Luke 12: 35-40
Our Master is Coming Home to Serve – In Time

Prayer: (Let us pray together as we come to God’s word.) – Grace Davis/Charlise Rowley 

Scripture Reading 

Intro: 

My older sister is something of a spiritual seeker, like many people she does not submit to any particular tradition, but instead seeks to learn from any teaching perceived to promote peace, love, and commodious living with fellow man.  As you know, there are many such teachers in our society today who seek to awaken people to a new consciousness.  They genuinely and admirably seek to help people break from habitual selfish patterns and so to become aware – through meditation and mindful action – of their personal presence and responsibility in the universe.  Some of you may be familiar with Jiddu Krishnamurti, he was an Indian spiritual teacher who became popular in the West for rejecting all authority and all traditions and asking people to find true religion by standing alone and becoming a light unto themselves.  He taught consistently for some 65 years last century and there is a foundation in the Ojai Valley of California dedicated to the study of his teachings.  I discovered this man in a book on my sister’s shelf; he’s not of particular importance to her, only one of many books on the shelf.  So as I read through a few chapters of Krishnamurti’s dialogues I found him challenging me to rethink my identity, my habits, and my cooperation with others – important things to consider.  But as I delved further I discovered that in order to embrace his brand of personal enlightenment and harmonious self-awareness then I must not only first throw off all religious authority and desire for a savior, but according to Krishnamurti I must also put aside the authority of time itself and awaken to “a dimension where there is no time at all.”  You see there’s a certain appeal to throwing off time, because if you and I can really step into eternity (together) then we can not only leave aside the baggage of our personal and corporate histories but we can also effectively avoid the nuisance of waiting for the future to come – preparing for our savior’s return and watching for the fullness of time would have no more meaning because we could claim that now is the fullness of time.  Despite his human claims on eternity, Krishnamurti grew old, he aged well, but he grew old, his strength faded and cancer claimed him at 90 years – time claimed him at 90 years. 

Like Krishnamurti, Jesus wants to awaken you and empower you to think, act, and live in the present moment.  But instead of asking you to pretend unto eternity, Jesus asks that you submit to time, and that you furthermore, make ready for his ordering of time.  He wants you to take comfort in knowing that time and space belong to him and He says it’ll be better for you if you can accept your role in his story and prepare yourself for his coming. 

Bond:  Blessed are those whom the master finds awake when he comes.  Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.  (If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!) 

*** You see, Jesus understood that we grow tired of time, weary of waiting and watching for Kingdom come, we grow dull to our responsibilities and desperate for a breakthrough. But Jesus’ answer to our dullness and desperation comes not in the rejection of time but rather in his promise that he comes to serve us in the fullness of time; not in man stepping out of time, but in God stepping into time.  Biblical revelation (Old Testament and New Testament) claims not that time must be tamed by men, but that time is going somewhere, human history (in all its broken baggage) has a purpose and a destination in the glory of Jesus Christ – the God who enters his creation to redeem it. 

The good news is that we’re not left to ourselves and to our own devices.

The humanistic vision says we’d better shape up because the world is in our hands. The gospel says we must and can wake up because the world is in God’s hands.  Human despair is displaced by an eschatological hope – looking towards the end with purpose and with confidence that our God will come home to us, that he comes to serve us, though he comes at an unexpected hour.  As servants and stewards, but not owners of the universe, we have freedom to watch and to wait, we can gladly work and prepare because we know that our master is coming – Jesus is coming, justice is coming. 

So

PROP:  Because Jesus promises his return,

We must prepare for his coming. 

So first, 

MP1 Because Jesus comes home to us, 

We (must) prepare for his coming. (vv. 35-36) 

SP2 The reverse implication of the master’s homecoming is that if He does own the universe then, of course, you don’t own the universe.  Though we enjoy the creation and the benefits of the household of faith, yet we are not the masters but the stewards of these things.  The parable asks us to view ourselves as servants, bondservants, not masters and proprietors.  We all know there’s a difference between having a responsibility for something and actually owning something. 

Illus:  When you borrow someone’s car you’re responsible for its care, but you don’t own it.  When someone hires you to work for them, you may be required to use their tools and equipment but you don’t own the tools, and you’ll be held accountable for how you treat them. A slave or bondservant in a Jewish household did not own any part of the house; he took care of the house for his master but he did not own anything.  In fact, the household slave does not even own himself.  He is accountable to the master in how he cares for his own body and his every decision will be relative to his relationship with the master. 

App:  By way of application, …as Jesus commands us to stay dressed and keep our lamps burning, …he is also calling us to consider ourselves as servants under his authority, stewards in his household.  And knowing our position as stewards and servants of God should relativize our relationship to the rest of the world.  Living as a steward means you hold worldly possessions more loosely and use those possessions more wisely and generously for the sake of the master (the true owner).  Living as watchful servants requires that we hold loosely to personal status and personal relationships.  It means all of these things are subject to the master.  I’m responsible to him for how I treat myself, and for how I treat my wife, and for how I treat you.  The ready servant cares for the master’s household.  Your commitment to your profession and your allegiance to this country (on Independence Day weekend) should also sit relative to your accountability to God.  We should count it our first privilege to serve in his household because it means we get to live with him, and he is a benevolent master.

So we prepare for his second coming because in Jesus Christ God will come home to us, his servants, but realize there’s something strange happening in this parable when we read (in v. 37) that the master is coming home to serve.

And…

MP2 Because Jesus comes to serve us,  (vv.37-38) 

We (must) prepare for his coming. 

Jesus becomes servant of servants in this passage.  This is not the normal picture of the master-servant relationship.  There’s a special emphasis in v. 37 because the words come strange and startling – Aman Legw Umin– truly, verily I say to you he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.  After all, Luke 17: 10 reminds us that the obedient servant gains no special merit, but may only declare: “We are unworthy servants, we have only done what was our duty.” That passage reminds us that it’s not our obedience to God which earns us blessing and salvation.  But this passage reminds us that it pleases God to bless us beyond what we deserve.  Jesus will state this paradox more plainly after the last supper in Luke 22: 27.  For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves?  Is it not the one who reclines at table?  But I am among you as one who serves. 

Illus:  The last supper is, of course, the prime example of the master’s service.  The last supper seems to indicate that this parable may be taken quite literally.  After all John 13: 3-5 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,  4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.  5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.  Here Jesus, the master, dresses his self for service and comes to serve those who recline at table. You see the image here not only describes for us the nature of the second coming, but it also describes the character of the first coming.  Craig Blomberg is right in noting that the first audience to hear such parables about the return of the master would have been thinking of the Day of the Lord spoken of by the Old Testament prophets.  Jesus wants to indicate the nature of his immediate presence in the flesh as well as his future return in the flesh.  And he’s making it clear that he comes to serve those long in waiting, and to serve them beyond their desert. 

App:  So as we prepare for Jesus’ coming we can rejoice in knowing that we do not prepare to meet a harsh master but a benevolent master, a master who blesses his servants by serving them.  And it’s critical to understand that in his first coming the master has already served us with his body and with his blood.  We will eat at his table today as we take the communion elements, the bread and wine are his service to you.  So you must ask yourself, not only will I be ready when he comes? – but am I ready today? – behold, he knocks at the door, even in this hour. 

Still, though Jesus has already come to us, though he meets us here today, yet we also await his return in the flesh at an unexpected hour.

And…

MP3 Because Jesus comes at an unexpected hour,  (vv. 39-40)

We (must) prepare for his coming. 

SP1 As a worldly example the thief image provokes fear of loss.  He’s a threat to your possessions as master, and awareness of even the possibility of his intrusion should prompt vigilance on your part.  I had a sales manager once who regularly reminded me that the fear of loss is greater than the desire for gain.  So you see, flipping images is helpful, if you don’t desire to gain the blessing of the master’s service, maybe the intrusive destruction of thievery will get your attention.  Maybe this parallel is directed at those disciples who are accustomed to having possessions and being their own masters in this world. 

SP2 But the thief further provokes an existential immediacy in our responsive preparation.  In other words, the very nature of thievery is covert this image implies the need for constant vigilance on the part of the watcher.  The talented burglar plans to come at the unexpected hour, it’s not just that he might come then.  There is something to be grasped here about God’s governing of time and space and human history. If it were helpful for us to know the day and the hour, he probably would have told us.  It seems that God’s intentional choice not to reveal the exact time of his appearing (even to the Son) is an express limitation designed to provoke our participation in the story today – there’s no skipping ahead to the end.  We’re forced to confront present circumstances and find contentment in our lot for today. 

Illus:  Dan Orme – a servant found awake

On this special weekend in Dan’s life as we celebrate his age and his service I want to point out that Dan Orme, in serving as pastor of this church, has been an example to me (and I think to all of us) of a servant found awake when the master comes, of a faithful household manager watchful against the coming of the thief.  Dan is someone who reminds me that watchfulness has everything to do with worship.  By filling the pulpit week in and week out, by preserving the solemnity of prayer, and song, and sacrament in our midst, by counseling us in our weaknesses and by confessing his own weakness, by washing the dishes after potluck and by concocting shepherd’s pie when no one has signed up for Sunday lunch Dan Orme has given us an example of watchfulness for the coming of the Son of Man.  He has also, in these things, been an example of the master who comes to serve. 

In Conclusion: 

A couple weeks ago while walking with Dan, we ran into a neighbor, Dr. Halper across the street, and Dan took the opportunity to introduce me as his replacement.

But I’d like to qualify that by relating and applying something I learned about replacements from my next-door neighbor Deborah in Saint Louis.  We were moving out of the house, loading our truck out front, and many neighbors were stopping by to say farewell. When I spoke with Deborah (and yes she’s named after Old Testament Deborah, the Judge) I told her I would miss her too, but I reassured that another Christian couple had purchased our house and she was gonna still have nice neighbors.  I want you to know Deborah fixed me with a proper scowl at that point and said, “So, what’s that supposed to mean, another Christian’s gonna replace you.”  I had to acquiesce, she’s right we’re all unique, we all have special roles, we’re not just cogs in a wheel.

So Dan, I know that I am here to pastor this church in your stead, but I want you to know that I am not here to replace you.  Because I recognize that you cannot be replaced, and though I may be well accepted here, I know will not be replacing you in the hearts and minds of this congregation, nor in the hearts and minds of all those whom you have served in the past.  I myself will continue to benefit from your heritage, but I will not replace you because it cannot be done. 

How does that relate to our text?  Well, on the surface it doesn’t relate, but I might just add this: It seems these parables about watching and preparation serve as warnings to us that Jesus himself is unique in the cosmos and in your life he is irreplaceable.  As master of the house, he refuses to be replaced by a servant or a steward, by a false prophet or by a false ideal.  And, though he tarry long, to the second or even to the third watch (3 A.M. by the way), yet he will come home to serve us whether we have prepared ourselves for his coming or not. 

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I Thes 5: 1-11 esp. 4-6