Today's Thoughts...

Today’s Thoughts: Our Gospel today from Luke follows a section where Jesus speaks about how much more importance each person is than the lilies of the field and birds of the air who are beautiful and known by God. Today’s section opens with the affirming embrace that we already belong to God’s flock and the treasure has already been given to us, so we need not fear about our eternal futures. What we encounter in the Gospel today has to do with the implications of our being so precious and cared for by God. The kingdom is being given to those of us who have faith in the Creator. If we trust, then our treasure does not rely on or support the things of this world.
 
Jesus puts forth the challenges of belonging to this other kingdom. Our preciousness in God’s eyes is contrasted with the preciousness of material things. We get our value from God and not the accumulation of things, of wealth. The desires of our hearts will identify to which kingdom we belong. The challenge is how patient and watchful in terms of God’s Kingdom are we?
 
Jesus is God’s love in us. We are invited to make a similar investment in the holiness of humankind and the love of God. As usual the parable today makes the tension between God and the things of the world quite clear.
 
There is a master who has gone away, promising to return, but the when is indefinite. The servants who remain in the house are to act justly, live soberly, aware, and above all are to expect the master’s return at any moment. This is a direct challenge to the listening-disciples. The opening of this chapter in Luke reminds the friends of Jesus to avoid “the yeast of the Pharisees”. The disciples are the servants in whom Jesus has invested the treasures of his teachings. Unlike the Pharisees they are to be faithful in tending to the household and the people of the household. The emphasis of our Gospel is on living the teachings of Jesus until he returns.
 
God has created us, made us part of the human family. God has invested totally in our human recovery through Jesus Christ. We are asked to believe in this and to live reverently and gratefully for this infinite support of the human family.
 
The other option is to live unjustly, drunkenly, and unaware of our dignity. To live in a way that, we deflate our value and the value of all humankind. Yes, we are more important than the “lilies of the field.” Jesus calls us his flock and stewards of creation. When we hear who we are through the stories, pictures and deeds of how God has invested in us, we are reminded to trust in God’s investment. Our real problem or challenge is having the faith that there is a kingdom to come in which we are to invest “now” and that the payoff is in the “then” to come. In other words, there is the “here” and the “here-after” – where is our focus, where is our heart!
 
Have a great Sunday everyone!