Luke 12:32-40

   There are some things that just don’t go together. Toothpaste and grapefruit juice, for example. Baseball and sushi. A “certified organic” label on a pack of cigarettes. And the phrase, “Do not be afraid,” followed shortly by “Sell all your possessions and give alms.”  

   And yet, Jesus links those two phrases in this passage in Luke’s gospel. Do not be afraid? Sell all your possessions? Your congregation might think it’s a good Sunday to count the panes in the stained-glass windows until the sermon is over. 

   A few verses before this we read Luke’s version of the familiar passage in Matthew about the lilies of the field. In those verses, Jesus says not to worry about what you’ll eat or what you’ll wear. God knows you need those things, says Jesus. So don’t worry. I think Jesus is saying a couple of things with “don’t worry” and “don’t be afraid.” He’s saying God has given the world all that we need for everyone to be clothed and fed. As Mahatma Gandhi put it, “Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s need, but not everyone’s greed.” And Jesus is saying that perhaps our anxieties and fears come from being held captive by our possessions. Where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also. 

   A while back I saw a presentation made by a couple who had spent two decades in Africa doing ministry there. They were provided with a home that was simple but had most of the comforts they would expect here in the U.S. except that they had no running water. Their water was brought to them, carried for them, by their own personal water carrier, a man who made ten trips a day to a well some distance from their home. They came to think of this man as their “running” water. But otherwise, they had things and resources that the people living around them could only imagine. And so, they had a guard. Looking back on the experience, the couple noted with wisdom as well as sadness that when the rich and the poor live side by side, a guard is necessary.

    This story points to something else Jesus is saying. He’s saying what I think most of us know in our hearts: anxieties about what we’ll eat, or drink, or wear don’t belong in the life God wants for us – for any of us, for any of God’s creatures. The fears of people who genuinely don’t have enough, and the fears of people who have plenty but are afraid to lose it: none of these fears belongs in what Jesus calls “the kingdom of God.” And that’s what this passage is about – it’s about setting a course for the kingdom. It’s about getting ready for the kingdom.   

   The kingdom of God or the reign of God is the way Jesus describes what life on earth would be like if God were our only king. The word “king” sounds archaic and patriarchal to our ears; it isn’t as powerful a word to us as it was to his audience. Don’t let that get in your way of appreciating that Jesus is describing a reality that is possible, a reality in which there is no oppression, in which all are equal, and all have enough. That reality is God’s goal for us. That is what God wants for us. Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Not later, but now. Dorothee Soelle writes that when Jesus spoke of the nearness of the kingdom of God he was never speaking of an event in the future, at some date on the calendar yet to be decided. 

   So, in the here and now, we are to be dressed for action, says Jesus. Not in order to be “saved” at some point in the future, but in order to participate, here and now, in the reality God desires for God’s world. Now, it might seem as though Jesus is just shifting us from one fear – the fear about whether we have enough – to another fear – the fear about whether we’re ready enough. But Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid.” And when you think about it, it’s often preparation that calms our fears. 

   As amazing as it seems, school will be starting within a couple of weeks. The first day of school can be frightening but it’s much easier if you’re prepared for it. That’s why there are orientation days for kids starting new schools – so you can get used to the building and find out what your schedule is going to be. Being “dressed for action” on the first day of school includes having your pencils sharpened and the right kind of binder, and it always helps to have a friend to help you get through all the new things that you’ll encounter, whether it’s a new school or just a new classroom and teacher.

   But when we think about getting ready for the first day of school this year, we’re brought right back around to fear. An article in Sunday’s New York Times, “Trained, Armed and Ready. To Teach Kindergarten,” (Sarah Mervosh, July 31, 2022), explains how elementary school teachers are so desperate in the wake of Uvalde and other school shootings that they’re planning to learn how to use firearms to bring with them to the classroom. 

   Is this the kind of preparation God has in mind for teachers and students – or for anyone? Because I’m Presbyterian and I’m familiar with what Presbyterians are doing, I’ll refer you to the opening affirmation of an overture proposed by the Presbytery of Chicago at this year’s General Assembly (2022) of the Presbyterian Church (USA):

“We remember that the disciples ask Jesus when he saw them in faithful ministry and he answered, “As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). In our country 40,000 people are losing their lives each year to gun violence. Each one of these represents to us the crucified Christ, as do their orphans, their grieving parents and families, as do the nearly 100,000 who are injured and the countless others who are traumatized by gun violence through suicides, murders, family violence, and accidents; In faithfulness to the Prince of Peace, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) stands with, grieves with, and calls for change alongside the victims of our uniquely-American epidemic of gun violence.”

   The overture goes on to commend groups, businesses, and individuals already active in opposing gun violence, and calls “upon every congregation in the PC(USA) to prayerfully consider their role in helping to prevent gun violence. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us, ‘Everyone can do something.’” The overture further points out “The sinful, historical intersection between guns and race.” The history of gun ownership is too often a means for white people to “protect” themselves and their families from perceived threats from black, brown, and native people, creating a culture of entitlement to gun ownership that is born out of racism, white supremacy, and violence. You can find the entire overture here: https://www.pc-biz.org/#/search/3000776. I suspect other denominations, other churches, are wrestling with this as well. 

   “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Do not be afraid, because God wants what is good for God’s world, for all of us, for the whole creation. What a promise! In the face of gun violence, and in the face of all our other fears, it is the promise we lean into. It is the promise that motivates us to get ready. Soelle writes, “The nearness of God cannot be measured in intervals of time, but must be measured in the strength of the hope which is spreading among people.” 

    The nearness of God must be measured in the strength of the hope which is spreading among people. The strength of that hope is evident when, as Dr. King put it, everyone is doing something. Being prepared, being ready, means doing something. Doing something won’t magically dissolve all our fears, but we can be brave and afraid at the same time, and by doing something, by leaning into our trust in God’s desires for all of us, we really do chip away at our fears. As Harry Emerson Fosdick said, “Fear imprisons, faith liberates; fear paralyzes, faith empowers; fear disheartens, faith encourages; fear sickens, faith heals; fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable; and most of all, fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life, while faith rejoices in its God.”

It’s never worked for me just to tell myself, “Don’t be afraid.” But I can lean into the promise that God has something much better in mind for the whole world. That helps. And I can get ready by doing something. That helps, too.