Luke 12:32-40 - We Can't Handle the Truth - November 20, 2022

“The truth? You can’t handle the truth,” was a line spoken by the character played by Jack Nicholson in the 1992 movie A Few Good Men. [1] He was referring to the truth of how hard, and sometimes horrifying, decisions need to be made by the leaders of our armed forces in order to keep America safe. He meant that the truth was too ugly for Tom Cruise’s character, the prosecuting attorney, to handle. We’re going to borrow the phrase, but change the meaning a bit this morning. We’ll use it in the sense of a story told about a young Christian boy and his mother. On the ride home after Sunday school a mother asked her son what he learned today. He tells her that he learned about Moses leading the Israelites across the Red Sea. Like any good mother, she wants details. So he goes on to describe how Moses built a huge bridge for the people to cross on. The mother pauses, and, knowing better, asks, “is that what really happened?” Her son answers, “No, but if I told you what really happened, you would never believe me!” In the same way the underlying truth of Jesus’ words today are hard for us to handle – that is, they are hard for us to believe.

We will start with the hard truth. Jesus gives some simple, direct commands: sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide money bags for yourselves that do no become old, a treasure in the heavens that will not fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. Simple, easy to understand command, right? Here’s the thing: how many of us have actually sold something precious to us in order to give the proceeds to the poor? Yeah, me neither. On the contrary, how many of us have far more than we can ever use, and yet we give to the poor only what is left over after we use what we want? (For example, which of your possessions do you give to Twice as Nice or Goodwill – the stuff you use or the stuff you don’t want anymore?)

The truth is that we don’t sell anything in order to give to the poor and neither are we eagerly waiting for Jesus’ return. We don’t have our noses pressed to the window, all dressed, ready for service, with our lamps burning, expecting Jesus at any moment. No, we’re waiting for Thanksgiving and Christmas, for some time off of work and school, for the next hunting or shopping trip, for a pay raise or better job or a new house or for retirement – those are the things we are anxiously waiting for. We’re not like people waiting for their Lord but like people looking the wrong way. We’re eagerly waiting for the “next thing” in this life.

If you confess with me the truth that we haven’t sold our possessions and given to the poor and we aren’t eagerly waiting for our Lord’s return, then you’ll have to admit the hard truth that our treasure is in the wrong place. Jesus says where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. To figure out where your treasure is, just ask yourself, “where is my heart?” Scary question, isn’t it? Too often my heart, my thoughts and attention are on money, things, politics, fitness, sports, this life, this world – how about you? And Jesus reveals an obvious, but hard truth, about treasuring the things of this world: thieves can take it and moths can eat it. I can be fully focused on saving for my kids’ education and our next vacation and retirement – and inflation can rob it right from under my nose. I can exercise and eat healthy and do everything my doctor tells me in order to live a long life – and cancer or a car accident can devour the years I figured I had left. It’s the truth, isn’t it? Our treasure is in the wrong place – in Power Ball jackpots and Christmas gifts; in our kids gymnastics classes and basketball practices; in the stuff and experiences of this life. The truth is that we’re not eagerly waiting and watching for a Lord who will put a sudden and unannounced end to all those things we consider so precious.

So where is the hard truth of this text supposed to lead us? Well, clearly, to reassess our investments and shift our focus, right? We need to dump our stock in earthly things in order to gain a heavenly dividend. We should sell our new cars, our new clothes, and cancel our vacations and give the proceeds to the poor. And, in doing so, we’ll begin sewing money bags for ourselves in heaven with our dollars here on earth, right? We’ll start eagerly waiting for the Lord’s return. We’ll dress like people who expect to be taken to heaven rather than like people who expect to win fashion shows here on earth. We’ll shine our lamps (that is, our attention) on the path that leads to eternal life, rather than on the one that leads to temporary happiness and pleasure. We will try our best to keep ourselves watchful and awake every minute of every day. Do you know where that leads? It leads to living like Martin Luther did – as a monk. He – and many men and women like him – took vows of poverty and prayed for endless hours daily hoping that by suffering in this life they would earn and gain the next.

The sad truth is that the interpretation I’ve just given is how this text is preached in countless churches around the world. The truth of this text is that you must do a better job of serving God and others with your possessions and that you must double-down on waiting for Jesus’ return. You know what? None of us could handle that truth. Why not? Because no sooner will you resolve to give away your possessions than you will keep saving for a vacation, a car, a home, retirement. (And, even if you followed through on giving every last one of your possessions away, you’d quickly find yourself wanting it all back!) No sooner will you resolve to really watch for Jesus’ return than you will find yourself fixated on some relatively insignificant facet of this life – like sports or politics or money. We can’t handle the hard, Law truth of this text. Oh sure, we can understand it – but we can’t do it.

And the good news is that we don’t have to – but that’s a hard truth for us to handle too! In fact, I would be willing to wager that many of us didn’t even hear the good news. Did you? Do not be afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. The truth is that your Father in heaven is not waiting for you to sell your possessions, give to the poor, get dressed, light your lamps and stand watch before he gives you the kingdom. Nope. He says, “It’s my pleasure to give it to you.” Actually, Jesus literally says that your Father has been pleased to give it to you. The past (aorist) tense indicates that from a point in eternity – from before you were conceived, before you had the chance to sin, before you repented, before you came to faith – God decided that his greatest pleasure would be to give you his kingdom (Ephesians 1:4-6). The shocking – and wonderful – truth we have a hard time handling and hearing is that heaven is NOT something the little flock needs to worry about getting.

You know what it’s like to look at this from God’s perspective, don’t you? Haven’t you ever been really excited to give a gift to someone? You just couldn’t wait for their birthday or for Christmas – for that moment that they would tear through the wrapping paper to see what you gave them. The last thing you would want is for them to worry about getting the present or trying to earn it. You were simply happy to give it.

The reason we can’t handle this truth – and often can’t even perceive it – because the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh have drowned it out with their deafening chorus that there is no free lunch; that if you want something, you’ve got to earn it; that heaven is only for good people who give to charity and faithfully stand watch. This is what Paul was talking about when he wrote that no eye has seen and no ear has heard and no human mind has conceived…what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9). The sinful flesh cannot imagine God sitting in heaven, rubbing his hands together, saying to himself, “I just can’t wait to give them my kingdom.” But this is the truth of Scripture. The central message of the Bible and the central job of the church is not to beat people over the head with the Law but to invite them to taste and see that the LORD is good (Psalm 34:8). Just consider God’s work in your own life. What did you do to deserve to hear the Gospel from a parent or friend or pastor? What did God demand of you before he baptized you into his family? How much did your absolution this morning cost? There is a transaction that takes place in Holy Communion – you give Jesus your sins and he gives you his righteousness. Isn’t God good? And, the truth of this text is that he wants to give you even more. To quote Paul one more time: God is willing and able to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

The inconceivable, unimaginably wonderful truth is that our heavenly Father is pleased to give his Son what we deserved and to give to us what he alone deserved. We have never sold enough, gave enough, watched enough or worked enough for God to do a single thing for us other than damn us to hell for all eternity. But Jesus, who sold his home in heaven for a life of poverty on earth, who freely gave away health and healing to the sick, whose entire focus – even as a 12-year-old – was on carrying out his Father’s business (Luke 2:49), accepted the hell we deserved so that we could receive the kingdom he alone deserved. As Thanksgiving nears, we often hear encouragements to count our blessings (and rightly so, but if we started now, we wouldn’t be done until Thanksgiving 2050!) – but the truth Jesus reveals here is that the Father doesn’t just give us some money, food and shelter to get through this life – he’s pleased to give us his entire Kingdom! This is the wonderful truth that sinners like us find so hard to handle.

But, you might be thinking, “what about the part where Jesus clearly commands us to sell our possessions and keep watch?” These things do enter the picture but only after the Holy Spirit has convinced you that the kingdom of God is already your possession. Only once you see your Father in heaven rubbing his hands together, saying to himself, “I can’t wait to give them my kingdom” can you handle the rest of these verses. Only then will you see how it all fits together.

Here’s how to handle these truths. If you already have an eternal kingdom; why worry about this temporary, passing one? Maybe you heard the news that last weekend Jeff Bezos gave $100 million dollars to Dolly Parton to distribute to charities of her choice. [2] It’s hard for most of us to conceive of that amount of money – much less giving it away. How could he do this? Well, he’s worth over 100 billion dollars. The same is true of us: in Jesus the kingdom of God is ours, now and forever – we have the golden ticket – which allows and enables us to give freely to others in need. In other words, grace gives birth to grace; generosity and charity are characteristics peculiar to Christians because they know that the kingdom is already theirs.

What about waiting for the Son of Man? If you read these verses as a threat, as a warning that if you’re not alert enough when Jesus returns then you might not get into the wedding or he might scold you and send you to hell – then you’ll hear this waiting as a burden and you’re hearing it the wrong way. But if you hear these verses as Jesus’ promise to return – at an unexpected time, to be sure – but to return with the gift of his Father’s kingdom in hand – how could we not be joyfully and eagerly waiting for him? My birthday falls somewhere around a holiday each year (the date is on a need-to-know basis – and you don’t need to know!). But when I was growing up in Nebraska my grandparents would drive out to celebrate that holiday and my birthday with my family. Whenever they arrived, I knew they came with gifts in the trunk for me. Knowing this, I would ride my bike up and down the block for hours watching for their car in whether it was raining or snowing or below zero. It wasn’t a burden, but a joy. In the same way, waiting and watching for a Lord who is bringing us the best gift of all – heaven – is not a burden, but a joy. That’s a wonderful truth, right?

The proper way to handle the truth of this text is to read it in the order Jesus spoke it. Do not be afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. If he starts by telling you not to be afraid, you can be sure that the next words out of his mouth aren’t meant to strike fear into your heart. And if he starts by telling you that the Father decided to give you his kingdom even before he created the world – then you can’t possibly think that the next thing he says is about how you must give your stuff away and keep watch in order to deserve it. Best of all, he doesn’t even demand that you handle this truth – it really is more than we can ask for or imagine – he wants this truth to handle – and comfort – you. Amen.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FnO3igOkOk

[2] https://www.npr.org/2022/11/14/1136454716/dolly-parton-jeff-bezos-imagination-library