Ready for Love

Luke 12:32–40 begins with, ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’ In this sermon, readiness is not about bracing for judgment but leaning toward joy—keeping our lamps lit, our hearts open, and our welcome ready for the love that will surely come.

Transcript

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You're listening to The Word on Baker Street, a podcast from Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Bakersfield, California. Each week we share the good news of God's love through the sermons from our Sunday worship. Wherever you are in your journey, you are welcome here.

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The Holy Gospel according to Luke. And Jesus said, Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where there no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like those who are waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him, and as soon as he comes in and knocks, 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. If he comes during the middle of the night or near the dawn and finds himself, blessed are those slaves. But know this if the owner of the house had known the hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. The gospel of the Lord. Let us pray. Loving God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations with all of our hearts draw us back, back to this moment, back to your presence, back to your love. Amen. So lately, it seems like there are a lot of things that take me back to that time that I spent in those evangelical fundy churches. And today's scripture, it's like, wow, free fall into it. Back then, something that we really prided ourselves in was the music that we listened to. It was, it had to be Christian rock. You know, none of that devil music. And uh Larry Norman was, I'm sure you've all heard of him, uh, was certainly uh you know a fave with songs like uh two men walking up a hill, one disappeared and one's left standing still. I wish we'd all been ready. There's no time to change your mind. The sun has come and you've been left behind. Well, and then uh there's uh another one. Uh let's see, uh Are you ready? Are you ready for the Lord if he comes in the night? Yeah, I remember when I started seminary and I was having this heated discussion with one of my friends, new friends, and about the end times. I remember him saying to me, Don, you need to stop getting your theology from Larry Norman songs. And yet, it kind of seems like Larry Norman was getting his theology from our reading today. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. Jesus begins with these gentle words do not be afraid, little flock, for it's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. But then what follows is this, I mean, it can actually feel really intense. Sell your possessions and give alms, make purses for yourselves that aren't going to wear out. Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit. It sounds like a lot of pressure, a lot of urgency and performance, and a bit like a bit kind of like spiritual whiplash. Uh yeah, I mean, we're told to not be afraid, and then immediately told to prepare and give everything away and stay alert. I get how it's tempting to read this scripture as a warning. You better be ready when Jesus comes back or else. Maintaining this constant state of readiness, it's exhausting. I don't know about you, but I am constantly getting alerts on my phone by apps designed to keep me ready. You know, ready for the weather, ready for a church break-in, ready for traffic, ready for the latest political mind scramble, ready for wildfires. You know, everywhere I turn, someone is warning us about crime and about collapse and about other people and about how we parent and how we vote, how we believe, how we don't. And so when Jesus says we must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour, I'm kind of like, get in line. What I realize is that this kind of readiness is all about bracing ourselves in fear. And I have a hard time believing that that's what Jesus is asking us to do. Because here's the thing I know about fear. Fear tells us don't trust anyone, don't let your guard down, don't hope too much, don't love too much, don't leave anything vulnerable. Fear hijacks the present moment. And it makes us live in these what ifs? What if that happens? What if this happens? And it tricks us into believing that danger is imminent. Fear convinces us that we are alone and unprepared and at risk, and it doesn't even have to be rational to feel real. Some of our fears are they're rooted in traumas, and some are cultural, some are spiritual, some like mine are left over from a third-grade slumber party involving a dark bathroom and playing bloody merry with my friends. Seriously, like to this day, I cannot be in a bathroom at night with the light off. Because at that time we played bloody merry. Though for some reason in Minnesota, we we we played, we said Mary Worth. Merry Worth. Which means I'm basically afraid of a cartoon ghost from the 1950s giving me life advice. The readiness that that Jesus calls us to, it cannot be about fear. Especially when the very first thing Jesus says in this passage is, do not be afraid. It's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. What if fear not is actually the framework of this entire passage? You know, what would that then say about our readiness? Again, it can't come from fear. But what if it comes from trust? What if it, what if we're not being asked to brace ourselves, but to open ourselves? Perhaps Jesus isn't calling us to fear-based vigilance, and instead is calling us to love-based awareness. Not the alertness of dread, but the watchfulness of someone waiting for someone they loved to walk through the door. Debbie Thomas writes, if I'm going to be alert for God, I want to be alert for joy, alert for beauty, alert for justice, alert for love. But this is not the kind of watchfulness that burns out. It's the kind that lights us up. Fear is a liar, it's a thief, and it keeps us from seeing what is already true. Fear will convince us that the door must stay locked, and the lamp hidden and the treasure buried. But Jesus says, do not be afraid. And this isn't the only time. He says it all over the place. He says it before miracles in the middle of storms, and it's there at the empty tomb. And it's not a gentle suggestion. It is a constant refrain. It's this command that is rooted in compassion. And it's not this, don't feel scared. As in you're bad if you're you're you're scared. It's don't let fear have you. Don't let it tell you who you are. Don't let fear dictate the shape of your life. Because Jesus knows we're afraid. He names it. And then he offers something better. It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It's not this threat, but it's a gift. And it's not transactional, it's a joy. Jesus doesn't say, you know, come on, get it together, and maybe God will let you in. He says, God's delighted to give it to you. I mean, imagine that. God delights in giving you peace. God delights in giving you presents. God delights in giving you a home here and now with love. God wants to give you the kingdom because it makes God happy. I know for me, that word kingdom, that can trip me up a little bit. You know, it's been used to mean so many different things, the hierarchy and with rules and patriarchy and violence and conquest. I mean, I really have a hard time hearing the word kingdom without connecting it to the show Game of Thrones. But what if the kingdom of God isn't about control? What if it's about connection? What if it's the place where love is safe? Mercy is normal, and no one is left out. That's what Jesus is inviting us to stay ready for. It isn't something that we're waiting for in the distant future. It's something that we're being invited to notice and let this be our treasure. When Jesus says, where your treasure is, there your heart is also. He's not really talking about gold or our savings accounts, but what we attend to, where we put our time, where where we put our energy, where we pour our attention, and where we invest our souls. That's where our heart lives. And Jesus is asking, is that treasure, is it rooted in fear or is it rooted in love? And the thing is, time and again, the Christian faith has taught people to fear missing God, to fear punishment, to fear hell, to fear not being good enough. And Jesus says, don't be afraid. God wants to give you the kingdom. There's no test to pass, there's no divine stopwatch running out. There's just this lamp to keep lit, a heart to keep open, and a table set for the beloved. Nadia Boltz-Weber says this about fear. I have a God who knows my name, a God who calls me beloved, a God who has already come for me. And she's right. Fear does not get to be our God. Because our real God has already made a choice. God chose to love us. God chose to love you, to give the kingdom, and to come back again and again and again to the door, hoping that we are still awake, hoping that we haven't given up on the light. Love does. And it's God's good pleasure to give it to you. And we can see this in that little parable that Jesus tells about the master returning home from the wedding and finding the servants awake. He gets home. Instead of expecting service from them, he serves the servants. It's kind of like this upside-down world where there's this reversal of the power dynamic, and maybe that's a piece of the kingdom, too, where the weary are lifted and where outsiders are welcomed and where the roles aren't fixed, and the ones who were who are always watching the door find themselves feasting at the table. This is not a God who returns to catch us failing. This is a God who returns to love us more. Even when the world is loud, even when it hurts, even when hope feels ridiculous. Because love will show up. It always does. And the door opens, and there he is. He doesn't have this checklist or any kind of timer with him. There's no judgment. All there is is joy. And he's holding out the kingdom like this big warm loaf of bread. He's smiling. It's like this clean cup of water. Or like an open chair at the table. And he smiles and he and all he says is, I'm so glad you're still awake. Perhaps the readiness is simply this. Choosing again and again to stand in the doorway of our lives with the lamp still burning. And not braced for judgment, but leaning toward joy. Not clenched in fear, but relaxed in trust. And not because we'll know exactly when love is going to arrive, but because we are certain that it will. And when it does, may it find us with light in our eyes and warmth in our hands and welcome already on our lips. Because this is the God we belong to. And this is a kingdom. That place where love is safe and mercy is normal and no one is left out. That we have already been given. Amen.

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Thanks for listening to the Word on Baker Street. If this message has spoken to you, share it with a friend. More sermons and reflections can be found at emmanuelbakersfield.org. May God's grace and peace be with you today and always.