“I’m not afraid!” – “You *will* be…”
John H Sunday 19th August, AD 2007
Talking of seeing “more in a line of the Bible than I could well tell how to stand under” (see previous post), the gospel reading this morning was Luke 12:32-40, which includes the following:
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. (Luke 12:32-34)
When Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock”, he is being highly specific. This is not just a general statement of God’s goodwill towards us. This assurance comes straight after Jesus’ call (in vv.22-31, paralleling the more famous passage in Matthew 6) not to “worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear”, and instead to “strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well”, and leads straight into his call to “Sell your possessions, and give alms”, seeking instead “an unfailing treasure in heaven”.
In other words, the process is this: we hear Jesus’ word in verses 22 to 31 not to strive after the things of the world, things that “your Father knows that you need”. If you’re anything like me, you instantly doubt that God would actually deliver on that promise if you were to take it at face value – I have a family to feed and house, after all! – and so this call not to worry becomes itself a cause of further worry.
And Jesus’ response to this is to say, “Don’t be afraid”, before restating his point with at least equal force, ending with a declaration that is a spotlight exposing our true wishes and intentions, a spotlight that I felt shining on me with particular force this morning: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Ouch. That told me.
Don’t worry, though: I’m sure I’ll have theologised it out of the way before the week’s out.
What Jesus is doing is calling us to bet everything on the truth of his statement that “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. He’s asking us to put our money where our mouth is. The result is that, for me at least, I couldn’t help but hear his words as: “Don’t be afraid. Be terrified.”
- Tags: Christ, The Good Life
- Categories: Biblical Interpretation , TIWIARN
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