"Jesus is coming – look busy!" bumper sticker
Reminds me of elementary school –
teacher leaving the room for whatever mysterious reason;
no teacher's aides;
leaving us w/ instructions to work on something productive
– reading assignment or math worksheet or spelling words
We'd start off okay – but the longer she was gone, the more we lost focus
→ we'd start to whisper & talk & giggle
& then if she was gone even longer – some sort of fun & games
– fairly harmless, up out of our seats, etc...
If we were smart, we'd post a lookout to stand at the door & watch for the teacher's return – and when she'd come - it was “the teacher is coming!”
and we'd scurry back to our seats,
trying to look busy,
like all along we'd been doing what she told us to do
– b/c we didn't want to get in trouble
Sense of this in the gospel reading
We could read it that way - “Jesus is coming – look busy!”
Jesus says to early disciples,
“be dressed for action & have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return... so they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks”
Maybe not so hard for the 1st disciples as Jesus says this – he's still w/ them
And just like teacher leaving the room
– easy to keep focus at first;
easy to remember what he had told them,
to live a new life,
to do the kinds of things that he had done,
to focus on being ready for his return.
And they expected him to return right away, any day now.
But by the time the author of Luke collected these stories & wrote them down,
it'd been a while since Jesus had died & risen & ascended to God's presence,
and it got harder and harder for the early church to know exactly what they should do;
how to act & live as they waited – maybe he wasn't coming back!
Harder to be dressed for action, to keep the lamps lit, to stay awake & alert
And if it was hard for them
– how hard is it for us, 2000+ years later,
to have a sense that Jesus is coming back
& that he's left us “homework” to do while he's gone
And who wants to do homework anyway?
I was thinking & wondering
– what if we really believed & lived as though Jesus could come back at any moment
– today or tomorrow or next week or next month
- what would be different about how we live our lives?
- What would we change?
- How would our church be different?
- Where would we (individuals/church) put our focus? Our time? Our energy?
It's not about fear or threat.
Right at the beginning of this lesson, Jesus says to his listeners
– to us –
“Do not be afraid...”
Do not be afraid,
for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom...
And that kingdom is what we are waiting for
Jesus talked a lot about it coming near – yet it's not quite here yet
Already but not yet.
Jesus inaugurated it
– he ushered it in, but it's not here in its its fullness yet.
But the kingdom of God is something to celebrate,
not something to fear!
Kingdom of God = rule or reign of God;
it's the place where God's will is done.
Our call while we wait for Jesus to come
is to be dressed for action that helps to bring God's kingdom near -
where the hungry are fed,
the stranger welcomed,
the hurting are healed,
the poor lifted up...
(you've heard this from me before!)
It's the place where it's not so scary
to think about selling our possessions
and giving alms to those in need,
because we know all of our needs will be taken care of.
That's what we are getting ready for
– that's the way we are called to live now,
to practice now -
So when Jesus comes, we will know we've been part of the preparation
and we won't have to worry about looking busy,
even though he comes unexpectedly,
because we've been waiting and working with him all along.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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