| August 12, 2001 Wisdom 18:609 + Hebrews 11 1-2,8-19 + Luke 12:32-48 |
| Fearless is the disciple of Jesus, and this week’s stop on the Jerusalem journey with Jesus gives us the next characteristic in a simple and straightforward directive. If we were to observe the earliest human behavior in the youngest of children, the first fear deep in the human psyche 1s the fear of abandonment: the fear of being alone. It prompts the first human cry, and it is soothed only by the reassurance of touch. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to remember our own early and lasting fears. That fear of being alone very quickly causes other fears. If I’m alone, then no one is going to take care of me. If I’m alone, no one is going to feed me, give me shelter, protect me. Behavior then begins to address the fear |
| If I am alone, or I might become alone, then I had better take care of myself. The fear that once alone there might not be enough of whatever I am needing triggers the hoarding, the possessiveness, and all kinds of aggressive behavior and attitudes. These are addressed by Jesus in today’s lesson for disciples. “Sell” and “give” are the directives easy only for those who have no fear The confident assurance that even if we feel alone, the master will return calms the anxious disciple with the assurance that there is always plenty, an “inexhaustible treasure” is the way Jesus refers to what awaits those who will live without fear |
| The Lukan church was surely troubled and anxious about the absence of the historical Jesus. Slow to believe, slow to trust that Spirit which could settle their fears and their sense of Christ’s absence, this story gives us Luke’s counsel to those who have become anxious in the waiting, and troubled by doubt and fear The disciple without fear attends, waits, watches for the Master’s return confident that it shall happen, and that all will be well. |
| Jesus calls to a life of discipleship that would certainly be frightening ifwe were to be in it alone. But he never asks that. The community he builds with his words is not based in this world of fear and hoarding, but is in the one true home to which he calls us. In that place we do not need all the things we are told daily we must have out of fear that we will have to take care of ourselves, because no one else will, or stockpile more and more stuff because there’s not enough to go around. We are given the gift of freedom – freedom from fear Embracing that gift, we can look ahead not for something bad to happen, but for the master to return and treat us as friends, not as servants. |