Sermon Tone Analysis

(object lesson: lamp from the family farm)

This morning we come to an interesting pair of parables that, taken by themselves, are something that a lot of commentaries and books on the parables largely seem to skip, avoid, or leave by the wayside for a few reasons.

But by in large, they don’t hit on the popular picks because the second in the pair gets really messy, really quick.

We all probably felt the tension rise in the room when the words of Jesus were being read from a parable with one servant beating another, then judgement being exercised at the end, and a final word about much being expected from those who have been given much.

There is a lot going on in these passages, but I want to help us see this morning how interconnected and vital these uncomfortable parables are for us, and as much as we might stir uneasy, it is to our benefit, and we come away better because of it.

So let’s pray before we wrestle with God’s word this morning.

--

THE MOST DANGEROUS FOOD

A dietitian was once addressing a large audience in Chicago.

"The material we put into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us sitting here years ago.

"Red meat is awful.

Soft drinks erode your stomach lining.

Chinese food is loaded with MSG.

Vegetables can be disastrous, and none of us realizes the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water.

"But there is one food that is the most dangerous of all and we all eventually will eat it.

Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?"

A 75-year-old man in the front row stood up and said, "Wedding cake."

Likewise, we can struggle for years with parables like these of the watchful servants, and like at a wedding, we may have spent five minutes saying ‘I do’ but then wrestle with the question of ‘do I?’ when we, like the servants in this passage, find ourselves waiting long into the night, or challenged to behave the way God’s word sets forth when the world around us might say something very different.

These contrasting servants and managers fill in the other possibilities from last week’s rich fool.

We have three images with this group of parables: one who is living for themselves regardless of God, one who is faithfully waiting for God, and another who is unfaithfully waiting, living like there is no God.

These are functionally the three options we see out in the world - it’s about us, we live for Christ, or the odd mix where we might start off understanding who is really in charge, but live like the world anyways.

Think back on the question that started this teaching from Jesus: what was the issue?

It was the issue of what we get in the end - what our inheritance would be.

But at the heart of the matter was greed and a broken relationship between brothers.

Look back at Luke 12:13

The issue was not the question asked by the brothers about their inheritance, but the kind of relationship they had, how they envisioned their futures, getting what they thought they deserved… , and we see these three outcomes.

Note that Jesus rolls on through with this teaching in chapter 12. the overall teaching block doesn’t finish until the end of the chapter, and the whole time he doesn’t answer the brothers’ question directly, but tackles the real issue… the brokenness between brothers, who valued stuff over their siblings, who would alienate one another instead of build one another, because their hearts were far from one another… they neither had fellowship or a future as they fumbled along that way.

Keeping that in mind is an incredibly important lens for unpacking what is going on in the passages about the divided families and paying the last penny further into the chapter.

I would encourage you to read those passages in light of the brothers coming into money, and let those words come to life in a new way.

the issue of brotherhood is at hand, and greed is getting in the way, setting brother against brother… where else have we seen that before? it comes up a lot in the biblical narrative.

the first time we see that dynamic from Israel’s Scriptures is in Genesis 4… right at the very start… and it’s two brothers that are demonstrating two very different responses to the riches from the ground and the animals that all came from God, and how those brothers response with those riches toward God: who either give their greatest, give their best, or give their Goodwill donations, and we know that things between Cain and Abel end badly… and each time we see brothers vying for blessing, for inheritance, it doesn’t go the way the world would normally see it work.

so where does Jesus go next with this trio of stories?

The head of household coming back from a wedding banquet.

The great image of a wedding banquet from the historical context would be well understood that the master of the house returning would not be one of coming back empty handed.

He’s got goody bags with him - treats from the feast to share.

we’ve talked about this a couple times now, once food has been cooked, once it’s been prepared, there wasn’t a quick canning process or a fridge or freezer to be keeping all the food to ourselves.

when there is abundance, when there is celebration, everyone gets in on it.

even if they weren’t there.

everyone benefits from the wedding when food and supply is taken back to the rest of the household - slaves included.

We got to experience something like that with all the food the Christmas Cantata folks left for us to share last weekend.

I love this connection as well: the servants main task is to simply do what?

Open the door.

They kept the lights on, they are dressed and ready, and then their big moment comes to… open the door.

Whew.

What a big job.

Like holding the door open when your loved one arrives with groceries.

That’s the image.

But there is something beautiful here: what does Jesus say of himself in Revelation 3:20

What do we know is about to happen here in this parable?

A meal is about to be shared.

But the issue is whether or not we’re ready.

Needing to be dressed, ready with our lights, oiled, and trimmed…

and dressed appropriately to open the door… especially if you were not dressed before…

like when you know company is coming… what do you do when you know company is coming… especially when you only vaguely know when they will show up.

you’re not in your pajamas.

you clean and prep, food, yourself, maybe pickup the house… you prioritize… you do take the big things on first… not about being perfect… but as you have more time, you refine.

be dressed = gird your loins… we don’t really say that so much except as a joke… (grown man in robe running… what do you do first?…

batten down the hatches, pull yourself together… get ready to move…) but you’re going have to deal with whatever you’re lugging around… maybe some excess material around your legs that’s going to trip you up, cause you to stumble and face-plant.

Think about what it takes to maintain a lamp and keep it burning… it might not be the lamp you expect either… or the amount of work you thought it might be… and sometimes it really does get handed down generation to generation… here’s one of our family lamps from the farm back in north dakota… by the time I got it… it was in disrepair, there was a lot of risk involved to fix it… but my father-in-law took it in, got everything remedied, and now it’s back to working!

But there was risk involved - what happened if it got broke?

(other risk factors as it traveled from ND, to WA, to AZ, and back here again..)

even if it was burning bright for decades with other family members, that doesn’t mean it keeps going on its own without us now doing the work to keep things burning, and keeping the fuel filled, not letting our tanks get empty… and that work doesn’t go away until either the lamp is undone or I am…

The crux of the matter in this parable is that the servants are prepared to give what they are about to receive… they didn’t know there was a reversal underway… they thought with the master coming home that they would be tending to him, serving him, even if he brought food back from the banquet - he was the one who went out to bring back the abundance, the overflow from the wedding, the celebration… and yet he comes back to serve those who are ready to serve.

That’s the creative twist: there is a declaration of a new kind of value structure, an exercising of a great reversal in God’s kingdom - it is the master who not only brings back the meal, he went out and made it all happen, but he is also the one who aprons up, girds himself up, and serves the slaves.

how happy a household that would be.

how blessed a place that would be, when the one who holds power, who holds sustenance and all the inheritance, who has the ultimate say and authority, lays those things down to serve those who were not in any position to demand or dictate such grace.

Parable has two beatitudes - two blessed/happy statements we can miss 37a & 43 - that blessed are the servants who are found to be readily waiting, who are doing what they have been tasked - they are not found quiet quitting

issue of ‘quiet quitting’ in our work culture - of doing less and less, or just the bare-bones to say we’ve done enough… we’ve all worked with that person who suddenly is very productive and changes their work ethic when they know ‘the boss’ is coming around… maybe that’s you. it isn’t until the boss shows up like a thief in the night that true character is revealed.

In the same way, there are plenty of folks who have quietly quit the church.

And it’s the easy thing to do for a lot people… because Jesus has been away for a long time.

but we need accountability - This is a hard issue in that we are called to judge the fruit in the church.

we don’t pass judgement on culture, but you can’t have covenant without accountability, without relationship - it’s not just dating the church, but being in covenant relationship.

and good relationships, the best of relationships, speak the truth in love - it’s not truth without love - and you deal with the hard stuff so you can grow personally, together, and in covenant.

We all long for intimacy, for closeness, to be known, but you’re going to be making sacrifices to do something according to the word of another… will you act in agreement with “Thy will be done” instead of my will be done?

It’s about putting God’s word into practice - don’t just sit around on this or say we’ll get to it.

Yet we find happy are those, blessed are those who are found watching and waiting - and these are echoing the goodness of God from verse 32, do not be afraid - for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom… there is joy in that… you don’t have to pry something from God’s hands, he’s pleased to give - and we know he will.

He is faithful to His promises.

but we can start to behave like the rich fool or object like the unfaithful manager when it comes to what we think are the ‘necessities of life’… and that it’s all for us to eat, drink, and be merry… because we’re living like the rich fool.

working for too many years in jungle playland, i kept hearing a song from the Jungle book… but maybe for a good end - “look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities, forget about your worry and your strife… “

What do we really need?

What are we willing to wait for?

Jesus begins His parable of the watchful servants with that of a master who has been off to a wedding, leaving his household behind to do what we all loathe: to wait.

I was in at Xfinity this week playing with our cell phone and internet service, and let me tell you: we don’t wait well.

By the time most of the folks in there had arrived, they were ready to unleash upon the poor soul at the entry, and getting the news of a two hour wait only heightened the experience.

Thankfully I brought work with me, and had a great conversation with the staff before leaving… but we have grown accustomed and live in ways that don’t require us to wait.

It was great to be reflecting on the return of Jesus coming at an hour when we don’t expect while among those who were not all behaving so well.

How do we want to be found by Christ when he does show up?

While don’t live in fear about it when we are keeping in step with the Holy Spirit, and just before this part of the passage Jesus instructs us not to worry about our lives, what we will eat, or about our bodies, or what we wear, but how well we wait, how good we are at waiting tells us a lot of about the state of our hearts and minds.

what is worth waiting for, preparing for, and saying ‘no’ to other things that might compete for what is best…

how many times do we settle for what’s mediocre instead of seeking what’s mature - what has achieved fullness, what is perfected… whenever we get to the word perfect in Greek, it’s the same as saying mature… and we kind of get that connotation, but we also import a lot into what our idea of ‘perfect’ is when we talk in those terms… and unfortunately, maturity is not typically part of the equation.

Usually it’s an idealized and idolized youthfulness, or often immaturity, that is seen with a lack of true responsibility, or doesn’t come with a cost.

But Jesus describes in this parable the best life is spent in faithful preparation to give what is hoped to be received… and the catch is that the servants don’t know what’s coming…

they don’t know what will happen or when the master will return… they are left in a place to reveal their character, because there is uncertainty of timing, of events, and the gospel, the good news, is that when Jesus returns, he is sharing His grace, He is coming with abundance, and He is the one who blesses us, yet we are also told about how unfaithfulness is dealt with…

And we, like Peter, might ask who is being addressed in passages like this.

Peter’s question, in Luke 12:41 is likened to asking/stating this isn’t for him, or the disciples… “clearly this is for the rest of the riff raff”… but then the next part of the parable turns on, hinges on, the servant left in charge, the manager… the one who gets put in charge of much.

Think about who asked the question… and which disciple gets more or less left in charge… the one that Jesus would build his church?….

And what becomes a key issue for Peter: the response of doubt and denial….

Dealing with unfaithfulness when the master is away, because he is the first to deny knowing Jesus when things got dark and started to go a direction he didn’t expect or anticipate… and the big difference between Peter and Judas is that one is willing to open the door to Jesus, to be forgiven, one is willing to let go of his pride, and keep an eye on the empty tomb… and even after a season of doubt, he comes back, and other doesn’t.

if you’re living the life that is tearing apart others, it’s not going to work out.

there will be a reckoning.

there will be consequences.