Watching and Working

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (Ordinary Time/UM Kingdomtide)

August 11, 2013

Luke 12:35-40

Introduction

Today’s Gospel reading opens with the words, “Let your loins be girt, and your lamps burning, And be like men that wait for their Lord….” (Luke 12:35-36, John Wesley New Testament). The theme of today’s Gospel reading is waiting for the return of the Lord—a theme that is associated with Advent. We will examine today’s pericope (a Greek word which means ‘to cut around’; i.e., the portion of Scripture that is read) in the light of its context: Luke chapter 12.

“Let your loins be girt”—According to Wesley (Notes Upon the New Testament), “An allusion to the long garments, worn by the eastern nations, which they girded or tucked up about their loins, when they journeyed or were employed in any labor.” Long garments may be a hindrance in work or travel; hence those who wear them wear a belt around their waist to tuck in their long garments. 

Me and a dear old member. I am wearing a rope cincture on my waist.

Among liturgical vestments, there is a belt of rope called a cincture which is used to secure the alb and the stole. (I used to trip on the hem of my alb before I discovered using the cincture.) To have ones “loins girded” is an image of preparedness, as in I Peter 1:13: “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, and be watchful and hope perfectly for the grace that is brought you by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” In the words of our day, “gird up your loins” would be equivalent to “roll up your sleeves” in preparation for work.

I.    Watching. In today’s Gospel reading, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of us, his “servants”, to be prepared for his coming, just as men carrying torches while waiting for their Master to return from a wedding feast (v. 36). He further warns us that his coming will be at a time that is not expected: “for the Son of man cometh in an hour when ye think not” (v. 40); like the coming of a thief in the night (v. 39; cf. I Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10).

      Why does the Lord warn us of his unexpected coming? Perhaps he wants to warn us of the things in this world that may make us forget to wait for his coming.

      A. Greed. In last Sunday’s Gospel reading (Luke 12:13-21), Jesus uses the parable of the rich fool as a warning against greed: “take heed and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (v. 15).  Greed can make us so focused on earthly things that we may forget heavenly things. The rich fool is the parable had an abundant harvest and thought that he can now spend his life eating, drinking, and making merry; only for his soul to be required of God that night. “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and that is not rich toward God” (v. 21).

      B. Worry. In the next section, Jesus speaks about not worrying about what to wear or what to eat (Luke 12:22-31)—the Lucan version of Matthew 6:25-34. He says that we are not to worry about food or clothes because

                  1.   if God provides food for the “ravens” (v. 24) and “clothes” to the lilies (vv. 27-28) and the grass, so worrying is an exercise in futility;

                  2.   it is “the nations” (i.e., those who have not faith) that seek after these things (v. 30); and

                  3.   God knows all our needs (v. 30), and he is able to provide them.

            Worry about not having our “needs” for everyday life can leads us in a never-ending chase for all these things; making us forget to prepare for the Lord’s coming.

      C.  Love of money. Jesus warns of laying up treasure “for himself” and not being “rich toward God” (v. 21). He also speaks of laying up “treasure in the heavens that fail not, where no their approacheth, neither moth corrupteth” (v. 33) and concludes, “For where your treasure us there will your heart be also” (v. 34)—the Lucan version of Matthew 6:19-21. Matthew does not tell us how to “lay up treasures in heaven”, but Luke does: “Sell what ye have and give alms: provide yourselves purses which wax not old” (v. 33). It is similar to Jesus’ advice to the rich young ruler: “Go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven” (Mark 10:21).

            Wesley explains that this commandment does not apply to all:

            This is a direction, not given to all the multitude: (much less it is a standing rule for all Christians): neither to the apostles; for they have nothing to sell, having left all before: but to his other disciples (mentioned chap. xii, 22, and Acts i, 15,) especially to the seventy, that they might be free from all worldly entanglements. Matt. vi, 9.

      But still the essence is there. The love of money, the “laying up of treasures upon the earth” can make us forget laying up treasures in heaven and forget about preparing for the Master’s return. For those who is entangled with material things, the command for them may very well be to divest themselves of worldly treasure. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (v. 34).

II.  Working. In our preparing for the Lord’s return, does this mean that we are all to quit working and making a living? This may be a legitimate question, because St. Peter asked, “Lord, speakest thou this parable to us, or to all?” (v. 41).

     

      The Bible does not teach us to separate ourselves from the rest of the world and to live together in communes awaiting the Lord’s return. Apparently, this became a problem in the Early Church. Some people have used the Lord’s anytime return as an excuse for laziness:

Now, we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to withdraw yourselves from every brother [and sister] that walketh disorderly among you and not according to the tradition which he received of us. For you yourselves know how ye ought to imitate us: we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you, Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nothing, but wrought with labour and toil, night and day, that we might not burden any of you. Not because we have not power; but that we might make ourselves an example to you, that ye might imitate us. For when we were with you, this we command you, If any will not work, neither let him eat. Fir we hear there are some among you who walk disorderly, doing nothing, but being busy-bodies. Now such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, to work quietly and eat their own bread. (2 Thessalonians 2:6-12)

The Lord Jesus then answers with the parable of the “faithful and wise” steward. In Bible times, a “steward” is a slave who is in charge of his master’s household. The steward is responsible for seeing that all the work is being done and that all the other slaves have their food. “Happy is that servant,” Jesus said, “when he cometh, shall find so doing” (v. 43).

In a similar manner, “stewards” who are found to be remiss and abusive of their duties shall be punished. Jesus spoke of a steward whose master is delayed in returning, so he proceeds to beat up the other man- and maidservants; then indulges in food and gets drunk (v. 45). When his Lord returns “in a day when he expecteth not, and at an hour when he knoweth not” (v. 46) and finds this steward unprepared, he will be “cut in sunder and appoint him his portion with the unfaithful” (v. 46) and beat him “with many stripes” (v. 47).

Conclusion

Today’s Gospel reading and its context teach us two things in which Christians live in tension: watching and working. These two are inseparable, and any attempt to separate these creates an unworkable dichotomy. Christians are to be watchful, prepared for their Lord’s return. But this does not mean that Christians would forsake their livelihoods. While waiting for the Lord’s return, Christians are to be productive members of society without being ensnared by greed, worry, and the love of money.