Be Alert!

In the reading from Luke today, we are warned to be ready!  Be Alert! When you drive the long straight stretches of the Bruce Highway in North Queensland, there are safety signs asking “Is your driver alert?”  I had a friend in the Navy who would say “Be a lert - the world needs more lerts!”

There’s a fairly straightforward illustration in the last two verses of the reading today; “if you knew a thief was coming you would do something to make sure that your house wasn’t broken into”. The same logic leads us to realize that we always need to be ready to meet God. Verse 40 says, “Be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour”. There’s no point speculating on how the Son of Man will come. It doesn’t really matter how. In most services we say “Christ will come again” It will be up on the screen and we will all say it this morning.

If I asked you “Is today the day Christ will come again? Will we meet God today?” How would you answer?

If your answer is “yes”, we really need to be ready! The answer cannot be “no” as he is coming at an unexpected hour. And if your answer is “I don’t know”, again we must be constantly ready.

So, it’s a fact. The time for us to meet God is coming. However, this is not a threat; it is a promise and an assurance. Whenever it might be that God comes, those who are prepared will be blessed. It’s Good News! All the things that concern us now won’t matter anymore. There will be no need to worry about paying the electricity bill or the car registration or all the other things that concern us.

So, we are reminded to be ready: not for trouble or punishment. We are to be ready for great things. Wonderful blessings. We are to have the same joyful anticipation as a young child excitedly waiting for Christmas.

Generally, the idea that the boss (or the master) is watching, leads to feelings of guilt or terror. It causes people to be unsettled and nervous; afraid of what might happen. But our Gospel reading begins with Jesus saying, “do not be afraid little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom”.

In the Lord’s prayer, we pray, “Your Kingdom come”. And, God’s Kingdom will be wonderful for us.

Last week, Doug shared those encouraging words from the musical West Side Story which say, “There’s a place for us”. That place sounds like the Kingdom to me.  Perhaps what Doug said gives us a little help in understanding what Jesus means when he says, “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom”.

When you think about it, the words of Lords prayer are the words of someone who wants exactly what God wants. Everything in this prayer that Jesus taught is something that God wants for his people. The best possible Kingdom. Bread. Forgiveness. Safety in the time of trial. Deliverance from evil. When we pray this prayer, we actually ask for all our true needs, and it’s great to know that giving us our real needs is what God wants. God really wants each one of us to be blessed.

And it’s the promise of blessing (enjoying the Kingdom and having everything we need) which provides us with the motivation for watchfulness. No matter when God acts, those who are prepared will be blessed.

Being prepared actually means doing something. It is being active – not passive. Watchfulness and readiness mean that we are trying to do the things we know God wants us to do. Actively doing God’s will. Not just waiting around trying not to do anything wrong.

And Jesus message is “be mindful that the time to please God in the world as we know it today might be very short”. As an illustration, Jesus tells a parable of the master who has gone away to have a great time at a wedding reception and doesn’t appear to be coming back to the servants he has left in charge. And Jesus says, “Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when He comes"

I don’t want to make things too complicated, but it’s very interesting to think about this parable and try to work out “who are we?” in the story.  Are we managers or slaves, owners or workers? The amazing answer is both!  We are both managers and slaves. God has set us up as managers of his property. We have been given total freedom to manage it as we choose. That’s the reality of it. Everything we have is really owned by God and yet he has left us in total control of all of it.

Now, each of us has been in charge of what we have been trusted with for so long that we have developed delusions of grandeur. I imagine that I am not simply a tenant. I believe that the owner has been away so long that he might as well be gone forever. I have been controlling everything myself for so long that I really think that I am actually the owner. But Jesus says “Not so!” We are to be alert, because the master, the real owner, is returning.

It’s all hard to understand. Yes! I hear the words Jesus is saying about the master returning. But, at the same time, I genuinely have a good reason for thinking that I am much more than a slave. Occasionally I have glimpses of the amazing way in which the real owner treats me as a royal guest. He lets me know that the things I do really matter. He shows me that my work for him really makes a difference and he thinks that I am a really terrific worker.

This story in Luke describes a master who is truly amazing. He is not going to arrive home and expect us to rush around sitting him down in the armchair, getting him his slippers and a cuppa. This is one master whose good pleasure it is to serve his slaves. This master wants to give us the kingdom. This master wants to pamper us. He is worth waiting up for. When he returns and finds us alert, this tiny glimpse of grace will expand into a master who gives us a robe and a ring and who sits us down at the table so that he can serve us a roast dinner.

So, Jesus says “Do not be afraid little flock”. When we consider the way He loves us, we can be confident that there is no need to be afraid. The knock on the door isn’t a worry. We don't have to say “who's there” in a frightened voice. We can just eagerly open the door; even in the early hours of the morning.

So don't be afraid, little flock. But be alert!  Be alert to responsibility, and to your privileged position.

But most of all, be alert to the reality of the master who is coming.

Are we all alert? The church needs alert people who can handle the paradox of God's grace; that we are both managers and slaves.

And our loving God wants us to relate to him. God wants us to respond to his love and care and generosity in our attitudes to giving and our attitudes to regular, joyful worship. Jesus says “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” and if God is pleased to grant the kingdom to Jesus followers, they are free to live as citizens of that kingdom.

God’s Kingdom is “the place for us” where God’s will is actively done. In God’s Kingdom all human needs are met, our shortcomings are forgiven, and people are transformed so that their lives model God’s love.

That’s worth watching out for.