Proper 14 / Pentecost 12 / Ordinary Time 19
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
-- Luke 12:33b
One of the realities of life is that what we treasure, we also fear we will lose. Whatever it is that we prize in life, whether it be wealth, family, strength, beauty, or recognition, we are also afraid of losing it. So it becomes our source of insecurity as well as security. We devote what we have to securing the prize, and then we become anxious about losing it. The result is that our attempt to protect ourselves separates us from neighbor and God.
When Jesus said, "Do not be afraid, little flock," he was speaking to those disciples who would make up the church. When he asked them to sell their possessions and give alms, he was challenging their source of security. The church is as subject to the anxiety of the material as anyone else. However, the church and individuals have to continually consider whether their trust for the future rests in their accumulation of possessions or in God. In Luke, Jesus offers the faithful a treasure of the kingdom that is beyond the fragility of life. No thief can steal it, and nature cannot destroy it. Jesus declared that our real security is a gift and not a possession.
God wants to give us the kingdom where neither thief nor accident of nature can threaten us. But to receive the gift, we have to detach ourselves from the many false attachments that so fill us with anxiety. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." We have to live our trust in God to be able to experience God's trustworthiness. The offering in worship is not primarily a way to finance the church, but rather it is an act of worship by which we switch allegiances and attach ourselves to a treasure that will not fail us.
-- Luke 12:33b
One of the realities of life is that what we treasure, we also fear we will lose. Whatever it is that we prize in life, whether it be wealth, family, strength, beauty, or recognition, we are also afraid of losing it. So it becomes our source of insecurity as well as security. We devote what we have to securing the prize, and then we become anxious about losing it. The result is that our attempt to protect ourselves separates us from neighbor and God.
When Jesus said, "Do not be afraid, little flock," he was speaking to those disciples who would make up the church. When he asked them to sell their possessions and give alms, he was challenging their source of security. The church is as subject to the anxiety of the material as anyone else. However, the church and individuals have to continually consider whether their trust for the future rests in their accumulation of possessions or in God. In Luke, Jesus offers the faithful a treasure of the kingdom that is beyond the fragility of life. No thief can steal it, and nature cannot destroy it. Jesus declared that our real security is a gift and not a possession.
God wants to give us the kingdom where neither thief nor accident of nature can threaten us. But to receive the gift, we have to detach ourselves from the many false attachments that so fill us with anxiety. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." We have to live our trust in God to be able to experience God's trustworthiness. The offering in worship is not primarily a way to finance the church, but rather it is an act of worship by which we switch allegiances and attach ourselves to a treasure that will not fail us.
