesus sets everything in context with these calming words, "Do not be afraid." Being anxious is not the same as being ready. In fact, anxiety limits our choices and responses. Jesus continues with a term of endearment--"little flock", we are called. And we have a personal God, "your Father," not a God way off and uncaring. Finally, this intimate God has a gift for, "the kingdom." How good do you have to be? How hard do you have to work? It is not about that. It is a gift. We simply receive it. The kingdom is real and concrete, like being able to sleep at night, finding forgiveness when we mess up, having a community of friends to trust, being a part of God's reconciling work. The first part of being ready is about receiving what has already been given to us , the kingdom of God, and because of that not being anxious. In Australia and New Zealand, the common response was, No worries, mate."

Secondly, we are to hold onto the things of this world very lightly. Sell possessions. Give alms...interesting in that the root word for almsgiving is the same word for mercy. We can send our treasure on ahead of us to heaven. The word treasure in Greek is one you know, thesaurus. There is a story about how they capture a certain monkey in Africa. The trappers know that the monkeys like a particular nut. They place the nut in a large, heavy jar. The monkey can see and smell the nut and reaches into the jar to grasp it. The hole in the jar is large enough for the monkey to slip its hand in, but not large enough to get its fist out. In the morning the trappers come back to pick up the monkeys who are trapped with their fists firmly around the nuts in the jars. Being ready involves not holding onto possessions. Generosity is the antidote to anxiety over possessions.

Thirdly we have metaphors for being prepared. One is being dressed for action. The Greek is literally having one loins girded. Here's what it means. People used to wear long robes with a belt cinch. One would lift up the long skirt and tuck it into the belt in order to run. It has ties with the Hebrews escaping Egypt in the Passover. They were ready to run. A second image is that of having lamps lit. In the Tabernacle of the wilderness sojourn and the Temple of Jerusalem, there was a light, an eternal flame, to signify the presence of God always with the people. A third image is that of slaves/servants waiting for the groom to come home. He has gone to the bride's house in order to get married. The servants joyfully and eagerly await his return. These images for me connote our being ready to please God and not ourselves, and to do so with eagerness.

Those that do this are blessed. There is a beattitude, "blessed are those whom the master finds alert." There is a wonderful role reversal. The master will act as their servant. He will gird up his loins and serve them. There were 3 watches in the night. The master comes at an unexpected time.

Fourthly, there is the image of a house owner who is prepared for a thief. A break-in is disruptive to say the least. Any of you had this experience? I have, and it is not pleasant. You feel violated. No one can stay awake all of the time. No one know when the thief will come. The best we can do is to lower the odds and to increase our coping responses.

The whole point of this passage is not to be anxious about stuff that doesn't matter, and to be anxious of the coming realm of God.

To be ready is to act out what the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 1 says, "Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow." Or as our new vision statements says, we are "Following One, Serving All." If we are in this posture, we won't have to worry when the Lord comes. We will be ready.