Receiving the Kingdom (Luke 12:32-40)

Good and Difficult News

Today’s gospel reading begins with an incredibly reassuring promise: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (12:32). For me, however, the reassurance is short-lived. I am quickly unsettled by the invitation that immediately follows. “Sell your possessions, and give alms” (12:33). Talk about a promise with a catch.

It is common for interpreters to soften or rationalize Jesus’ call to a life of radical simplicity and generosity. For example, when Jesus tells the rich ruler he lacks one thing and invites him to sell everything and give the money to the poor, commentators explain that Jesus is not speaking to everyone. Rather he has tailored this invitation specifically to the greedy heart of the rich ruler. For the rich man to know freedom in God, he must give up his greed and therefore his possessions. But in today’s passage, Jesus makes the same invitation not to a particular person but to all his disciples. To me, it sounds like a universal invitation. It sounds like a necessary condition for receiving the kingdom. “God desires to give you the kingdom. Go, sell your possessions and give alms, so that you can receive it!”

This is one of those occasions when the gospel does not sound like good news to me, but rather difficult news. I have a hunch, though, that precisely these occasions are the ones where I have yet to be fully converted to the way of Christ. These occasions are where I am settling for what I consider good, instead of following Christ into something better.

Good News for the Church?

So, today, instead of focusing on what seems difficult to me—which is what I already do much of my life—I want to focus on what is better about Jesus’ promise here. Maybe the good actually outweighs the difficult.

When I read this scripture and listen for the good news, I hear especially a word of promise to a church in decline. I’m not talking about Trinity specifically, but about the church in general across our nation and much of the world. Jesus has good news for this church. And the good news that I hear is that we can stop worrying about ourselves. We can stop worrying about attracting new members, saving our buildings, or growing our churches. We can stop worrying because it is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.

Many churches get anxious for the future because they assume that it depends on their survival. So they strive to preserve, to maintain, to build, to grow, to expand. What fascinates me, though, is Jesus almost never talks about the kingdom of God as something that we build or advance or plan or extend. Instead, he regularly talks about the kingdom of God as something that is coming, that arrives, that we receive or enter. In other words, it is not about us succeeding at church, but about us receiving whatever God wants to give us. It is not about ability or achievement but about openness.

What follows is a bit of a mashup between the two scriptures we heard earlier. Between the two of them, I hear a word of promise spoken to the church in general. A difficult promise, to be sure, but even more than that, a good promise. I’m not sure how inspired this mashup really is. I’ll leave that to your judgment. You can take what you like and leave the rest. You really can leave it all, if you’d like.

If, on the other hand, your curiosity is piqued, I hope you’ll let me know. There is a short, four-week study that has caught my eye, which our Anabaptist brothers and sisters have published, and which explores what church may look like in these changing times. I would really like to embark on this study at some point with fellow followers of Christ.

Now, without further ado:

Not Built by Us, but Given by God

Do not be afraid, little flock,
Asking, “How shall we grow?”
“How shall we attract more people?”
“How shall we keep our doors open?”

The kingdom of God is not something you build,
Nor is it something that you muster and marshal,
Nor is it something about which you can say, “Look, here it is!” (cf. 17:21).

Do not be afraid, little flock,
For it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

So let go of your little kingdoms.
Open up your buildings, lend them, lose them;
share your savings and pour out your rainy-day funds.
Give what you do not need today to the needful.

Make your treasure something other than a building, or a civic club, or a bank account.
Did I ask for these steeples?
Does their height get you any closer to my heart?
Did I ask you to dress up?
Does formal attire clothe you in the likeness of Christ?
Did I ask you to protect the interests of a few?
Does your subsistence spread my love?

Make your treasure something that cannot be sold or stolen or set ablaze.
Make your treasure something like
The smiles of strangers
And the embracing of enemies,
The ease of the elderly
And the joy of children,
The serving of the needful
And the table of shared bread and cup.

For your life will be as good as your treasure.
So make your treasure what is truly good.

Always be ready to receive this treasure,
For the kingdom is already among you (cf. 17:21).
It will come like a knock on the door,
Like a ring on the phone,
Like an interruption on the street.
It will come in a voice that needs to be heard,
In a face that needs to be seen,
In a body that needs to be embraced.

If you but open the door,
You will see I am with you.
For I am hidden in the weakness of this world:
I am with you in those who worry,
I am with you in those who grieve,
I am with you in those who hunger,
I am with you in those who have no home.

Be with these
(Who are always closer to you than you know)
And you will be with me.
Let honest conversation with them be your prayer.
Let care for them be your praise.
Let broken bread and shared cup be your joy.

Then you will have a church that cannot be destroyed,
That cannot be sold,
That cannot be closed.
Then you will have the kingdom,
Which it is my good pleasure to give you.

Prayer

God, our shepherd,
Your rod and staff comfort us,
But they also challenge us.
“Sell your possessions, and give alms.”
This call of Christ is nearly paralyzing!
…
Help us to understand what these words mean for us—
To understand how they might be good news.
Plant these words in our heart like a seed
That may one day bear fruit better than we have ever known.
Thank you for giving us the kingdom.
Help us always to be ready to receive it.
In Christ, whose heart is gentle and humble: Amen.