Pentecost 12

Pentecost 12 (Luke 12:32-40) “Be ready!”

You are the co-creator of your own soul.

Moses and the prophets are very clear that human choice determines human destiny.

Our Heavenly Father created our species and each of us by the power of the Holy Spirit according to the pattern of the Beloved Son. The essential quality of that pattern is love. That love is steadfast, holy, universal, unconditional, infinite and eternal.

All of us and each of us are a particular manifestation and a unique image of that love. The full potential of that love resides within every human soul.  For us who Iive and move and have our being in the realm of matter, energy, time and space love is actualized through choice.

That is why so much of what Jesus taught involves the invitation to make a conscious choice.

Moses and the prophets observed that most people most of the time sleepwalk through life. The primary cause for this existence of somnolence is Original Sin. Original Sin is the choice our species made to separate from God. It can also be called “Original Separation.”

That original choice defines our species. It forms the basis on which we build our lives, make our choices, use our reason and experience our emotions.

The Beloved Son came into the world as a particular man at a particular place and time to offer and to facilitate a different choice. Jesus restores the original pattern of humanity through his incarnation. He accepts the consequence of Original Separation as he dies on the cross. He restores what is lost and broken to the fullness of its original potential in the resurrection. And, during this Church Age, the Age of Evangelism he calls us to make a choice.

The fundamental and universal principle underlying that choice is love. The particularities of that choice lie in the broad categories of where we chose to spend our time and how we chose to use our talents, gifts and resources.

In this passage Jesus identifies certain particular choices we can make to appropriate the gift of salvation He gives us.

The first choice is faith vs fear. So many people exist in this world with intense fear about many things. Sadly, many people experience God through fear. We fear God will punish us. We fear God is indifferent to us. We fear God does not exist and the universe has no inherent meaning.

Jesus comforts us by saying fear not God just doesn’t have love as an attribute. God is love. Salvation from sin and death is a gift. You can’t earn it.  It is real. And it is a gift. Salvation is the reunification of the soul with God the Father through God the Son by the indwelling Real Presence of God the Holy Spirit. The first choice is the choice to receive this gift of reunification by faith.

Another choice is the choice of giving vs possessing. The Bible is very clear that this planet and all of its resources belong to Jesus Christ. Our Heavenly Father appointed human beings to be stewards of this world, not owners. Jesus invites us to enjoy the abundance of the creation. He warns us that the attitude of ownership will produce an action of possession that will block our ability to enjoy life.

Fundamentally, Jesus encourages us to share our possessions in much the same way a parent or a teacher encourages a young child to share. The tendency of a child to hold something tightly and shout out “mine!” is the window into the spiritual state of our species.  Jesus asks us to cultivate an attitude of compassion that produces an action of charity.

Next, Jesus offers us the choice of value. It is the choice of God vs the ego. The question is: what do you truly value? What you truly value determines what and how you will worship. What you worship defines your soul and determines your destiny.

Heaven is not a future reward for right belief and right action. Heaven is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that begins here and now. That relationship defines who we are and who we aspire to become.  Jesus reminds us that anything other than God is temporary. Only God is eternal. Only God can transform our fears into faith, our selfishness into charity, our anxiety into hope.

The concluding word of wisdom Jesus offers is: be ready.   Be aware. Make conscious choices. Do not sleep walk through life by following the values of our secular culture. Ask God the Father to send God the Holy Spirit to cultivate in your soul the desire to make the choice of faith, hope and charity.

Ask God to cultivate in your hear the desire to live and move and have your being in the Real Presence of the Living Lord Jesus Christ.

We hold ourselves ready for Jesus as we ready, study and memorize the Bible. We hold ourselves ready as we make the choice to come to the place of Real Presence on the Day of Real Presence. We hold ourselves ready as we make a real choice to help other people however we can.

And, we hold ourselves ready as we acknowledge our need to transform and ask the Holy Spirit to help us transform in grace by faith through the steadfast holy universal unconditional love of Jesus Christ.