READINGS

1. Luke 12:32-48

HOMILY

This is a short jump from last time. Last time you remember we had the parable of the so-called rich fool.

That follows a section about not worrying and not striving, being like the birds of the air and the ladies of the field passages which come in other Gospels as well.

So not to worry, not to strive, because your Father knows you need these things.

And it's from that point that we begin today's Gospel which starts: Do not be afraid, little flock.

That's actually the only place where this phrase comes in any of the Gospels: little flock.

It's this affectionate note Jesus talking to his disciples here.

That is this affectionate note: For it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

And I think that that's really what is behind the whole of this passage that's coming up which can be a very very difficult passage.

Because it's asking us to sink into something which isn't evident and which is really absolutely central to the Christian faith which is the notion that underneath everything that is, there is a good pleasure in doing things for us, that there is someone who wants our wellness, wants our flourishing, wants our happiness, our safety.

For Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

In other words, there's a hugely powerful project going on, and we're already on the inside of it.

It's as we're being given something and because we're being given something that we are then expected to behave in certain ways.

This is incredibly difficult I think psychologically for any of us to get into because we are inclined to worry, we are inclined to strive after things and it's very very difficult to what it says next: sell your possessions and give alms, make passes for yourselves that do not wear out an unfailing treasure in heaven.

In other words, to treat anything that we have as something that is worth much more as we give it away.

That our real treasure is what we've given away, and therefore is our contribution to other people rather than anything that we have.

Psychologically that is incredibly difficult.

You get an unfailing treasure in heaven where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

And then this line which sounds very beautiful but is in fact terribly challenging; For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Well, this is a shocking Gospel message, particularly at a time when we're hearing about a financial recession, collapse going on all around us, prices going up, inflation etc etc.

Worrying about our treasure here on earth is a full-time business for many of us.

What on earth does it mean to have such confidence in what we are being given that we can happily give away and carry on giving away, and regard what we have given away and therefore no longer control as what our treasure is - something outside our control.

That is incredibly difficult and yet that is the image of God which Jesus is giving us.

But there is something being brought into being in the midst of us and it is brought as being in the degree to which we learn to give ourselves away, and that it's in the giving ourselves away that we have treasure.

Oh so painful because where the tire hits the road is always where I haven't got enough.

How can I give away if I haven't got enough?

And this seems an incredible challenge, an incredibly difficult challenge to that - to live, to dwell in the sense of an abundance that is prior to us, which is what faith is all about.

Such that we are not frightened to give away.

And one of the signs of being not frightened is to be dressed for action and to have our lamps lit.

In other words, the picture which then follows of this cheery, generous, generous-hearted servant is there someone who is waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet.

In Hebrew, it's probably just a banquet, but it doesn't matter.

The γάμος in Greek can be either, so they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.

So these are people who are very keen, longing for the master character, the generous one to come in because they know they lived from his generosity.

It says they're going to be sharing the treasure when he comes in.

And of course it can be hoped that the master is in a great mood after he's been to a banquet.

He's really been enjoying himself.

So he comes home and they're really keen to see him because he'll be in fine form.

And what do they discover? Even more than him being in fine form.

He's delighted to find them awake: I tell you he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.

In other words, he is going to be giving them the meal and the feast, he'll be bringing the feast out amongst them.

And of course, we have all sorts of hints that this is the eucharist that's being talked about, but don't let that take away from the notion of this huge prior goodness and joy and contentedness coming into our midst and wanting to give itself away to us.

And that's what being a servant is - looking forward to being part of the parcelling out of the fun, of the amusement, of the slightly tipsy - one hopes - goodwill that's going on here.

If he comes during the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them so, awake and alert, blessed are those slaves.

In other words, because it's the culmination of something they've been waiting for, they know that plenty is on the way and now they're finding themselves with plenty being handed out to them.

But know 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.

You also must be ready for the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour.

Luke has put together two parables that are in different places in other Gospels, but he's put them together here so that the master is coming joyfully home in one scene, and the next it's the thief coming in the night, and that people are not prepared for the thief coming in the night.

With the suggestion in Luke that this is the same thing seen from a different angle: what's it going to look like for the master to come in and to the thief.

Well, for some people, it's going to look like a thief coming in the night, something for which you need to be prepared just to prevent it.

He would not have let his house be broken into.

And in fact, that's a considerable threat.

Before the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, Ezekiel was told to bore a hole in the wall of the Temple and see all the abominations that were being done so that, when the Temple was destroyed there, was a witness to what had been going on.

That's Ezekiel chapter eight.

And the notion, of course, which is brought out in (I forget whether in the Markan or the Matthean version) that if the thief died while breaking into the house during the night then the house owner was not responsible for it, did not owe blood money, but if he died during the day, it was because the house owner hadn't prepared his house, hadn't protected his house properly enough, and then he would owe blood money to the thief's relatives.

That's in the Torah certainly.

So the notion that Jesus coming and dying in the breach of the house, of the system, the whole of the Temple system was in fact the same as the master returning to offer a banquet to his people - that's being hinted at here: the two things being the same.

The returning master and the thief in the night - the two ways of the coming of the Lord.

So Peter then says: Well, Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?

Because, of course, he's addressed them as a little flock first, so it seems originally that it's for just the apostolic group.

But no, Jesus then says, the Lord said: Who then is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves? His bondsmen probably.

Hebrews didn't have slaves properly speaking, they had bondsmen.

It was a slave-like existence but there was an element of freedom in the lifestyle, it wasn't lifelong.

The master put in charge of his bondsmen to give them their allowance of food at the proper time.

Now what's interesting is that here again the assumption is that the master is feeding the bondsmen, that there is plenty, there is not a shortage of goods to be handed out.

There is plenty coming in.

And blessed is that bondsman whom his master will find at work when he arrives.

Truly I tell you: he will put that one in charge of all his possessions.

So again, it's the arrival in.

As far as you have been involved with helping to bring into being the possessions of the Lord in this world, so you will actually become the owner of them.

You are being built into the new creation, the abundance is making itself present through you, and you become part of the abundance.

But if that slave, that bondsman, says to himself:

My master is delayed in coming, and if he begins to beat the other bondsmen and men and women, and to eat and drink, and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him, at the hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.

• the Greek says actually cut him into two / dichotomēsei, from the same word as we get dichotomy. We'll see why that's important.

Well, why cut him into two? This is a horrific notion: the master coming home and saying, I shall cut you in two, down with a sword.

What's being talked about here?

Well, one of the ways in which you made a covenant with someone to show that you made a deal with them was to cut an animal in half and to walk between the pieces, which is a way of saying: if I don't do what I have promised to do, may it be done to me as to this beast.

And of course, famously Abraham was instructed to cut a beast in half and the Lord himself went through the beast, therefore making his covenant with Abraham which is that: if I do not do what I have told, what I promised, you let it be done to me as it is done to this beast.

So the Lord offered to be killed, which of course then eventually happened as part of the backup to his promise to Abraham.

So here we have the servant who is being cut into pieces is the indication that he has failed to live up to his covenant.

He hasn't even tried really, he's just simply paid no attention to the covenant at all.

So it's to be done to him as it would have been done to the covenant.

Whereas that slave who knew what his master wanted but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted will receive a severe beating.

In other words, someone who had got the message, knew what was wanted, and was either too lazy or sloppy or whatever would as likely - according to this account -- to get severely beaten.

But one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating.

In other words, ignorance is mitigation.

It's always why Jesus was much tougher on his own people than he was on Gentiles when he talked to them because they had no excuse having received the Torah of Moses.

It's the same logic that applies to us as Christians: we have no excuse - having heard the Gospel - for our behaviour.

For from everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and from one to whom much has been entrusted even more will be demanded.

So I think that takes us back to the beginning, to the notion of so much more being available to us that we can trust in what is being given to us, and that, as we trust it, we actually become someone.

And, as we become someone, we can entrust more to others.

And that this, which is a gift, it's massively prior to us.

It's what turns us into becoming capable of rejoicing.

It does mean that we acquire responsibilities with it.

It is as it were any failures can't be mitigated.

And that is frankly very challenging.

As someone who has often fallen asleep, and sometimes got drunk, I hope not beaten other servants but who could well be regarded as someone who's often asleep at the wheel.

What does it look like to be alert, alive with our girdle, our belt girdled and our lamp lit so as to be able to be ready for the service when the Lord comes?

This I find a very very challenging Gospel.

SUMMARY

Jesus said to his disciples:

Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms.

Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.

For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.

Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.

And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.

Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”

And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time?

Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.

Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of all his property.

But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful.

That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly.

Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

Underneath everything that is, there is a good pleasure in doing things for us.

Because we're being given something that we are then expected to behave in certain ways.

Our real treasure is what we've given away, and therefore our contribution to other people rather than anything that we have.

For where your treasure is, there lay your heart also.

Faith is about dwelling in a place where there is abundance prior to us.

This is the eucharist being brought in.

A servant is looking forward to being part of the parcelling out of the fun, amusement slightly tipsy goodwill.

The returning master and the thief in the night: The notion that Jesus coming and dying in the breach of the house (the whole of the Temple system) was in fact the same as the master returning to offer a banquet to his people.