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 unexpected hour.”
Luke 12:32-40 contain sayings and a parable around the theme of possessions and eschatology.
Verse 32 (unique to Luke) is a precise summary of the essential points of the segment, suggesting Luke has fashioned the saying to reflect his view of the early church. It gives the impression of the risen Lord speaking to the community.[1] Fear not, little flock, referring to his community of followers, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. the saying combines the image of the flock with the theme of the eschatological reversal of relations, given the promise of the rule of God.[2] Here is a paradoxical saying about who belongs to the rule of God, where the smallness of the flock, the community Jesus is gathering, does not block a share in the eschatological consummation.[3]This verse acts as a summary of Luke’s theological stance on possessions: As recipients of God’s kingdom, Jesus’ disciples need not worry about their food, clothing, or shelter. One commonly finds this same theme throughout Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem (cf. Luke 14:33; 16:19-31; 18:18-30; 19:1-10). That Luke’s possession motif is a key concern of this passage is easy to confirm. For example, we find the theme in the parable of the rich fool (i.e., Luke 12:13-21) and extends until Jesus answered Peter’s question: “Lord, are you telling this parable [i.e., the parable about watchful slaves in vv. 35-40] for us or for everyone?” (Luke 12:41-48). In addition, the admonition “Do not be afraid” corresponds with Jesus’ earlier instruction to his disciples: “[D]o not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear” (Luke 12:22). To press this point, Jesus drew upon two illustrations from nature when he said, “Consider the ravens . . . [and] . . . the lilies” (Luke 12:24, 27). He also warned his disciples about greed and advised them: “[D]o not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying [mh metewrizesqe]” (Luke 12:15, 29). Moreover, as he had already made clear, his disciples were to “strive for his kingdom” (Luke 12:31). The little flock has an intimate relationship with its shepherd, Jesus, and therefore have no need for anxiety (verse 22). The church has grown numerically, and at times, because of the collapse of political and economic institutions, has stepped into the gap and ruled nations and commanded armies. However, the church remains this little flock, without the military, political, or economic power other institutions possess. The power it has rests upon its continuing friendship with Jesus and its anticipation of the future rule of God. As recipients of the rule of God, the disciples need not worry. This same theme runs throughout the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem (cf. Luke 14:33; 16:19-31; 18:18-30; 19:1-10).
Many church historians would agree that something has gone very wrong in the church when the “little flock” of this verse became the imperial church of Constantine. Many minority churches have lost much when they became the majority in a culture. At the same time, increased numbers do not have to mean loss of truth.[4] Many movies in contemporary culture have shown how the church, especially in 1000-1600 in Europe, became a distant echo of the vision of Jesus. In the many years of history since this saying, the church has been far from a little flock. At times, it has ruled continents and commanded armies. However, no matter how numerous, the church remains a little flock. It does not have the military, political, or economic power that other institutions have in this world. Rather, whatever power it has rests upon its continuing friendship with Jesus and its anticipation of a future participation in the kingdom.
Verses 33-34 (Matt 6:19-21) contain sayings concerning possessions. The saying does not have an eschatological nuance. It reflects the distinctive piety of the community Jesus is forming.[5] These sayings present a radical view of material possessions, selling, and giving to the poor. Thus, Jesus is offering the advice regarding possessions to adopt the perspective of eternity. As recipients of the rule of God, followers of Jesus need not worry about their food, clothing, or shelter. In verse 33a (unique to Luke) Sell your possessions, making following Jesus dependence on the renunciation of possessions,[6] and give alms, which was the dominant form of social help[7]; in verse 33b (unique to Luke) provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, in verse 33c (Matt 6:20) with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys, emphasizing the transitory nature of earthly possessions.[8] In verse 34 (Matt 6:21), For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. It has the character of general folk sayings that may reflect the common wisdom of first century Judaism that shows the connection of Jesus to his Jewish context. Such wisdom uses the form of short and simple sayings. It sets aside jargon and abstract speculation and seeks to illuminate and inform. Plain speech is difficult because we are afraid of what other people will think. This type of simplicity intends to stimulate wisdom and depth of thought. Amid the complexity and intricacy of life, such sayings seek to bring clarity. Our relationship with our possessions is important. Acquiring them, holding them, and sharing them, is a complex matter. Precisely because of that, we need the wisdom of Jesus to help us chart the course through this complexity. The text presents a radical view of material possessions, selling, and giving to the poor. Jesus is offering the advice regarding possessions to adopt the perspective of eternity. As participants in the rule of God that the ministry of Jesus is bringing, they do not need to worry about food, clothing, or shelter. Earthly wealth is transient, perishable, and at risk, while the wealth we store in heaven has an enduring quality. That which we treasure reveals orientation of our hearts. Our relationship with our possessions is an important one. Acquiring them, holding them, and sharing them, is a complex matter. Precisely because of that, we need the wisdom of Jesus to help us chart the course through this complexity.
There are Old Testament and rabbinic parallels. “Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death” (Prov 10:2, 11:4). “Whoever trusts in riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf” (Prov 11:28). The rabbi has laid up treasures for above (T. Pea. 4:18). “My fathers stored in a place that can be tampered with, but I have stored in a place that cannot be tampered with” (Baba Bathra 11a.) If they have many possessions, they are to make their gifts in proportion, while if one has few possessions, they are to give according to the little they have, so they will be laying up a good treasurer for themselves (Tobit 4:8-9). They are to lose gold and silver for their brothers and sisters so that they may receive a treasure on the day of judgment (II Enoch 50:5, text A). They are to lose their silver for the sake of a friend, not letting it rust under a stone and be lost and lay up treasure that will profit them more than gold and store up almsgiving the treasure and rescue them from affliction (Ecclesiasticus 29:10-13). Other references in Jewish writings refer to the treasury as good works that are stored there. They have a treasury of works laid up with the Most High (IV Ezra 7:77). The righteous have many works laid up for them and they shall receive their reward in consequence of their deeds (IV Ezra 8:33). The righteous justly have good hope for the end because they possess a story of good works which is preserved in treasuries (II Baruch 14:12). The days are coming when the treasuries in which are brought the righteousness of all those who have proven themselves to be righteous (II Baruch 24:1).
Let us pause for a moment to reflect a bit upon the importance of wisdom. We often express wisdom in short and simply sayings. Jesus said that our speech should be simple, plain, and honest speech. In Matthew 5:37, we read, “Let your word be "Yes, Yes' or "No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one.” Wisdom sets aside jargon and abstract speculation, whose purpose is to obscure and impress rather than to illuminate and inform. Plain speech is so difficult because we are afraid of what other people will think. We will need to listen to the divine center of our lives in order to have simplicity of speech.[9] In American legend, “Silent Cal” was a master of simplicity. He had some memorable sayings that seem to have some wisdom behind them.
• No one ever listened himself out of a job.
• I’ve never been hurt by something I didn’t say.
• The business of America is business.
• If you don’t say anything, you won’t be called on to repeat it.
• If you see 10 troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.
Is there wisdom in simplicity? Is there depth of thought in simplicity of words? We often associate simplicity with lack of depth or shortage of intelligence. We ascribe intelligence to people who communicate using big words or hard-to-grasp concepts. We assume someone speaking in a dense, academic style must be smart. Of course, the issues we face in life are complex and full of intricacy. Yet, part of our task in life is to bring clarity. Simplicity is a skill we need to learn to guide our way through the complexities of life. Simplicity is also a skill a person needs to communicate to others. Simplicity is not easy, for it refuses to take shortcuts and it does not deny the complex reality of a human life. The wisdom we find in simplicity and clarity is a hard-fought battle in which we face thoughtfully and prayerfully the complexities of life.[10] George Plasterer is working on this virtue of keeping his writing simple.
Our relationship with our possessions is important. Acquiring them, holding them, and sharing them, is a complex matter. Precisely because of that, we need the wisdom of Jesus to help us chart the course through this complexity.
There is a story of a conversation between a young and ambitious lad and an older man who knew life.
Said the young man, "I will learn my trade."
"And then?" asked the older man.
"I will set up in business."
"And then?"
"I will make my fortune."
"And then?"
"I suppose that I shall grow old and retire and live on my money."
"And then?"
"Well, I suppose that some day I will die."
"And then?" came the last stalking question.[11]
I conclude with a brief legend.
A Cherokee Indiana legend tells how a certain rock formation in Tennessee came into being. Once upon a time, a hunter was greedy and selfish. Whenever it was his turn to hunt for his village, he kept all the food for himself. Although it was customary for a hunter to share the best portions of his kill with the village widows and orphans, these unfortunate people went hungry when it was the greedy hunter's turn to provide food for them. As the years went by, the hunter's greed extended not only to food items but to all sorts of other possessions as well. He tried to protect his possessions and keep them to himself by enlarging his house and thinking of elaborate ways to keep others from getting too close to his story of treasured goods. Finally, the hunter's greed exceeded his ability to story all his food and other possessions. According to the legend, a day came when the hunter discovered that he was completely isolated from the village. Worse than that, his possessions had taken over his house. The hunter found out that his actions had trapped him inside his own house, with no way to get out. Viewing his predicament, the guardian spirits of the village turned the hunter and his house full of treasures into stone as a lesson to the people that one can still see today.
Luke 12: 35-38 (unique to Luke but see Mark 1334-6) is a prophetic admonition concerning the returning master. It is a metaphorical admonition to be watchful. It has an apocalyptic expectation, presuming readiness and excitement because of the nearness of the expected eschatological moment.[12] It concludes with rewarding the watchful servants. It suggests the absence of the master and the need for continued vigilance of servants. The theme is that of watchfulness and alertness. Jesus offers the advice that his followers be dressed and ready for action. In context, instead of expending their time, energy and resources to amass wealth like the rich man, Jesus exhorted his followers with another parable. The calamity is impending and as unpredictable as the return of the householder.[13] 35 “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; offering a comparison, 36 be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet or feast, since the word does not have to refer to a wedding, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. As in Revelation 3:20, the Lord is the one who knocks. Jewish tradition used the figure of a banquet to depict the eschatological future of fellowship in the kingdom of God. The parables of Jesus use the figure of a banquet, especially that of a marriage feast, to depict future human fellowship in the kingdom of God.[14] Such an admonition is like the parable of the ten maidens in Matthew. Although he changed metaphors, Jesus’ message remained constant: Whoever would be one of his disciples was not to imitate the rich man who built expansive barns for himself but was to be alert, watching for the master’s return and “dressed for action” by selling his possessions and giving alms to the poor. Jesus then develops the comparison allegorically in verses 37-8. 37 Blessed are those slaves who are rich toward God and who strive for the kingdom, whom the master finds alert when he comes. Herein lays the paradox: On one hand, the rich man who focused on acquiring wealth in this life never got to enjoy his anticipated feast; on the other hand, Jesus’ disciples who had given everything away would not go hungry but instead would be invited to a glorious banquet. Incredibly, Jesus says, truly I tell you, he the master himself will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. No earthly master would act like this, but Jesus has done so.[15] The reversal of roles here is a nice touch, suggesting the Messianic banquet. In that kingdom, the disciples will sit and feast while the master serves them — an image that the disciples surely had to find hard to believe. However, as incredible as it must have seemed to them, Jesus initiated the fulfillment of this promise when he celebrated the Passover with his disciples. The master’s servants, however, were not to become complacent. They were always to be mindful that their master could come at any hour. 38 If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. The slaves are to be vigilant because the master may return at any moment.
Verses 39-40 (Matt 24:43-4) is a parable of the thief. [16] The passage stresses watchfulness. Up to this point, the parables and images in Luke cohere well, but an unusual metaphor change interrupts the flow of the narrative in verse 39. The emphasis is not the joyful nature of the coming of Christ, but his coming in judgment. Its emphasis upon watching has an apparent conflict with the imminence of the approaching catastrophe, for it envisages a delay of the end.[17] 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. Jesus draws the parable from an actual happening, some recently effected burglary, about which the village is talking. He uses the alarming occurrence as a warning of the imminent calamity that he sees approaching. He wants his listeners to guard themselves that they may not be caught unawares like this householder who has just had his house burglarized. The parable provides a metaphor in house-breaking of the imminence of the catastrophe. Yet, beyond that catastrophe is the blessing of the time of salvation.[18] Rather than the owner assigning slaves to guard their master’s house, which one might expect, the owner of the house must remain on duty. If he fails to stay awake and watch, a thief will come and break into his house. The image of the alert homeowner is one we also find elsewhere in the New Testament. Jesus says that the promised day of the Lord, that cataclysmic ending of the old world, and beginning of the new, will take place like "a thief in the night." He does not say that God is a thief, or that he is a thief. Yet he uses an evocative, even offensive, metaphor for describing how the reign of God steals in among us. It is like a thief. The nature of a burglar is not to prepare those whom he is planning to burglarize. Surprise, unexpectedness, and shock typify burglaries. Jesus returning like a thief became a common theme in the New Testament.
I Thessalonians 5:2, 4
2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.4 But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief;
II Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.
Revelation 3:3
Remember then what you received and heard; obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.
Revelation 16:15
("See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and is clothed, not going about naked and exposed to shame.")
40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man (ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔρχεται) is coming at an unexpected hour.”The crisis Jews provoked was hastening towards uncertain and unexpected developments, which called for alertness on the part of those who follow him. Jesus is preparing his followers for the time of stress.[19] Jesus directs attention to the behavior that will be suitable in view of that well-known fact. The hour of the arrival of the Son of Man is unpredictable, so the admonition is to watch.[20] At this point, the eschatological expectation is that there is no difference between Jesus and the Jewish-Christian community. Both expected that the first stage of the eschatological crisis would be marked by the sudden irruption of the time of tribulation and the revelation of demonic power over the earth. Both were certain that this last tribulation would end with the triumph of God.[21]
Yes, if you get into the study of what the Bible says about “the end,” it can become complicated. I have made the passage far more complicated than it needed to be. Yet, we find in this passage some simple advice. Do not be afraid. Adopt the perspective of eternity. Be dressed for action.
I sometimes marvel at the work of those medieval stonemasons, the ones who labored on the great cathedrals of Europe. They would spend their entire lives, some of them, carving some small section of the edifice. It may have been the face of a gargoyle up in the rafters. Or the ornate corner of a vaulted ceiling - an intricately crafted piece hidden from the view of all but the most observant spectator. They would work for years and years. Of course, they would never see the cathedral finished. A job like that took centuries to complete. What must it have felt like? I suspect they had a sense of pride in their work rarely matched by others. They knew that what they did was part of a larger whole. They had bound their lives up with something big and glorious, the results of which they might never experience in their lifetime. It did not matter that no one saw their work, or no one remembered their name. Because God saw, and God remembered. Every little shape and corner were important. Now would that not be something? To think that even the trivial things mattered. Even if no one ever noticed? Even if you yourself never lived to see the results. How many times have you asked yourself if what you did really made any difference?
We can accomplish in our lifetimes only a tiny fraction of the enterprise that we think of as the work of God. Nothing we do is complete. No program accomplishes the mission of the church. We may never see the result. We are anticipations of a future we do not own.[22]
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[2] J. Jeremias, TDNT, VI, 501.
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[5]
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[9] Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, (New York: Harper & Row, 1978), 81.
[10] Inspired by John C. Maxwell, “Connectors keep it simple,”
[11] by William Barclay from The Gospel of Luke The Westminster Press, 1975.
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[22] Inspired by Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero.
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