live from your future- Luke 12
Throughout Luke 12
Jesus is calling us to reexamine out priorities. He brings to mind many things
that we could be worried about and then shows God’s perspective. Are we afraid of
being killed? Jesus reminds us that God does not forget even a sparrow who
dies, God will take care of us even in death. He values us so much that He has
every hair on our head numbered (Luke 12:4-7). Are we so afraid of our uncertain
future that we disregard the needs of others in order to accumulate possessions?
As we saw in Jesus’ parable last week, the rich man who had so much wealth he tore
down his barns and built new barns could not take his wealth with him when he suddenly
died (12:13-21). Are we worried about food or clothing- starvation or nakedness?
Or, are we consumed by specialty coffees, designer clothes, fancy cars, and
other signs of success and comfort? Jesus reminds us to not let these worries
distract us from what is most important- Life is more than food and clothing.
What is most important is striving for the kingdom of God (12:22-31). Place
your attention on eternal things, not temporal things. God is taking care of
you. God cares even for sparrows and lilies. God even desires to give us His
kingdom. God is for you, he is not against you .
Jesus is teaching us
that the fears and worries we have evaporate when we look at them through the
eyes of eternity. He is encouraging us to set eternity as our perspective- to
live with the eternal reality as our present reality. Reexamining and transforming
our perspective and priorities is a theme that runs throughout the entire
Gospel. Over and over Jesus calls us to metanoia. We translate it as “repentance”, but its full
meaning has to do with transformation of the mind and heart. It means shifting our
priorities and shifting how we see the world, others, God, and ourselves.
It is the first step in
most, if not all, religions. We encounter some truth and then we adjust our
lives and out thoughts and feeling to that truth. It can be a joyful experience,
or it can be a painful experience, but this kind of encounter is never a dull
experience. … We can ignore the encounter with truth and shut ourselves off
from experiencing it, but that is the road to spiritual blindness.
To give a very concrete
example, we can look at the present environmental crisis and we can ignore it, …
or we can allow that truth to affect us and bring us to metanoia. We can allow our emotions, our thoughts and our actions to
be transformed by the truth of the environmental crisis we are facing.
Falling in love can
bring about a metanoia. When we are
confronted with the truth that we truly do love this person our emotions are
transformed, our thoughts are transformed, and our actions are transformed in
such a way as to bless that other person and draw you closer to them.
If it’s true that God
has made us a part of an eternal reality, then that truth will have an effect
on how we think, and feel, and act.
Jesus is calling us to continuous
metanoia- transformation of heart and
mind- repentance. Repentance has gotten a bad rap. It is a word that has all
kinds of negative connotations. It is true that metanoia can bring about tears and the realization that one needs
forgiveness and has acted in destructive ways, but metanoia also includes transformation from ways of thinking and
feeling, and ways of behaving that are not beneficial and that don’t ultimately
lead to lasting happiness.
Repentance has often
been associated with fear of fire and brimstone. But, notice Jesus’ first words
to us in this Gospel reading “do not be afraid little flock”. Jesus is not
calling us to fear. Jesus is calling us to Metanoia
in order to receive what God wants to give us. “Do not be afraid little flock,
for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (12:32). It is as if He is wanting to hand us the Kingdom
but we aren’t paying attention. We are distracted.
I remember going
through some of my childhood things. I remember coming across a picture I drew
and as soon as I saw it all kinds of memories flooded back into my mind. I
think I was about 8 years old and it was a picture on me reaching for a yellow
belt. It brought to mind a belt test I attended as a part of my Karate class. I
didn’t pass the test, but I wasn’t ready for it and the rule of the school was
that everyone tested when there was a belt test- ready or not. I remember feeling crushed by that experience.
I received numerous belts since that time and I studied martial arts for quite
a few years, so when I look back on that picture it’s actually quite embarrassing
to see how worried I was by that experience. I felt that embarrassment numerous
times going through those memories. It didn’t get any better when I found my
journal from when I was a teenager. I
look back on those fears and worries that haunted my mind and they seem fairly
trivial now, even to the point that they embarrass me to remember them.
I wonder if we will
feel the same way looking back on our lives from our deathbed, … or from the
point of view of eternity with God. Will
we look back at our present fears and worries and feel embarrassed that we
spent so much energy on will then seem trivial?
This is why Jesus says “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. For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.” He is telling us that our concerns about wealth will
be one of those worries that will seem trivial from our heavenly eternal perspective.
He is telling to not let ourselves become distracted by these temporary things.
He wants us to think with an eternal perspective.
What if you could write
yourself a letter from the afterlife? What do you think that letter would say? What
advice would you give yourself? What would you tell yourself to do? What would
you say to yourself about your present worries from that eternal perspective?
I sometimes imagine
what it would be like to be a teenager again knowing now what I do. I think I
wouldn’t worry so much about a lot of the things I did worry about. Jesus is
wanting us to be our eternal selves right now. He wants us to live our lives
now from the perspective of eternity right this moment.
Jesus calls us to be
awake. He wants us to be awake to the fullness of reality- Including the
eternal reality. Living in that eternal reality means living conscious of God’s
presence and action in the world. Could it be that we are so distracted by our
trivial worries that we fail to notice God right in our midst? The writer of
the letter to the Hebrews says, “Do not forget to show hospitality to
strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels
without knowing it” (13:2). Could we be so distracted by our worries and fears
that we pass by angel without noticing them? Jesus does not want us to go
through our lives sleepy and numb. He wants us alert and awake and ready.
Jesus says “be dressed
for action and have your lamps lit” (12:35). Expect God at any moment. Be ready
to receive Him at any moment. Jesus then tells us that if we are ready then
when He arrives our master will come and serve us (12:37). Be ready. Be awake
so that you will receive his blessing.
We might be tempted to
say to Jesus, “well those are beautiful words, but I live in the real world
Jesus. What you’re saying just isn’t realistic. I live in the real world.” …
But, if Jesus really is who he said he is, then he knows the real world better
than we do. It might seem daunting to transform our minds and hearts this way,
but just try is with little everyday worries. When we learn to think with an
eternal perspective in little everyday things, then we will eventually be able
to deal with bigger worries this way.
Jesus’ goal in these teachings is that we will not be
enslaved to the worries of this life. He wants us to see a greater horizon than
the one we often use. When we are able to see with this greater, eternal
perspective we will find that our fears and worries evaporate. Then our
attention is free and we are fully available to receive what God wants to offer
us.
Amen
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