Last week’s gospel, which we didn’t dwell on, was the
parable Jesus gave about the rich man who stored up everything he had safely in
his barns thinking that would guarantee him security and prosperity. But the
Lord warned him that his life would be required that very night, and what would
become of all his wealth then? So, the general message was a reminder that ‘you
can’t take it with you.’ One day we will be left with nothing but ourselves
to present before the Lord.
In today’s gospel Jesus takes this thinking a stage further,
and urges his listeners to prepare for that judgement day, when the master comes
and knocks. “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an
unexpected hour.” The reading from Hebrews link this talk of judgement to
faith. It begins “Faith is the assurance of things hoped-for, the conviction
of things not seen.” How are we to live out our lives in the light of all
this? I remember a humorous religious slogan – “Jesus is coming – look
busy!”
Would any of us live differently if we thought it would
influence what might happen after death? Do these concerns gain greater
importance as we get older? I remember a young person once telling me that life
was to be enjoyed; that you did what good you could and should live life to the
full, not because you would be rewarded with heaven, because when you were dead
you were dead, but because that was the right thing to do. As Christians we
think on a wider canvas; that we are set in this world to live in the love of
God, to seek his will and endeavour to be a part in bringing God’s kingdom and
reign to come fully. Perhaps you recognise these lines from a hymn.
My God I love thee, not because I hope for heaven thereby;
Nor yet because who love thee not are lost eternally.
Then why, O blessed Jesu Christ, should I not love thee well?
Not for the sake of winning heaven; nor of escaping hell;
Not for the hope of gaining aught, not seeking a reward;
But as thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord.
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for; the
conviction of things unseen” – according to the author of the epistle to the
Hebrews, as we heard earlier. In that chapter 11 the writer reminds us of many
figures from the Old Testament who lived by faith. Abraham, for instance, “set
out (by faith), not knowing where he was going.”
Those people lived from day to day, trusting in God’s presence
and direction; but there is also a sense in which they lived in the light of the
future. God made a promise to Abraham: his reward was to be very great and his
descendants to be as many as the sands on the seashore. Genesis says that
Abraham believed the Lord, and reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Now very often people assume that faith is faith because there
isn’t any real evidence. After all, if you could prove God’s existence then
faith wouldn’t be necessary. But I think it is helpful to point out that
Christian philosophers see two meanings to the word ‘faith.’ Firstly there
is ‘faith in’ – such as “I believe in God the Father Almighty.” That’s
really all about believing – a proposition we agree to. Then there is faith as
trust, faith that the divine purpose towards IS us wholly
good and loving. The bible pretty much assumes faith ‘in’ – and apart from
a few verses, the reality of God is rarely questioned, unlike the world of
today.
So, faith in the bible is faith as trust in God; that God is
good, that he loves. This is the faith that spurred on all those great figures
of the Old Testament we heard about in Hebrews. It’s good to read all about
them and realise that we are part of that ongoing and unfolding story – the
story of God’s loving purposes for his people. This building helps us to
understand that. We think of the faith that the early monks brought to this spot
when they settled here, and that led to the building of the church; the numerous
witnesses to faith who have worshipped here. What they did had consequences for
us, and what we do with our faith will have consequences for those who come
after us. We take encouragement from the examples of those who have gone before
in faith.
The writer of Hebrews seems clear that all those people from the
Old Testament did not see the completion of God’s plan, but they desired to.
So Abraham “looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect
and builder is God.” Now faithful Jews focussed their hopes and dreams on
Jerusalem – the earthly Jerusalem, where ‘God had caused his name to dwell’
as a verse in Deuteronomy has it. But the earthly Jerusalem failed, as all our
worldly Jerusalems will. Jesus and the New Testament writers looked to a
heavenly city in a better country.
John Pridmore says, “The vision of the city of God is not some
private fantasy peculiar to Christians who find the present world uncongenial.
It is a longing for somewhere where justice is done, where joy lasts, where
beauty does not wither, and where peace reigns. This,” he says “is a hunger
of the human heart, not only of the Christian heart. The quest of that city
makes inexorable moral demands.”
One of the lessons seems to be that whatever anybody knows about
God and his ways in this life is always incomplete. So I think all this helps us
build up a picture of faith. It is based on ‘faith in’ God, but is lived
with a longing to know God better. And that will involve risks, as we take what
the world might see as chances in testing our faith; by acting sometimes in a
counter-cultural way, by extravagant acts of generosity, by loving, by caring,
by putting others first, by service to the Church because we think the Church
matters as do the people we journey alongside here. I believe we’re meant to
live in expectation that God can and will reveal himself at any moment, in
unexpected ways. So our Christian glass is always half-full – more than
half-full – never half empty, as we look with longing for that heavenly city.
A mature faith will help one through the little deaths we all
have in life, in hope of resurrections to come. Jesus invites a spirit of
readiness and expectation in the gospel for today. “Be dressed for action and
have your lamps lit; you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an
unexpected hour.”
Was Jesus just talking about his return? Or was he encouraging
his disciples to live as those who expect good things to happen now when they
let him into their lives? Maybe both. So we live from day to day in this world,
but with our hearts looking for a heavenly city and kingdom, because ultimately
we don’t belong here. Hebrews talks about those great figures seeing
themselves as strangers and foreigners on earth, seeking a homeland, not here,
but in the city God has prepared for them.
And that takes us back to where we started – Jesus’ warnings
not to get obsessed with what we have in this world, because you can’t take it
with you. No. Put your trust in him, where true riches and eternal fulfilment
are.