In the gospel reading this morning, Luke 12:32-40, Jesus has been teaching a large crowd of people who live in a distracting world like we do. They are concerned about the demands of work and family, of putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their heads. Some have sick kids or prodigal children who are off squandering their lives in a far country. Some have lost their jobs. Some work for unfair or dishonest employers. Some have serious illnesses. They have to pay taxes. They are trying to live godly lives, but are troubled and anxious, weighed down by the demands and expectations of family, work, society, and religion. These anxious people hear Jesus speak about a heavenly Father who loves them, who cares about all their needs, whom they can trust.
Then Jesus turns to his disciples and says to them, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” To give you the kingdom. The kingdom is the place of eternal treasure where all the wealth and riches of God are to be found. You don’t have to work for it because it is a gracious gift from God, given to you freely and with great love. Well, it sounds great. But here we are living in the kingdom of this world. In the midst of this distracting and anxiety-driven life, what does it mean to receive the gift of the kingdom of God? Let’s look at the passage and see what Jesus says to us.
The first thing he tells us is kind of hard. He says, “Sell your possessions.” So next Saturday there’ll be a giant yard sale in the parking lot. So bring all your stuff. Just kidding! Let’s hear what Jesus says again, “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.” In the past few months I’ve led several retreat groups to central Italy to study the lives of some of the saints who lived there—particularly Saint Benedict and Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi. These three people did take Jesus’ teaching at face-value, and did exactly what he said. They sold their possessions, gave the money to the poor and then lived the rest of their lives on very little, just the basic necessities.
Does Jesus expect all of us to do this? The best answer, I think, is that Jesus is always most concerned with the heart. He says, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The question is, Where is your heart? How attached are you to possessions? Do you identify with them? Do you need them to give your ego a boost and make you feel better about yourself? How would you feel about yourself if you suddenly lost them? Would you feel like a failure? Would you be angry? How would you feel about God? Would you be angry with God?
Jesus is concerned about our attachments to things other than God, no matter how much or how little we have. Because they weigh us down, cause us worry, and most of all they keep us from being able to receive the real treasure that God wants to give us.
The first step in receiving the kingdom of God is to detach from worldly treasures. In the ancient tradition of the church this step in the life of faith is called Purgation. It’s when we are purged or cleansed from our attachments to idols, to things other than God. Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness is a metaphor for this spiritual cleansing time. Remember how they were longing to return to their lives of slavery in Egypt because they missed their leeks and onions? All the while God was trying to bring them to the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. This cleansing process where the Holy Spirit works in us to free us from worldly attachments can be painful. But as our hearts begin to change, the stuff of the world that used to mean so much to us and be so important, just starts to look shabby and uninteresting compared with the things of God. We are being set free.
Next, Jesus says, “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.” The slaves need to know who they are and to whom they belong. They are to live in the reality that the master, who has gone to his own wedding, will be coming back with his bride, and they need to be ready when he arrives. Slaves who goof off while the master is away, and who are not prepared when he comes, are not living in that reality. They are maybe pretending that they own the place, or imagining that the master won’t come back. Or maybe they are just plain lazy. Jesus is saying to us, there is a new kingdom in the world that is being established through him. It’s like a wedding, a great celebration and bringing a bride home. This new reality has not been revealed to the whole world yet, but it has been revealed in our hearts. There is a new life, a new understanding that has enlightened our hearts and minds through the Holy Spirit, and we are to live expectantly in that new reality of God’s kingdom.
1 Peter 2:9 says, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” That is who we are. The world does not recognize Christ’s Lordship, but it is nevertheless true and real.
Last week we drove down to Washington DC to visit our daughter and her husband. While we were there we went to the Air and Space Museum, which is always interesting and so much to see. We always like to go to the IMAX Theater there where we sit in front of an enormous screen with big 3-D glasses on. The movie this time is about the Hubble space telescope and shows us amazing images that the telescope has been able to see out in deep space—just unbelievable. We’re traveling to one of the stars in the constellation Orion which is really a cluster of young stars forming out of a cloud of cosmic dust. Then we travel on to the farthest reaches of the universe where we see new galaxies forming. The narrator tells us that the light coming from them has been traveling to earth at the speed of light for 10 billion years! Scientists have learned that our Milky Way galaxy which contains millions of stars is just one galaxy in a cluster of 36 galaxies. The cluster of galaxies nearest to us contains over 2000 galaxies. Scientists estimate that there are roughly 100 billion galaxies in the universe! We leave the theater rather stunned at the incomprehensibility of it all.
This universe that God created is tremendously enormous and so complex beyond all human imagining. It makes one feel very, very tiny. And yet, even so, Paul says, “it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’” it is this God, this great Creator, “who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6).The mighty Creator of this universe has created us in love, come to us in love in his Son Jesus, and has revealed his glory to us through the Holy Spirit enlightening our hearts and minds. This is the Reality of God’s kingdom, the Truth, that God calls us to live in. In this kingdom we know who we are and to whom we belong. We know our smallness and God’s greatness,--we are not the center of the universe, God is. We become deeply aware of our sinfulness, that we do not live in love with God and our neighbors. In this knowledge of our own personal sinfulness we grow in humility, giving up more and more our attempts to control our lives and other people, letting God move into the center of our hearts. In God’s kingdom we release anger and bitterness. We hold no grudges. We receive forgiveness from God as we forgive others. We are learning to surrender our will to God’s will. We are learning to say, “Thy will, not mine, be done.” We are learning to live in the kingdom of God.
Jesus says, “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.” Jesus is saying that we may have to go through a long night of darkness and waiting before the master comes. Usually the deepest surrender to God comes in a time of darkness, a time of suffering or even spiritual crisis. At these times of darkness God may seem very far away. But if we remain faithful, trusting in God even when we don’t experience him, God is actually taking us to deeper communion with him.
This time of learning to live in the reality of God’s kingdom is the second step in the life of faith that church tradition has called Illumination, even though it may sometimes feel like darkness to us. It’s what happens when God shines in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In that light, we see everything differently, and with clarity. And so our lives really begin to look differently. As Christ’s light shines within us, the Holy Spirit transforms us from the inside out so that we become like Christ, loving like Jesus, seeing the world through his eyes.
The final step in our receiving God’s kingdom within us is when God comes to us in fullness. The master comes home. He is a humble master who loves us, sets a bountiful table for us, and serves us! The kingdom now lives fully within us. God dwells in our hearts, rules our hearts unimpeded by our resistance or willfulness. We are at one with God. In fact, this is what the ancient church called the stage of Union, when we are united fully with God in heart, mind and will. Paul says, in Gal. 2:20, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” This is when we are completely at rest in God, filled with joy and peace. There is no longer any anxiety or fear. We are filled with love and able to love others without resistance. We are able to serve others in the freedom of Christ without seeking personal gain. This is being completely at home with Christ.
Jesus encourages us. Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” The Holy Spirit is working within us to establish the kingdom in our hearts, to cleanse us from attachments to idols, to illuminate and transform us with the light of Christ, and to bring us into that perfect freedom of deep loving communion with the heart of the Father. Amen.