Year C

Luke 12:32-40

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

Lives of Faithfulness

First century Christians thought Jesus would return during their lifetimes. Here we are centuries later and the second coming has not yet occurred. Jesus tried to be clear. The question wasn’t when he would return, but would we be prepared? Would our lives be in order? Would our lives be anchored in faith? This week’s texts all have a common theme-the wisdom of faithfulness to God in contrast to the folly of self-centeredness and emptiness of religion. The word faith forms the root of both the words faithfulness and faithlessness. God looks into our hearts and recognizes true faithfulness. We cannot simply go through the motions, for we have a God who loves us but also sees our lives, our actions, and if the very depths of our hearts are focused on the God we follow. 

Let’s face it…as a follower of Jesus we are called to vigilance and to daily choose the life of faith; a faith that involves a wholehearted trust in the One whom we love and worship, who loves us. The writer of Hebrews presents faith as an act of courageous persistence in the service of the kingdom vision. And this is why Luke felt the need to remind his readers to hang in there when it came to keeping kingdom values and to stay awake. Throughout the history of God’s people as we wait for the return of Jesus, there has been a dual call to worship God rightly and to serve his purposes faithfully. Isaiah of Jerusalem, The Dietrich Bonhoeffer of his day, launches an assault today on the OT version of “cheap grace” or grace without a cost. He indicates that “religion,” in and of itself, is not faith but merely the outer shell. Faith is the organism that inhabits that shell and gives it motion.

Walk along most beaches and you will find shells that were once inhabited by living beings. Even after the organism, the life has left them, they may look pretty, but they no longer move. They’re not going anywhere but continue to lie on the beach and look pretty until someone either picks them up or in time they turn to sand. So, Isaiah thinks, are the ceremonies and buildings of those who have no faith. They may look pretty from the outside, but they’re not showing signs of genuine faithfulness to God with concrete expressions of obedience to the commandments to love God and our neighbor as ourselves. The opening message of the prophet Isaiah is quite clear; God is most angry. The people of God were engaged in showy acts of worship involving elaborate burnt offerings of bulls, lambs, and goats.

They observed days of fasting that called attention to their acts of piety and to those outside of the people of God, such acts would have suggested that they were completely devoted to God, but God knew otherwise. The prophet Isaiah charged God’s people with lacking the spirit of humility that would enable them to discern true worship of God. They were engaging in empty rituals with fanfare, with a showy display, and with pride but failed to actually do what the Lord requires. God calls out to the people through the prophet: “learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow.” The only question here for the people of God in Isaiah’s day and for the generations since, is whether or not the people are willing.

Even by the time of second and third generation Christians in the early church some sort of discipleship fatigue was setting in. This is why the writer of Hebrews presents faith as a courageous and virtuous action in a world fraught with contradictions that deny the promise of Jesus and at times even the reality of God. To help us, we are given, in one of the most famous texts-the definition of faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” followed by a portrait of those who lived faithful lives. They lived by faith, not totally seeing the promise fulfilled in their day, but still holding on to the hope that it instilled in their hearts. The author exhorts the readers to keep the faith, hope against hope, endure trials, and keep the vision of the city of our God.     

Yet, it can be difficult to follow God when we are not sure where God is leading. When we do not see evidence of action, we begin to wonder whether God is watching over us. Then every once and awhile something positive does happen in our faith that restores our conviction, strengthens our hearts, and reminds us why we believe what we believe. Our faith gives us assurance and hope, but in faith we often have to trust God and other people. We have to have faith that, as the author of Hebrews writes God has prepared a better place, a “heavenly one,” for us, as God prepared for Abraham. What gives our faith a firm foundation is that Jesus Christ is Lord and holds our future, come what may on earth.  

The gospel reading today just intensifies our confident assurance of hope. It underlines the need for us to be vigilant and daily choose the life of faith. Jesus is in the midst of his journey to Jerusalem to fulfill God’s ultimate plan of salvation. His teaching today picks us right where he left off last week in Luke by continuing to criticize our capacity for greed, the selfish pursuit of accumulating possessions and empty “religion”. He reminds the disciples, who is ultimately in control and teaches them that riches are not the ultimate concern for one’s life. He tells them “sell your possessions, and give alms.” “Make purses that do not wear out.” “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The rewards of the faithful life are not materialistic.  Therefore, we don’t have to be overly anxious about such things as food, clothing or life.

With hearts set on an “unfailing treasure in heaven,” we can actually live without fear. But this involves complete surrender.  For those who follow Christ, we realize that our lives belong to God and this should determine what we do with our talents, resources, and time. Selfishness and faithfulness cannot coexist. In genuine faithfulness, the ultimate concern of life entails being rich toward God and seeking God’s kingdom. Faith in any other “treasure” will be our downfall as we wait. Our ‘master’ has been away for a long time.  And the question is not when will he return? But have we lived all of life in expectation of Christ’s return. Have we lived our lives with faithfulness? The time of arrival is unknown, but the coming is sure. We can wait expectantly, without fear, for the return of our master. And as we wait we must be dressed for action and carry our lamps.  He is coming again to serve us, as before.