Some scriptures seem in the lectionary seem to come around at just about the right time in my life to give me a really interesting perspective on what's going on. This morning's scripture is one of those. You see, in just a few weeks, I will be paddling a canoe somewhere in the wilderness.
Of course I won't just be paddling, I’ll be portaging as well. That means that I will be carrying all my stuff from one lake to another as I travel along - and of course everyone knows that the true definition of ‘portage’ is: a trail through the woods that is uphill in both directions - or at least it seems uphill in both directions you are carrying all your stuff.
Of course while you're in your canoe having a lot of stuff is not such a bad thing, but you can't just paddle around in a canoe all the time. Eventually, if you're going to get anywhere at all, you have to get out of your canoe and portage over to the next lake. That is when having a lot of stuff in your canoe can be a real problem and that is when you begin to understand how little stuff you really need.
If you really want to travel quickly, you travel with very little stuff, because then you can do a single portage. This means that in just one trip, you can carry you, your canoe and your gear over to the next lake. I have never been able to quite do that.
The next fastest, is that double portage. This means that you carry across half of your stuff, leave it at the destination, go back to get the rest of your staff, and then carry it across to the other side. This means of course that you walk three times as far as on a single portage, and it takes a lot longer. This is my usual method, and the way most people go, but I've even seen people who have so much stuff that they do a triple portage. It takes these people half the day to get from one lake to another. I have seen people equipped with coolers, dry ice and even chairs to sit in so they can preserve their creature comforts.
I met up with one such group several years ago when I was in the boundary waters. Now the boundary waters is 100 mi.² of inter-connected lakes and rivers in northern Minnesota where the water is so clean you can see fish 20 ft. down. With this party was a young woman who had obviously never been camping before. She was not having a good time and she did not mind letting everyone know.
She had with her a ‘personal water purifier’. The way it works is that you dip the container into water and just put the top on. There is a filter inside the top so that when you draw on the straw, water is forced up through the filter and you have clean water-but it's not easy to draw water through it and it takes several seconds for water to make it through the whole system.
This young woman gave the container to her boyfriend friend who tried to desperately to make it work. Just as he gave up trying, water made through the system and squirted out of the straw and onto the ground. Seeing this, the young woman put her hands on her hips and scolded the hapless chap by saying, ‘You are wasting water!’
Those of us who were sitting nearby knitted our brows and looked around quickly calculating mentally just how many millions of gallons there must be surrounding us. Her boyfriend also glanced quickly from side to side and, regaining his sense of humor, he replied with a big smile, ‘No lack of water here.’
We were surrounded by millions of gallons drinkable water given as a gift of God and she was worried about a few ounces over which she had some control. It’s an amusing story. Yet each of us is guilty of something very similar. We are on every side surrounded with evidence of God's immeasurable abundance and yet we worry about having enough. We spend the greater part of our waking hours amassing possessions which we must then protect, care for and take with us wherever we go.
On the past few Sundays we have heard Jesus telling us that there is more to life than possessions. This morning, our scripture starts out with an admonition to the disciples, ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’
Don’t be afraid the Lord says, I’m going to give you a kingdom. Sell your stuff, give it away. Make an eternal wallet for yourself and store your treasure there because where your treasure is - your heart will follow.
The disciples are on a journey, and if they have anything with them that's going to weigh them down and slow them up on the journey, they need to get rid of it – and so do we. The Christian life is not intended to be a one-time conversion after which we cloister ourselves behind a wall to keep the world out and to stay away from temptation. The Christian life as a journey – a journey into the wilderness - a journey toward heaven yes but even more than that it is a journey toward the likeness of God. We need to take nothing extra with us. Our God who has supplied everything that we have needed to get this far is the same God who in these scriptures promises that we will be supplied with everything we need to finish the journey.
Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of those who can destroy the body but not the soul. Don't be afraid of what will happen tomorrow - of where you will live – of what you will eat or drink or where you will sleep or even what you will put on. After all, we've just been told that it is after all these things the gentiles run and work and expend themselves and our father knows that we need them. Let us instead keep our eyes focused on the kingdom we seek, and on the kingdom we experience here in this earth when we submit ourselves to the Lordship of God
To live in the
Next Jesus tells us that we can enjoy our stuff forever. We can have an eternal purse. There is a parallel text that says we are to ‘lay up treasure in heaven.’ Now the treasure of heaven, the stuff of an eternal purse, is not money. There is no divine electronic funds transfer. All the money in our bank accounts won’t help us get to heaven or assure us of a bigger mansion when we get there. The treasure of heaven is relationships. A person who tithes to God through the local congregation and then makes offering to God by giving to other Godly causes and programs, understands that the consequence of giving to God means the work of God in this world can be done and a part of that work is sharing the good news about Jesus. The sharing is done more by our actions that are words and when this good news is shared people are drawn to Him. They are led to claim him as Savior and submit their lives to his Lordship. They enter that realm of love we call the
The treasures of heaven are the gifts of the Spirit we were so freely given and the fruits of the Spirit that are the natural response to the love of God. This interaction does not just go up and down, it goes sideways as well. We are the treasure of heaven for each other. Even though most of us think we already know each other very well, we will have a very, very long time to get to know each other better. It will seem like an eternity.
The final statement of Jesus in this text is about happiness. So far, we are called to live unafraid after having given away our stuff. Now we are told that this is the way to happiness. The word ‘blessed’ is most appropriately translated as happy. The text calls ‘blessed’ or ‘happy’ those who are ready for the Lord's return.
How can we be ready for the Lord's return? Some interpret this question in legalistic terms. We hear statements like, ‘Would you want Jesus to come again and catch you with a beer or cigarette in your hand?’ Some interpret this question in moralistic terms. ‘Would you want Jesus to come again and catch you gossiping or with a judgmental attitude?’ Being ready for Jesus' return is probably a little more complicated than that. The readiness we are dealing with in the text had little to do with morality. Morality and virtue are good in and of themselves. They need no justification. In reality none of us, no matter how good we are, is ready for the Lord's return just because we are good.
Readiness for Jesus' return is grounded in the quality of relationship that we have with God. When the love of one's life walks in the door after an absence the response is immediate happiness. A grandparent embracing a grandchild after a long separation is an illustration of this kind of readiness. This readiness is a consequence of love.
The Christian life that Jesus is promising is much like this. In relationship with Jesus and through learning about him we grow into the promises of today's Gospel lesson. As we grow in love, we grow less and less fearful. As we grow in love, we discover ourselves focused more and more on eternal relationships. As we grow in love, we await Jesus' coming not with dread, but with joy. We begin to understand the value of real treasures, a simple treasures, the ones that don't require greater volumes of stuff - the ones that fit easily into our backpacks and are easily carried along with us on the journey,
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But how do we know that we have that kind of faith? How can we know whether we are trusting God, or trusting ourselves? How can we figure out if we are trusting in all our stuff to get us through or trusting the in Lord of all stuff to provide what we need?
James Dobson has a quote about faith I really like. He says; ‘Faith in God is like believing a man can walk over
The question for us this morning is: Are we in the wheelbarrow? Are we trusting in God to fulfill all the promises that have been made to us? Are we living our lives trusting in God’s willingness to act in our lives?
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Are we in the wheelbarrow? Here perhaps is one way to tell. Do we give God the crumbs from our table, or the first fruits of our increase? Are we giving God our best, or our leftovers? Are we contributing to the work of God – time, talents and treasure – because of a sense of gratitude for the great abundance we have already received or do we contribute to God out of a sense of obligation?
Can we look at the millions of gallons of God’s bounty that surrounds or can we only fix our attention on the water bottle in our grasp?
The good news for us this day is that we can do more than believe – we can trust. Don’t worry, be happy, get into the wheelbarrow. Amen.
