8-10-25          Luke 12:32-40

[Jesus said:] 32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 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. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
  35 “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36 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. 37 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. 38 If he comes during the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
  39 “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. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

To you, from Jesus our Lord, comes His promise of eternal life, treasure it!  Amen

Have you made a promise, kept a promise, relied on a promise, broken a promise? Of course you have, no doubt all of the above. Those promises we make can vary in seriousness. Some may be backed up by legal contracts, others with a handshake, it could be a vow made in front of witnesses, and sometimes they are spoken off hand without much thought. How well one keeps a promise, of whatever type, is a demonstration of integrity. It can also indicate how dedicated and skillful you are at planning. You might promise the person you are with right now that you will take them fishing or to the restaurant or to the beach. If that notion just came to you, you will need to make a few arrangements first, making sure you have the needed equipment, cash, and the right clothes. And I hope they will not assume you mean that you will go immediately to begin that activity because worship is still underway. Whenever promises are made, there are sure to be a variety of details that have to be considered and arranged before it can be fulfilled. 

We feel good when we keep our promises, even if it has added to the stress and workload to do it. Perhaps you promised a grandchild or neighbor that you would show them your model trains. It is necessary to make sure they are in good working order and you need to figure a time when you both are free. But once they are there, you begin to enjoy together the fun of showing them your models, how they work and you appreciate their enthusiasm and wonder. Having kept the promise becomes rewarding for you and for the one to whom this treat has been promised. 

There is, of course, a downside to promises. Those are the ones that were not followed through on; those result in disappointment and even heartache. Hopes and dreams can be destroyed. Promises are important, expectations are built upon them. We make them, sometimes we break them, and often we depend upon them. If we are responsible for broken promises, we are called upon to confess and seek forgiveness. In today’s readings we hear about some promises and about the one in whom we can always depend upon to keep his word.

In Genesis we heard about Abram who was feeling that the promise God had made to him and Sarai was not going to be met. He did not yet have that son and so he had made arrangements for a slave in his service to be his legal heir, Eliezer. At this time Abram was already past retirement age and they were still living a nomadic existence, having not settled permanently in the land. At this time God reiterates that Abram will have a son and God even expands on that promise by saying that he will have so many descendants, they will number as the very stars in the heavens. So, in spite of the long delay in having this promise come to be, we are told that Abram believed the Lord. It is that trust in the promises of God that formed the basis of their relationship. Hebrews repeats that story as well, that we might take up that same faith in the promises of God. 1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.    11 By faith, with Sarah’s involvement, (Abraham) received power of procreation, even though he was too old, because he considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”(Heb11). During his life Abraham had not proven to be the best promise keeper but he did show himself to be a good promise believer!

In the gospel of the day in Luke, Jesus points out the surety of God’s promises to us. Like Abraham, we are to believe and anticipate the actualization of the promise, spoken here: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” We do not need to worry about how it will all turn out. Our God keeps the promises He has made and we are told that God desires to give us the kingdom. God has made all the plans, made his promise, and sees it through. It won’t be according to our own timetable, like Abrahm we will need to learn patience and not expect to be given the divine schedule. We also are not to be sitting on our laurels or in our recliners while we wait. Because the kingdom is a treasure for us to anticipate, we should be living in such a way that demonstrates our faith in that truth. We are to believe, like Abrahm, the promise and make that known by “selling our possessions and giving alms”, by “being dressed for actions, with our lamps lit.” Faith in the promise is seen even as what is hoped for is not yet seen.

The disciples of Jesus are to be like the servants who are ready whenever the master shows up at the door. Those who eagerly anticipate and are prepared for Jesus’ coming will discover a unique response from their Lord. 37 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. The Master turns things around and serves those who are meant to serve him. It is another way of expressing the promise which is to give the kingdom to the followers of Jesus and it is His pleasure to do so. As Jesus did say: He came to serve, not to be served. 

It should be obvious that our Lord is not someone we need to fear. Yet we cannot take him for granted either. His expectation is for us to be busy with the tasks we have been given. We are to serve for we follow the pattern that Jesus has given. Since we do not know when to expect his arrival, we must be prepared each day. Our heart will then always be focused on that which is most treasured, to love one another.