Sermon: "Dressed for Action" (Luke 12:32-40)

After a 4-week mini-sabbatical, I returned to preaching this week. Here's the transcript...

The other night, Ginger and I were out for an evening walk, enjoying the cool breeze, and catching up on things after I was gone for most of July. Two young men on bicycles – both wearing white button-down shirts and ties – saw us and greeted us. They were friendly – a little shy – and they started asking us about our faith.

When I said I was a Christian pastor, one of the young men smiled and said, “Doesn’t it feel good knowing you and your family will be together for all eternity?”

“Yes, it does,” I said.

Then he asked me what I teach at my church. I said that much of my teaching centers on living our lives as Jesus taught us, working to make this world a better world, following the beatitudes and living in the fruits of the Spirit… that sort of thing.

Then I changed the topic. “Where are you two from?” I asked. One said he was from Utah, and the other said he was from Arizona.

“And you’re on your mission for the LDS church?”

“Yes,” they said.

I told them that, the week before, I met a young man at boy scout camp who did his two-year LDS mission in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

“Wow,” they said.

And I said, “Yeah; but hey, at least the two of you didn’t have to learn Portuguese for your mission.”

“True,” they said. “Very true.”

Then we said good night, and Ginger and I continued our walk.

The young man I met at boy scout camp, who did his two-year mission in Brazil: when I talked to him, I told him that I had just been to Brazil. He smiled and said he loved it there, and wishes he could go back.

I said I feel the same way.

Now is not the time for me to talk about my summer adventures. Now is the time for me to preach the gospel. And as my conversation with the two young men on bicycles the other night shows, people do have different ideas about what, exactly, is the gospel.

In today’s scripture, Jesus tells his followers to be dressed for action, ready to greet the master, who comes at a time you don’t expect him.

People have different ideas about what, exactly, this means.

Some read this and think of the parousia. Parousia is a greek word that means arrival or appearance. Theologically speaking, it refers to the 2^nd coming of Christ, at the end of the age.

Is that what Jesus is talking about here?

Those who lived immediately after Jesus walked this earth, the earliest followers who lived in the years after his crucifixion, believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime. Time was short, they thought; the parousia was imminent. The apostle Paul wrote letters instructing believers to expect it any day.

2,000 years later, we’re still waiting. Paul and the other early Christian believers were wrong.

In every generation since, there have been those who believed that Jesus’s return would happen in their lifetime. In every generation, leaders have declared that the end times are upon us. Therefore, we must be ready. We must be dressed for action.

For many, this is the gospel. This is the good news. Be ready. Accept Jesus into your heart, so that you can be ready for when he returns. He’s coming any day now, and when he comes, he’ll take you with him to live in heaven.

The thing is, I’m not so sure this is what Jesus meant. And I’m not sure we’re always interpreting scripture right when we place all our emphasis on the 2^nd coming, on accepting Jesus so that we can be assured of a place in heaven.

Because when I read the scripture, Jesus’s focus seems to be centered more on earth than in heaven. His focus seems to be centered more on this life than on the life to come.

In seminary I learned that the “eternal life” Jesus talked about is better translated as the “life of the ages,” and it means a life of wholeness which does indeed transcend time, lasting forever; but it starts right now. It begins in this life.

And when I read the Bible I see Jesus healing people, restoring them to physical health. I see him criticizing and condemning those who oppress others or deny justice. I see him speaking out on behalf of the poor and those who are mistreated. I see him feeding people who are hungry.

These are all physical, earthly things in this life.

And one time, Jesus told his followers that he is found in the least of these. When you feed a hungry person, he said, you feed me. When you clothe a naked person, you clothe me. When you visit someone who is sick or in prison, you visit me. When you give a drink of water to someone who is thirsty, you give it to me.

Even in today’s passage, he says to his followers: “give to those in need.”

Jesus talked of people who did just that, people who saw a hungry person and gave him food, or a thirsty person, and gave her water; people who saw a stranger, and welcomed him; people who saw someone who was shivering, and gave them a coat to wear.

Jesus said that the people who did these things did it to him. “To you?” they said. “When did we see you hungry or thirsty or shivering?” And Jesus said, “when you do this to any of the least of these, you do it to me.”

They didn’t expect to meet Jesus. But they were ready. They were dressed for action.

And when Jesus arrived, they were ready to serve.

On another occasion, two disciples were walking down a road, journeying from Jerusalem to a city called Emmaus. They were sad, because this was just after Jesus, their leader, was executed by the Romans.

A man came alongside them and started walking with them. There is safety in numbers, so they welcomed him. This man asked them what they had been talking about.

Well, they had been talking about Jesus and his crucifixion. They were surprised that this man hadn’t heard about what had happened, so they told him.

When they reached Emmaus, it was late in the day. The man who had joined them said goodbye and started to walk on; apparently he still had some distance to go.

But these two followers insisted that he stay the night with them. It wasn’t safe to travel at night, especially by yourself. “Eat with us,” they said. “Stay the night, and continue your journey in the morning.”

So the stranger joined them for dinner. And as they broke bread together, awareness dawned on the two followers, and they realized that this stranger in their midst was actually the risen Jesus!

Fortunately, they had been ready. They had been ready to welcome the stranger. They had been ready to show hospitality. They had been ready to offer kindness and compassion and love to a traveler who still had a long way to go.

And because they were ready, they saw Jesus.

Be ready. Be dressed for action.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for this life and the life to come. The word “salvation,” the way it’s used in the Bible, refers to a life of wholeness in this life: freedom from captivity, healing from all kinds of maladies…

Near the beginning of Luke’s gospel, Jesus says his mission is to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, and to liberate the oppressed. That’s a very earthly mission. Yes, he assured his followers of a life after death, but most of what he talked about concerned this life right now.

Be ready. Be dressed for action.

When Christians spend all their time focusing on the life to come, life in heaven – what we often call “eternal life” – they often lose their focus on this life. They try to get people to accept Jesus into their heart, but don’t notice that they are hungry or thirsty or suffering.

Gandhi once said, “There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” Jesus knew this. If people were hungry, he gave them bread. And fish.

If they were thirsty, he gave them water.

If they were sick, he restored them to health.

If they were oppressed, he set them free.

When he asked Peter if Peter loved him – and Peter said yes – Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep.”

Three times he said this to Peter.

And like so much of what the Bible says, there is more than one meaning here. There is a spiritual meaning… but there is also a real, concrete, physical meaning.

Feed my sheep. If they are hungry for bread, give them bread. If they are hungry for the word of life, give them the word of life. In whatever way you can serve them, do it.

Be ready for that. Be dressed for action.

One time, a man wanted to follow Jesus. He wanted to follow Jesus, but he wasn’t ready. Jesus came by and said, “Follow me,” but the man said, “OK, but first, let me go take care of things at home. Let me put things in order. I have my own things to take care of first, and then I’ll be ready to serve and follow you.”

But that didn’t work. He should have been ready. He should have been dressed for action.

Last week at boy scout camp, on Wednesday night, our scouts walked the “honor trail.” There were twelve stops along the way, one stop for each point of the scout law, and one final stop for the scout oath.

One of the twelve points of the scout law says “a scout is helpful.” There is also a line in the scout oath that says “help other people at all times.”

But to help other people at all times, you have to be ready to help. You don’t know when that moment will come, that moment when someone will need help. It could come at any time.

So you need to be prepared. You need to be ready… dressed for action.

You need to be ready to help. You need to be ready to serve. You need to be ready to offer kindness, compassion, hospitality.

You need to be ready to stand up for those who are vulnerable, those who are being oppressed.

Those men who rescued that woman who was trapped in her car during the flooding back east – did you see that? They were ready. They saw her, and they rescued her. The flood was about to sweep her away, and they didn’t say, “wait there, we need to get ready.” They were ready.

What do you need to do to be ready? What do you need to do to be dressed for action?

Are you ready to show love to a stranger? Are you ready to help? Are you ready to show compassion to the “least of these,” whenever they might appear?

Because the person who needs your help, your love, your compassion: that’s Jesus. You don’t have to wait 2,000 years or more for Jesus to appear. Every day, Jesus appears. Every day.

The question is: are you ready? Are you dressed for action?