Always Ready
a sermon based on Luke 12:32-48
by Rev. Dr. David Rogne

There is a story about a famous sea captain, who looked daily at a piece of paper which he kept locked in a drawer of his desk on the bridge of his ship. It was a great source of speculation to his men. "Why did he look at that secret paper every day?” they wondered. Upon his death, they rushed to discover the secret. Opening the drawer they found the paper which read, "The left side of the ship is called the port side."

Some of us find that we, too, have a hard time getting hold of the language of a field with which we ought to be familiar. If we engage other Christians in conversation about religion, it won't be very long before someone brings up the topic of the "second coming of Christ", or the "rapture of the church," and we may feel as uneasy as that sea captain, wishing that we had a piece of paper to which we could turn for a translation of those statements, which are so foreign to us.

The passages which we read this morning from the Gospel of Luke are attempts by Jesus to illustrate some important truths about Christian life and work, truths that we might forget if they were not couched in the very vivid images of the return of the Son of Man, Jesus. This morning, let us take the paper out of the drawer, and look at it carefully so that we, too, can become familiar and at ease with the significance of the second coming of Christ.

The first thing these passages teach is that, somehow, Christ comes among us.

When and how he comes has been subject to debate since the beginning of the church. There are so many descriptions of that return throughout the Bible. Many of them are illustrations or metaphors intended to stimulate the imagination, but never intended to be literally applied. For example, his coming is to involve reward, but also judgment; it is to be as visible as lightning, but as secret as a thief; he is to come as spirit, but he is to come as he left, which many take to mean bodily; he says he will not leave us, but it is also said he will return at the end of the age.

No wonder, then, that the church has had, and still has, a varied understanding of the second coming. Certainly, the early church awaited the speedy return of Jesus in the flesh. The Epistles are filled with predictions of his imminent return. But there is no indication that he returned in the early days of the church in the manner he was expected, so Christians have developed other explanations of what his return means. For example, there are those who say that his resurrection appearances constitute that return; some feel that whenever a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, Jesus has come again in the experience of that person; others feel that when a Christian dies, Jesus has returned in the experience of that individual. As far as I am concerned, each of these understandings makes up part of the truth of what it means to speak of the second coming of Christ.

I am also aware that, for a great many people, the teaching that Christ is to come bodily and visibly at the end of the age is all-important, and the only explanation that will satisfy them.  The Rev. Larry Michael tells of visiting a little old English lady who was well over 80 years of age.   She had been through a lot, knew her Bible well, and had outlived the doctor who described her physical situation as terminal many years before.   Michael thought it was appropriate on one of his visits to speak with her about death, but he discovered that the little lady didn't particularly care to discuss what most people would consider to be inevitable.   Though she was not afraid of death, she explained, she was far more interested in those scripture passages which spoke of Jesus' return to earth.  “I'm not looking for the undertaker," she said.   "I'm waiting for the uppertaker."   Her life was expectant and looking forward to the return of her Lord.

While the Gospel readings we shared this morning do encourage expectancy, it is my own feeling that it is far more meaningful to speak of Jesus' spiritual presence here and now than to dwell on a physical return in the future. There are many Christians who testify that Christ has come to them in varied forms: in a word of guidance; in a flash of conviction; in a call to service; in a call to decision; in the person of the poor, the needy, the disenfranchised. Paul teaches that Christians corporately are the body of Christ. Christ is the controlling influence, the head or heart; we are the physical body in which his spirit dwells. Therefore, he is already present.

That "presence" is the heart of the Good News. As Christians, we are called to give our best, whatever the task. Then, when we have made our preparations, and accepted our responsibilities, we discover that there is Another who is with us on the hard journey. Jesus is there. For us, he has come again.

The second thing these stories teach is that we are to be in readiness for his coming, whenever and however it happens.

A clear message from these parables is that to live without giving heed to the coming of the master, is to invite disaster. In one story, the householder is urged to be alert, to be on his toes because there are things in life that take us by surprise, as the coming of a burglar. In another story, the unwise steward made two mistakes in judgment. One was the assumption that he could do whatever he wanted in his master's absence. He forgot that a day of reckoning would come, and that it would come when least expected it.

The other mistake the unwise steward made was the illusion that he would have plenty of time to put things right before his master returned.   We human beings frequently are

mistaking how much time we have.    I read recently about an event that purportedly really happened.    A woman was giving birth to a baby in an elevator at a

hospital.  When she complained about the location, a nurse said, "Why, this

isn't so bad; last year a woman delivered her baby out on the front lawn."

"Yes," said the woman on the floor, "that was me, too."

There is a story about three apprentice devils, ready to come to earth to finish up their apprenticeship. The first one, describing his intentions to Satan, said, "I'm going to go to earth and tell people there is no God." "That will not delude many," said Satan, "for most people know that there is a God." The second said, "I'm going to tell them there is no hell." "You won't deceive any that way either, "  said Satan, "for many people know already that there is some kind of hell." "Yeah, well I'm going to tell them there is no hurry to change," said the third. "Go," said Satan, "You will ruin people by the thousands." The most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time. One of the most dangerous words in a person's vocabulary is the word "tomorrow," for it is subject to much abuse. W. A. Criswell put that tendency in poetic form when he wrote:

He was going to be all that a mortal should be - tomorrow

No one would ever be better than he - tomorrow.

Each morning he stacked up the letters he'd write - tomorrow.

Each evening he'd recount the battles he'd fight - tomorrow.

He was a man who worked like a fiend - tomorrow.

The world would have known him had he ever seen - tomorrow.

But the fact is, he died and faded from view,

And all that was left when living was through

Was a mountain of things he intended to do - tomorrow.

For this reason, Jesus urges his followers to be in readiness. In the third situation Jesus spoke about, the wise steward was rewarded because he was prepared, ready to act, loyal and awake when his master returned. Apparently, Jesus was aware of our natural inclination toward procrastination: things undone, things half-done, things put off; things not attempted; and he wanted us to have a greater sense of urgency. So we are called to be ready. Several years ago, when I was traveling in Switzerland, I noticed more soldiers in that tiny, historically neutral country than I had seen in any other western country. When I inquired about it, I was told that they were reservists having their summer training. They have only 47,000 permanent soldiers I was told, but they claim that they can field an army of 625,000 trained reservists in 24 hours. For 200 years, they say, they have been able to maintain their freedom because they have been ready to do whatever is necessary. That is what Jesus expects of us.

The third thing I note from these words of Jesus is that the preparation he calls for is faithfulness to duty.

There have been a number of people who have taken Jesus' warning seriously, but who have acted foolishly.   For example, there are those who have attempted to set dates.   When I was twelve years old, I was vacationing with my family in the Santa Cruz mountains in California.   We met an elderly lady there who sold us eggs, but her real interest was in telling people about the second coming of Christ.    "Any day now," she said. "Everything is ready."  And I listened in wide-eyed fear.   That was okay for her; she was in her seventies; and had had a full life; but if she was right, I wasn't going to make it through adolescence.   I didn't sleep for several nights, waiting for the end.

I safely weathered that summer, but several years later I went to a young adult retreat sponsored by the church I was attending, and the speaker said there was no way things could go on the way they were. Jesus was bound to return within ten years. That was 50 years ago. That kind of speculation and date-setting only subject the Christian faith to scorn and ridicule.

These stories that Jesus told do lift up the necessity of readiness, but they indicate that the preparation called for is faithful performance of our duty. In one of the stories, the wise steward was praised for doing his duty. He was doing what he was supposed to do.  He was fulfilling the responsibilities which his master had given him.  His preparation was not to scan the heavens, but to deal with what was close at hand.  In May 1780, New England experienced an eclipse, a day of darkness, in which people felt the judgment hour had come. People fled to churches in hopes of being in the right place when Christ returned. Even senators attempted to rush from the senate chamber to churches to pray, but they were hindered by one Senator Davenport, who prevailed on them, in words made poetic by Edwin Markham:

Bring in the lights: let us be found

                        Doing our duty’s common round.

Bring in the candles: Keep to the task:

What more can judgment angels ask?

If Christians are doing their duty, whatever that duty may be, on the day the Master comes for them, there will be joy and fulfillment. What is our duty? To raise a child alone? To be a faithful spouse? To care for an elderly parent? To help someone in need? To let our light shine “till Jesus comes?”

Let me reiterate that Jesus comes in many ways: he calls Christians to be alert to his coming; and he calls us to faithful preparation. How Christ will come for you and for me, and the time of his coming, we do not know. But let us not waste our time in idle speculation as to how or when. He has given us work to do, and we want to be found faithfully doing it.

A reporter was interviewing a lady who had been a lighthouse keeper for many years.   She told him her story.   "I was living at Sandy Hook", she said, "when I met Jacob Walker.   He kept the Sandy Hook lighthouse.  He took me to that lighthouse as his bride.  I enjoyed it because it was on land, and I could keep a garden, and raise vegetables and flowers.   After a few years, my husband was transferred to Robbins Reef.  The day we came here I said, 'I won't stay.  The sight of water surrounding us makes me lonesome and blue.'  I refused to unpack my trunks and boxes at first.  I did eventually unpack them a little at a time.   After a while, they were all unpacked and I stayed on ...

My husband caught a heavy cold while tending the light. It turned into pneumonia. It was necessary to take him to the infirmary on the mainland, where he could have better care than I could give him at the lighthouse. I couldn't leave the light in order to be with him. He understood. One night while I sat up there tending the light, I saw a boat coming. Something told me what news it was bringing me. I expected the words that came up to me from the darkness. 'We are sorry, Mrs. Walker, but your husband is worse. 'He is dead, isn't he?' I said.

"We buried him in the cemetery on the hill.   Every morning, when the sun comes up, I stand at the porthole and look in the direction of his grave. Sometimes the hills are white with snow.    Sometimes they are green. Sometimes brown.   But there always seems to come a message from that grave.   It is what I heard Jacob say more often than anything else in his life.   Just three words:   'Mind the light.'"

 Mrs. Walker, still keeping the light, was 70 years old when the reporter interviewed her.   Her husband had been dead 32 years. To her, and to us, the call to faithful duty still cries out "Be ready," and "Mind the light."