People Get Ready

Luke 12:32-40

September 12, 2004

³²“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell 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. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; ³⁶be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

³⁹“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he^£ would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

“Be Dressed for Action” says Jesus to his disciples.  When I read this passage from the Gospel of Luke this week, I remembered an old TV commercial from my childhood.  In the 1970’s sometime, a commercial would often break into the “after school special” or Saturday morning cartoons, geared directly at the young people who were watching TV at that time.  Footage of dozens of young people dressed in shorts and 1970’s colored t-shirts, usually, mustard yellow with red writing on them would be shown.  They would be paddling canoes or swinging from ropes or climbing or lighting campfires.  All the while, this marshal, military music would be pounding in the background, with the refrain loudly repeating “Be Prepared!”  The commercial would end with a familiar three pointed flourish insignia flashing on the screen with the words, “The Boy Scouts of America” emblazoned underneath.

 “Be Dressed for Action” says Jesus to his disciples.  “Be prepared,” say the boy scouts.

Robert Baden-Powell an English general who was one of the founders of the Scouting movement in England over 90 years ago, was once asked what the motto meant. What is a Scout supposed to be prepared for?

"Why any old thing," Baden- Powell replied.

In Scouting youngsters are taught how to give first aid, how to live comfortably outdoors, give service to their community and nation, clean up their environment, do Good Turns for people and a host of other things.[1]

Be Prepared.  Be Dressed for Action.  What is Jesus warning his disciples to be prepared for?

There’s another musical cue from before the 70’s that raises this question as well.  In 1965, popular musician Curtis Mayfield wrote a handful of lyrics and he and his music group the Impressions made a song popular:

People get ready, there's a train comin'

You don't need no baggage, you just get on board

All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'

You don't need no ticket you just thank the lord

People get ready, there's a train to Jordan

Picking up passengers coast to coast

Faith is the key, open the doors and board them

There's hope for all among those loved the most[2]

In that turbulent decade Curtis Mayfield was calling people to a higher purpose. The chaos of the 60’s left the nation in much confusion--from the Six-Day War to Viet Nam, from the assassination of JFK to assassination of Martin Luther King. There were many reasons to be afraid during those ten years. But Mayfield, like many others, understood that something great was on the horizon. He could hear it like the distant hummin’ of a diesel engine. And he challenged all who heard his song to take the faithful step to move beyond the fear and the strife and the conflict and the injustice of the ages to embrace a new hopeful future.  You don’t need no baggage; all you need is faith; don’t need no ticket; you just get on board.

Music critic Stanley Crouch explains Mayfield's message: "...by saying 'There's a train a-coming, get ready' that was like saying, okay, so regardless of what happens, get yourself together for this because you are going to get a chance. Your chance is coming."[3]

“Be prepared.”  The Boy Scouts prepare young people to be ready to survive and take care of nature as well as other people. 

“People get ready.” Curtis Mayfield called out to society to be ready for the opportunities for building a better world for future generations. 

“Be dressed for action,” said Jesus.  But what action?  What does Jesus tell his friends and colleagues to prepare for? 

The message of the Boy Scouts and Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions through their song are not too far from what Jesus wanted his friends to do.  They are to be ready. They are not to be afraid; they are to sell their possessions—like Mayfield said, “don’t need no baggage.” They are to be dressed for service and ready to open the door when the master returns. [4]

When we hear these stories and read this scripture today, what does it mean for us?  What are we preparing for?  Why do we gather our children together on a Rally Day and feed them pizza and register them for a new year of Sunday School and make plans to teach them bible stories and expect them to be here every week?  Why do we spend so much time and effort taking care of this church building and fixing it up?  Why do we create so many opportunities for fundraising and fellowship?  Why do we gather together for singing and prayer and fellowship every Sunday?  What are we doing all this work for?  What are all these preparations working to accomplish?

Why?  Because Jesus says the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.  He says, “be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.”

Somebody’s coming and we we’re expected to be ready.  We’re expected to be prepared.  We’re expected to be dressed for action for when he comes.

Who’s he?  Who’s coming?  “The Master,” says Jesus.  We can only assume from this that he’s referring to his own return from being with his father in heaven. 

“When the master returns from the banquet,” Jesus says, “Be Ready.”

In other words, Jesus is telling listeners to prepare well, for someday when He returns from the heavenly banquet, preparations for his return must be complete.

So what does this have to do with us?  What can Christ’s church to do prepare for his return?  Jesus describes a few scenarios that describe what that return should be like:  Lit lamps in windows, food, preparation for action – like the master of the mansion, the owner of the estate is coming home from a party or a wedding banquet. 

Well does that help?  Almost, does that mean he’s coming home to rest?  To go strait to bed?  If so, some clean bed sheet and pajamas, a quiet house and a comfortable room is what is required.  But he says he may tighten up his belt, which in the dress of their day, was like rolling up our sleeves would be for us, and begin cooking himself and begin serving all those who greeted him on his return. 

Ok, if so, then the kitchen needs to be spotless, the fridge and cabinets need to be well stocked - who knows what he’ll decide to prepare.  That broken skillet needs to be replaced, the quirky stove top that only works when it wants to needs to be repaired…

But which one is it?  Is it sleep and rest that he’ll require, like someone come home from a big party?  Or is he going to want to cook and feed us and serve us?

Be Prepared, People Get Ready, Be Dressed For Action, because we’ve got to be ready.  But even if we want to be ready, we need to know which it is, rest & sleep or cook and serve.  And what in the world does that mean for the church of God anyway?  Churches everywhere can’t possibly expect Jesus to come cook for them, or to need a nap in their social hall…

But its important to know what Jesus expects on his return, because this is what the church is here for, created in the world and called the Body of Christ.  The church is to be His representative, his replacement, and his physical presence in the world while he’s not here.  These preparations, they’re the sole purpose, the reason for the church’s being,  the justification and only excuse for the church’s existence.  So its important to know what it is that he expects when he returns.

If these preparations are the reason for our being, then maybe our mission statement can help.  After all our mission statement is what begins to define us as a church, maybe it’ll help to remind us what we need to be doing until Jesus comes back.

Here it is: 

 “We are a congregational church, historically Armenian, gathered to worship our Lord Jesus Christ and to teach our children, ourselves and our community our Christian faith. We enthusiastically try to create caring and closeness with our Lord and with one another.”

Worshipping, teaching and learning, building a caring, intimate community, connected to God and to each other and others.  That sounds great, but is that what Jesus wants to see that we’ve been doing upon his return?  Is that truly how we’re to be prepared?  Is that how we people should be getting ready?

There are another several words in which Jesus himself spoke to this topic, telling the church what its purpose should be, telling what the church should be doing in his absence.  The last few words of the Gospel of Matthew said this:

 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

OK, this is a little different, it make a bit more sense for a church to be doing such things, rather than cleaning its kitchen or making a bed in preparation for the Masters’ return: invite more followers, baptize, teach and remind each other that Jesus will always be close by and ready to help.

Here’s another passage from the end of Matthews gospel, from chapter 25:

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,^£ you did it to me.’ ⁴¹Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴²for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Serve others, feed the hungry and thirsty, clothe those with no clothing, welcome the stranger, and visit the sick and the captive.

Our mission statement encapsulates most of this, the only thing missing perhaps is service to others, like feeding, clothing and the like.  But these are the things that Jesus most expects to find that we had been doing when he returns. 

Be Prepared, Get Ready, Be Dressed for Action for it is for such things that God has established his church.

Today is Rally Sunday.  It’s the day of the year that we begin anew to gather and work together and prepare and get ready for the return of the master. 

So on this Rally Sunday, lets remember why we have returned, what we are repairing for and what we are going to do individually and together: teach if you are able, feed if you have something nourishing to give, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick and stuck, make followers, baptize and celebrate the sacraments, speak and live out the gospel, remind each other that God is close and ready to help and build intimacy with each other and with God himself.

When our days of working, preparing and getting ready are over, and the Master returns, He will want to know what we’ve been doing with his church. 

I pray that we’ll be prepared and he’ll be glad for what he finds.

Amen