Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more;
bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Luke 12:32–40
Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
But know this: 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."
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When is the last time that your good news needed a warning label?
“Do not be afraid, for you just won a million dollars!”
“Do not be afraid, for we just picked a wedding date!”
“Do not be afraid, for I baked you cookies!”
It sounds pretty silly to begin a statement of good news with the disclaimer “don’t be afraid.” And yet, in the Bible and especially in Luke’s gospel, good news is often prefaced by those four words:
The angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for…your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.
The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High…and of his kingdom there will be no end.
But the angel said to the shepherds, "Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people."
And today’s gospel: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Why do all of these proclamations of good news come with the preface “do not be afraid?” Is it just that people tend to get spooked by divine beings? Or is it just that people get nervous around miracles? Or is it something bigger?
All of the “do not be afraids” in Luke’s gospel introduce good news, yes, but good news that will change the game. Good news that will turn the world over, whether it is the leveling proclamation of John the Baptist, the birth of Jesus, a new kind of king coming in a most unexpected way to the most unexpected people, or the life-altering invitation to leave the boats behind and become a disciple. “Do not be afraid” is our hint that God’s good news to us comes with consequences.
Today’s gospel is no different. We begin, right off, with words of grace: the Father has given us the kingdom. We are told, quite simply, that by God’s grace, we have a treasure in heaven that can never be taken from us, a kingdom of mercy and life.
But there is a risk in receiving the kingdom. There’s a reason that the good news of our inheritance needs the preface “do not be afraid.” Because it is followed up by the exhortation, “be ready.”
As heirs of the kingdom, be ready to see Jesus, at any moment, around any corner. Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Lighten your pack, sell your possessions, give to those in need. Direct your treasure where you want your hearts to go. Be ready for the kingdom to transform you from the inside out.
Be ready, because the kingdom isn’t something that will just sit there in your barns, earning interest. The kingdom is a treasure that lives and breathes and gives you movement. It is the catalyst for change in your heart, it is the pebble in your shoe that you can’t shake out, the thing you’ve seen that you can’t unsee, the force that turns over the tables and flips over the game-board and gives you new dice to roll, dice that only work in the hands of those who have, for so long, fought to get a seat even near the action. God takes such pleasure in giving us the kingdom. But this gift. will. change. the. game.
As heirs of the kingdom, it is no longer good enough to seek pleasure if it comes at the expense of others, to value fast and cheap over fair and good, to seek the resources of the earth rather than the care of it, or to value comfort rather than justice. In the words of Isaiah, it is no good to worship unless we are also ready to “learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow.” It is no good to say that we resist the powers of sin, death, and the devil, the powers of racism and violence and economic oppression - unless we now answer the call to work for these treasures of the kingdom.
This is why Jesus says “do not be afraid.” The kingdom is our truest hope, our deepest desire, the richest good, the sweetest gift. It is given to us freely. But inheriting it is costly.
This tension between a kingdom that is both free and costly is a tension that was felt this past week during the triennial ELCA Churchwide Assembly, a week-long event for crafting policies and statements and making major decisions about the next years in our church’s future. [Follow this link for a concise summary of CWA actions.]
It was a week where our church body declared ourselves a sanctuary denomination and where more than 750 Lutherans, marched from the convention center to a nearby U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services location for a prayer vigil in support of migrant children and families.
It was week where our church body voted to approve a social statement about women, gender, and justice, and where our church celebrated 50 years of ordaining women, but also a week where people were challenged to join the “Thursdays in Black” campaign, a movement to wear black clothing on Thursdays in grief over gender-based abuse and violence that still ravages our world.
It was a week where our church body made public apology to those of African descent for the ways that our church has, explicitly and implicitly, perpetuated or benefited from racism in our structures and in our society; a week where we publicly condemned white supremacy; but also a week where we struggled to agree on what actions to take and what partnerships to endorse to actually do the work of dismantling racism and giving over leadership to communities of color who are taking the lead in this work.
There is still so much fear for our church and for each of us, because the work of the kingdom throws us into debates we would rather not have, and leads us into controversies we would rather not associate ourselves with, and calls us into solidarity and service with voices that our world has worked so hard to silence.
My siblings, our world so desperately needs the gift of God’s kingdom. You know it and I know it. Not a day goes by where our hearts don’t break for one another and for our creation. We are desperate for the riches that God has to offer, for the life that cannot be taken away, for the hope that cannot be snuffed out, for the peace that cannot be shaken.
But the only way for this kingdom to take root and grow and flourish is if we are courageous enough to keep planting seeds, and watering them, and pulling away the weeds that try to choke them.
Do not be afraid, my dear ones. Even though you will be afraid. Even though you will feel like your relationships or your hearts or your pride are at stake. Even though you will make mistakes and you will get lost and you will hurt the people you try to help, and you will have to apologize and try all over again. You will not be afraid forever. For Jesus is with you in this work. Jesus holds your heart and Jesus holds your life and Jesus holds ample and abundant grace for you.
As you carry the treasure of this kingdom with you and into the world this day, receive now this blessing for both the trials and the joys of this holy work:
May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort
them and transform their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.
We receive this blessing in Jesus’s name, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.