When the Knowledge of Being God's Only Begotten Son Weighs Upon Our Precious Lord Jesus

             Luke 12:49 takes us into a revelation of Jesus' frustration.   

            Hebrew 4:15 provides us the context for these feelings.  "For we do not have a high priest (Jesus) who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin." 

            Jesus is not only tested, but reacts as we might.  We see anger displayed when Jesus drives the money changers out of the temple.  We see sorrow expressed when Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane.  But frustration?  Anticipatory frustration no less. 

            We know from Luke 9:53 that Jesus “was headed toward Jerusalem”.  It is the journey to His death and resurrection.  While he has discussed what will happen, His disciples cannot understand the full extent of what is to come.  Only Jesus understands the full weight of what is going to come.  In our passage today, it finds expression.    

            “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish things were already ablaze.”  Is this the fire of Pentecost?  The fires of the end times?  Jesus wants to 'light it up', get it done.  It isn't done yet but Jesus is feeling the weight.    

              “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!”  That may sound rather innocuous at first, like the words from the hymn, “Baptized in water, sealed by the Spirit…”  But do the verses from Romans 6 cast a different light?  

            ^4 “Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

            We focus on the parts where ‘we also might walk in newness of life’ and ‘we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his’.  That is cause to rejoice.  This is when things are complete.  But Jesus is on the 'before' side of all this.  Can we even imagine 'what constraint' He is under?  Knowing what is to come?  

            We can speculate.  His is a miserable, torturous, painful, solitary journey into death, long before He is buried that we might be buried with Him.  Besides the physical journey, there is the spiritual one where He carries the burden of punishment for ALL our sins upon his body.  He is under the constraint, the obligation, to carry through with that burden, for us.    

            To name his feelings 'frustration', or even 'anticipatory frustration', how completely inadequate are those words for what Jesus is feeling?  But whatever word, whatever name, remember what He suffered to make us free.   

Peace,

pastor pete

In The Words of the Great Philosopher, "What, Me Worry?"

             Worry, a human survival strategy?  A way of warning the self about shortages in key areas of human need?  Jesus says not to worry about food, not to worry about clothing.  He is calling upon us to undercut our hardwired reactions to basic survival strategies? 

            But maybe Jesus is not thinking about survival when he challenges his listeners.  Perhaps he is addressing a crowd that is assured of the basic needs of survival.  Perhaps it is not a matter of having food to eat, but deciding what to have from a variety of choices?  Is it somehow a matter of social competitiveness?  What do my neighbors have to eat?  What more should I have?  That kind of social competition might be easier to consider in clothing, easier to show the world what I am wearing than what I have on my dinner plate. Or, more importantly, what I am wearing is better than what you are wearing...and I worry if I am right about that.

            If we continue to look at the metaphors Jesus then employs, that of ravens who are fed without barns to store, that of lilies that are clothed in raiment more splendid than Solomon, only to be burned with the grass tomorrow, I don’t know if these help sort the question of survival versus social standing.

            Except that maybe that doesn’t matter either.  Its about worry, not what is worried about.  It is about a state of emotional being.  If Jesus does not distinguish what exactly we are worrying about, do we need to parse meaning even further?    

            The answer to worry is that ‘God provides’.  That’s fine when faith is involved.  God promises us the treasure of heaven.  It is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.  He even calls upon us to sell our possessions to give alms.  But that is not where Jesus wants us to end up in this passage.  Jesus does not want to curtail our activity.  Its not a matter of peace replacing worry.  It is a matter of peace curtailing a destructive activity, worry, to entail another, constructive activity, in the Lord.

            Worry takes energy, mental, emotional, and physical.  Jesus calls for us to invest that energy elsewhere, deliberately.  “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit.”  Be ready for the return of Jesus.  Stand there and wait for the bridegroom to come home?   No, prepare for the master’s return.  The promise of the Lord is that all we worry about is taken care of in the power of the Living God.  That’s the peace we have, it is the peace we act from.

            Be dressed for action, have the lamps lit, take this blessed assurance that Jesus is mine and share it with the world!  Where there is worry, work in the Lord to assuage that worry, to demonstrate the reality of our faith that Jesus provides.  Wade into the world in the name of Jesus.  We are not standing around waiting to ascend with Jesus into heaven.  We are action-oriented, committed to the world around us, doing the work of Jesus’ followers in preparation for the day of His return.  Then, in the end, when Jesus does return, He will take care of us in turn.

Peace

pastor pete

Placing Our Energies: Worrying Vs. Preparedness Our Scripture for Sunday, Aug. 11, 2025: Luke 12:22-40

Passage for Sunday: Luke 12: 22-40 

Note: The lectionary passage is Luke 12: 32-40, but that feels like a passage sundered.  The longer piece feels more intact as ‘one'.

²² He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! ²⁵ And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁶ If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? ²⁷ Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ²⁸ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not keep seeking what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. ³⁰ For it is the nations of the world that seek all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

³² “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³ 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. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵ “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; ³⁶ 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. ³⁷ 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. ³⁸ If he comes during the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

³⁹ “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. ⁴⁰ You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Luke 12: 22-40 “in other words.”  (It's a way of reflection, of 'getting at' what the passage speaks to me).

Do not let your worries be about what you eat, about body image, about your wardrobe.  Consider the ravens, they eat, they don’t have barns, but God cares for them.  You are worth so much more in the eyes of heaven.  And worrying, does that add an hour to your life, does it improve any part of your body image?  If you cannot control the small stuff, why worry about the stuff that is out of your control?  Consider the lilies, God gives them a better wardrobe than Solomon’s finest, but here today, gone tomorrow… 

God takes care of the ravens, takes care of the flowers, how much more will God do for you?  Don’t worry about this stuff.  Nations worry about this stuff, and God knows what we need.  Aim for God’s kingdom instead.  It is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.

So, instead of collecting possessions, sell them, give alms to support the less fortunate.  Make a wallet for the treasure of heaven, which does not wear out, which is unfailing, which is guaranteed 'theft-proof', where no moth or critter can infest and destroy.

Put your treasure there, because where your treasure is, your heart will surely follow.

You want to be ready for something?  Want something to work toward?  Be prepared for action like servants expecting their master after a wedding reception.  Be prepared for whenever he gets home, whether midnight, later…or earlier into the morning.  Because if you are ready, instead of serving, you will be seated and waited upon by the master for your alertness.

If a homeowner knows when the thief is coming, he will be ready to prevent anything from being stolen.  But the Son of Man, after He has ascended, is coming back at an unexpected hour.

And some first thoughts…

            On first reading, our passage looks like Jesus is laying out a contrast.  Where should people of faith invest their energies, personal, emotional, psychological; and where should they not?  Although, its actually flipped, first where not to invest these energies and then where to invest these energies.

            Don’t worry, because God is in control.  Be prepared for Jesus’ return, because God is in control.  In Jesus lies our treasure, in this life and in the life to come.

An observation...

            It felt a little awkward as a reader to be talking about the return of Jesus so 'early' in the gospel narrative, well before Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension.  This is where Gospel differs from Fiction, for example.  In a Novel, chapters build toward a climax and a resolution.  In the Gospel, each segment is written against the background of the whole story of Christ.

Peace,

pastor pete