Where Is Your Heart?

Luke 12:22-40

August 10, 2025

 

            I was a huge fan of the show Downtown Abbey. And when I say, “huge”, I mean HUGE! But my love of British period dramas did not begin with this show. When I was a kid, I used to watch Masterpiece Theatre with my parents and the show that they loved was Upstairs, Downstairs. Both Downtown Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs told the intricate stories of all the occupants of grand houses. Both series told the stories of the family who lived upstairs; families who often had more titles and land than money. And the series told the stories of the servants who were the heart of the house, who kept the grand house running and functioning.

            One thing that the servants downstairs knew instinctively was that they had to be ready at a moment’s notice to take care of the needs of the family. These houses had routines, certainly, and the meals and other aspects of daily life were well-structured, but even with that structure and routine, the servants had to be ready at a moment’s notice for any surprises that might pop up, for any change in schedule that might occur. The undercurrent of their jobs was to be prepared and ready for whatever may come.

            This sounds a little like what we read in verses 35 through 38 of our passage from Luke’s gospel this morning. Jesus exhorts those who are listening to

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.”

Every biblical commentator that I have read in preparation to preach this passage has said the same thing about the phrase, “Be dressed for action.” While this sounds like the servants, the slaves who are waiting for their master should be in their daily uniforms – like the servants, the butler, the housekeeper, the housemaids and footmen, were always dressed in specific uniforms that spoke to their rank and type of service – what it really means, what it more literally means is “gird your loins.” In other words suit up and step up. You have to be ready. None of this is going to be easy. And if you’re prepared and ready, good. That’s what you are supposed to be. But Jesus goes on to finish these verses by saying,

“But know that if the owner of the house had known at what 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.”

When I read these words in preparation for today, I thought, “Oh great Apocalyptic imagery. Another reminder that God will come like a thief in the night and if we’re not ready, if we’re not hyper vigilant and toeing the line than we’ll be crushed like a bug under a boot.”

And I must admit that a tremor of dread ran through me, not just because I would have to find some way to preach these words, but because they make me afraid. Fear is my first response because these sound like scary, frightening words to me. They heighten the dread, that foreboding that many of us have about the coming of God into our lives. It’s not so much good news as it is that guy on the corner wearing a sandwich board shouting,

“Beware! The world is coming to an end.”

Zach used to try and get me to play his video games with him. These games were the kind where the characters were in a constant state of battle – generally battles that involved shooting zombies – trying to outwit the creatures of the dead walking toward them and stay alive. I am lousy at these kinds of games, one because I cannot figure out how to make my character walk straight much less shoot straight. I’m usually the guy that’s stuck either looking up at the sky or down at the ground, or I’m hitting the button that makes my character jump, so I’m just jumping randomly while looking at the sky or the ground. I am also terrible at these games because when I do face a zombie, I get panicked and I can’t think fast enough. The zombies get me before I even know what’s happening.

Whenever I read passages of scripture that are apocalyptic, even in a small way, I feel that same sort of panic rise in me. I’m not prepared. I’ll never be prepared. And if the Son of Man is supposed to come like a thief in the night, that must mean bad things. That must mean that God is the great punisher, the great destroyer, so I should be afraid. Because I know that I have not lived a perfect or blameless life. I know that I make mistakes all the time. I know that my heart is not where it should be. I put too much stock in earthly things and earthly comforts and earthly safety, which really isn’t safety at all, and it seems like a terrible irony that this passage begins with Jesus’ words about not worrying, not being afraid, because that is exactly what I’m doing. I’m worrying and I’m afraid and AAAAAAHHH!!!

It seems incongruous that Jesus words about not worrying are spoken in the same breath with these words about the coming of the Master, the coming of the Son of Man like a thief in the night. But maybe it isn’t so strange and dissonant as we might think on first reading.

If you go back to the beginning of this chapter, Jesus is speaking to crowds of thousands of people. And these thousands of people are probably not in the upper echelons of that society. These are most likely the people on the bottom rung of society’s ladder. They are the peasants and the laborers and those who struggle everyday just to get by. And from the beginning Jesus tells them not to be afraid, not to be afraid of the terrors of this world, not to be afraid of those who would seek to harm them, but to trust him. Jesus is speaking about the kingdom of God versus the kingdoms of this world. And really since Pentecost, that is what the lectionary is having us consider as well. What does it mean to be the church? What does it mean to live in the kingdoms of this world and yet trust that God’s kingdom is also in our midst? And so last Sunday, we read about the rich fool, who thought that as long as he had enough security in his life, who believed that if he had enough storehouses and enough put by that he would be well, that he would have plenty of time to eat, drink, and be merry. But death came for him that very night. What good did his storehouses and worldly security do then?

And then Jesus tells those who were still listening to not worry. Look at the lilies of the field and the ravens. The flowers are clothed more gloriously than even Solomon and the ravens are always fed even though they have no storehouses or barns. Don’t worry, Jesus tells them, about striving for these things because that is what the kingdoms of the world do. That is what the nations do. They strive after the worldly goods. But strive instead for the kingdom of God. Do not fear, little flock, because it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom, the real kingdom, the true kingdom. So sell what you own and help others. Don’t make purses for treasure that can be stolen or destroyed. Seek the treasure that goes beyond anything humans can make. Focus your heart on what God gives, what the kingdom of God creates. Focus on that treasure, because whatever treasure you focus on, that is where your heart will be also.

And then just when I start to breathe again, and feel some comfort in these words, Jesus speaks the words that we began with this morning. Be ready for action. Gird your loins. Be prepared for when the master comes.

But before I have another panic attack, let’s look at what Jesus says about the master coming one more time. Does he say that when the master comes he will punish those who are not waiting, who are not ready? Not in these verses. What he does say is that when the master comes, he will invite the servants, the slaves, the lowly ones, the least ones, to sit at the table. The master will fasten his belt and have those who serve him sit at the table and eat. And he will serve them. He. Will. Serve. Them.

Those are extraordinary words. That is a complete and utter reversal of what we expect to happen. The servants are not called to be prepared so they can serve the master as soon as he walks through the door. They are to be prepared so the master can serve them, so they can sit at the table and be fed. That would not have happened in Downtown Abbey or Upstairs, Downstairs. But that is what will happen in the kingdom of God. That is what the church is called to emulate, to do, to be – a place where the least of these are as welcome at the table as those who rank higher in the kingdoms of this world. So, the question to us is, where are our hearts? Are they focused on the treasures that we create and build and hold fast? Or are our hearts focused on the treasures of God’s kingdom? The treasures of love and justice and peace?

I think the crux of this passage, the crux of this chapter, and really the heart of the entire gospel is that we are called to trust God more than we fear the world. We are called to trust in God’s promises more than we trust in what we can provide and build and store up. We are called to trust in the love and grace and peace of God embodied in Jesus more than we trust in even the best and wisest of leaders. We are called to trust God more than we fear. So maybe God coming like a thief in the night is not a reason for us to be afraid, but a reason for us to be hopeful, a reason for us to be glad.

I read a poem this week that I believe speaks to this expectant hope. This is Thief by Andrew King.

 

 

 

Break in, O holy thief.

Break into our guarded home.
Defeat the locks we fasten
against your love.

We brick the gates against justice.
We slam the doors to loving.
Our window drapes are heavy and pulled
to block the light of your peace.

O thief, break into our fortress.
Come while we doze in complacency.
Come while we sleep in our negligence.
Come while our eyes are closed to the world
that so needs us to change behaviour.

Break in.
Break in, and bring the poor in with you.
Break in, and bring the stranger.
Break in, and bring the challenges we fear,
the ones we would rather ignore.

Break in, O thief, break open these hearts
that should have invited you
long ago.

 

For where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also. Where are our hearts? Let all of God’s children say, “Alleluia.”

Amen.