Church of Our Saviour

5-year old Ricky was in the kitchen as his mother made supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn't want to go in alone. "It's dark in there and I'm scared." She asked again, and he persisted. Finally she said, "It's OK--Jesus will be in there with you." Ricky walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. He peeked inside, saw it was dark, and started to leave when all at once he had an idea, turning to the pantry, he slowly opened the door and stuck his head in and he said: "Jesus, if you're in there, would you hand me that can of tomato soup?"

Fear. What is it that we fear? There are rational fears as simple as the dark and as complex as financial well-being. There are irrational fears as well. Fears that drive us to avoid things like the outside, a high building or hillside. There is also the fear of trusting someone who ultimately may not come through. Depending on which side of the psychological debate we agree with there are professionals in the field who speculate that we ultimately are creatures that are driven by a root instinct of fear.

Today’s lessons and Gospels would seem to support that theory. While several preachers today will concentrate on the “Treasures and heart” theme, a good majority of these sermons will (and some that I’ve already ready – have) gloss over or redirect Jesus’ words about “do not fear”. I believe whole heartedly in what many of these sermons are about - place your faith in the kingdom, put your money were your heart is, and some will rely on the old standby. Give to God and you will only have fear itself to fear.

All good sermon ideas and in the years to come you will, God willing, here the same sermons on trust, giving and stewardship. But today I feel drawn to reach into the core of why we have all three of these lessons. Why in the Church’s’ wisdom do we have two lessons that compliment each other – a story from Genesis and the Letter to the Hebrews about the stories from Genesis – and then we have the Gospel text from Luke on being prepared and watching where your heart is.

The key to what is being discussed here is in the very first words Jesus utters. Do not be afraid. The issue in all three of these lessons is dealing with the basic instinct of trust in God and the fear that will produce when we don’t see direct results. In essence we are dealing with a promise that we are heirs to a kingdom but like most rational human beings we are dubious because we have seen little to nothing of this kingdoms reality. We rationalize that it is a future kingdom and now we have criteria we have to fulfill in order to reach that kingdom. We have to place our trust – our hope – that we will become elite members of those who will survive for eternity. And we have to act as if that kingdom is already in place – even though we can’t see it – and it’s something we are going to have to just look forward to.

All of these conundrums are part of the interesting mix of lessons and Gospel we have today for our readings. According to the rubrics in the Book of Common Prayer, it is always the prerogative of the preacher to expand or shorten a reading. Today the first lesson was lengthened. The reason is because of our second reading and the reason why the Gospel of Luke was written in the first place

The Letter to the Hebrews was written directly to a Jewish community who were struggling with imprisonment and persecution. They may have even been re-thinking the idea that animal sacrifices should be a part of this Jewish Christian communities practice. In response, the author of Hebrews recalls Abram’s fear of dying without an heir. Instead of a people as countless as the sand on the shore, he was in fear that he and his people would be come a generation lost in the sands of time. There is doubt and fear and not just a little anger at the God who was making a lot of promises and while there was property – land, cattle, goats, and servants there wasn’t any real assurance – visible assurance of this deities big words. Abram was old Sarah was barren – where was the promised child of the inheritance?

Those who were listening to the words of Hebrews and even in Luke’s community of Gentile Christians would have automatically recalled “The Promise”. The covenant, the response God made to assure Abram he would be the father of many nations. Because they would have recalled it they would have remembered the very next part of the story.

The story of Abram’s dream on first glance looks to be an ancient and brutal rite. The idea that this is a covenant, however, means this something different then a legal contract. A legal contract is designed to insure that when the contract is broken the person breaking the contract pays the damages. In the ancient world of Abram’s time legal contracts where between business partners much like today. A covenant on the other hand was a particular agreement made between a person and one who is socially above you – much like a king is above a servant. When a king made such a covenant he was reminded that faithfulness was everything. To break the covenant between a person would result in their ending up like the carcasses surrounding them. Such a covenant meant simply and purely that the debts of the low person of rank were know the kings responsibility. This was the covenant God made with Abram. Not only was he now responsible for the life and welfare of Abram but to assure God’s own heritage he was now responsible for Abrams life and the life of all who became a part of the covenant promise. The old way of saying this is that God was reconciled with Abram and his heirs forever.

The radical good news of today’s lesson and Gospel is that we are called not only to remember this promise but to also remember that while we being human, unable to fulfill our own part of the agreement, God has taken it upon himself, to conclude this promise with his own life. We have been reconciled through Christ.

Today we sit very much in the same position as Luke’s community. The writer of the Gospel of Luke was writing to Gentile Christians. Very few of them, like most of us today, could actually claim Abram as an ancestor. There was fear in Luke’s community that they might not be part of the inheritance. Time was moving on, the Apostles and all those who knew Jesus personally were dying. Where was the kingdom? When is Christ returning? Luke was writing to a group of believers who were beginning to doubt – maybe they got it wrong, or worse maybe they weren’t part of the promise. Luke assures them as he does us today that we too are heirs of a covenant fulfilled by Christ and the debt we owe – our very lives were placed on the carcass of his hanging body.

God’s covenant promise and fulfillment of that promise in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is the reason we are called not to fear for ourselves. It is also the reason we are challenged to always be ready. God’s promise is a promise that the kingdom is here among us in the transforming act of Baptism. It is a promise that God is not a deity above – outside – and disconnected with our lives. God is eminently with us and always among us.

We need to hear often that were our treasure is there is our hearts also. We need to hear often that we should examine our lives and see if we have our priorities straight. But sometimes we also need to hear that we are God’s treasure and God’s whole being - God’s heart –has been place on us. The good news, the news that can reconcile a world is the message that God has kept a promise. And it is a promise that is not excluded to just a few but to the whole world. It is not a message of condemnation and we are not called to condemn the world. It amazes me how often people can quote the famous verse of John 3:16 “For God so love the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not parish but may have eternal life.” But very few can quote the rest of the phrase in John 3:17, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world,” the word is cosmos meaning every single person, then, now and in the future, “in order that the world might be saved through him.” Our mission, our task is to tell the world of God’s grace and mercy – of God’s faithfulness and love.

We are creatures who make mistakes and we sin and when our fear becomes irrational we become afraid of the consequences. We may even rationalize that our sin is so great that we may not even be a part of God’s kingdom anymore. There are some who already have given up hope. They in their fear have come to the conclusion they will never be a part of God’s plan of eternal life. They are wrong and lovingly we need to tell them so. It is exactly because we are human, because we ourselves could never achieve salvation on our own that God sent His son to us to fulfill the covenant promise. God offended by our very deaths and the sin that kills us has come to us the offender. Because this is not a legal contract but a covenant he has reconciled all through Christ’s sacrifice. As we continue the work of reconciliation in our confession, and gather around the table to feed on Christ who is our Passover once sacrificed, may we offer the reconciling Christ to others. Let us pray that we do not succumb to the world’s definition of treasure and security but be transformed by the awesome faith that is God’s power of reconciliation. May we be the messengers to all we meet “Don’t be afraid…for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” That’s a promise.