Karen Hollis | August 10, 2025 Pentecost 9
Luke 12:32-40 (NLT) “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.
“Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
“Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat!
“He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.
“Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
This parable of Jesus sounds different to my ear than other parables. Often someone will ask him a question and he will share a parable in response. As we listen, there’s a kind of invitation to enter into the story and find places of resonance, curiosity, or puzzlement. In today’s parable, Jesus includes the listener from the beginning. Be dressed for service . . . as though you were waiting for your master to return.” So, Jesus is in a sense telling us which point of view to take in the story – it’s a teaching story about the moment when God brings the kindom on earth . . . which could come at any time, so be ready. After reading the passage (many times) I have so many questions for Jesus. Are you trying to say the kindom comes all at once, or could it come little by little? How does it manifest? Is it cumulative? Do all the little moments of real connection add up to something big? Does the kindom come in big waves of social change? What does it look like to get ready? How does readiness look in our particular context? Getting ready here surely looks different from the original hearers of this story, which is different still from Christians around the world today.
When I think about Kindom qualities like dignity, equity, a space where the wheel of creation that I’ve talked about before turns freely, where there is abundance through everyone doing their part, where we acknowledge one another’s value as part of creation, and connect through our vulnerability . . . When I think about where we live and bringing more of these qualities, I think about the reconciliation process with First Nations.
If we take the text and reconciliation and layer them one over the other, what do we see and where do we find ourselves in the story. There are essentially two roles: the master and the slaves. The master has the power and authority, establishes the rules and expectations, and benefits from the way the home is organized and operated. While in the text, Christ is eventually associated with this role, I invite us to set this detail aside for a moment. The role also aligns with the colonizers of these lands, as those who created a system that worked for them. While they have long passed on, the system continues to work best for those of us who descend from them and look like them. Many of us here benefit from a system that supported us in getting an education, which led to careers, that support our families and lives that are not without challenges, but have a great capacity for flourishing. I know this is an uncomfortable topic. I know it’s hard to be reminded that by our existence, we have privilege and others don’t. I invite us this morning to courageously consider this perspective.
The other role in the parable is the slaves - or servants, depending on the translation. They work for the master, but more importantly for this example, they are subject to the system in which they live. While they have no hand in creating the system, they are expected to support it and live within it. The only benefit they receive from it is survival.
The slaves seem to be like the Indigenous People of this land. While historically there were Indigenous slaves, I want to emphasize that Indigenous people continue to live within this system that doesn’t equitably serve them. I heard a story on the news the other day about an indigenous man in Manitoba who didn’t receive care at a medical facility. When it was discovered that his cancer had returned, it was too late for treatment to be effective. The inquiry found that racism had prevented him from receiving care when he needed it. On top of living within an unequal system and being subjected to racism, Indigenous people in Canada also live with the intergenerational impacts of residential schools and having their land and culture taken from them. Again, I know this is uncomfortable. I appreciate you hanging with me as we explore our world in this way.
Now that we have set the scene, let’s see how it unfolds . . . the servants are waiting at the door, and the master comes home, puts on an apron, invites them to sit at the table, and initiates an act of repair.1 This is one of those twists that always come in parables. What does that look like in our context? What does it look like to be of service to the Komox First Nation? First, instead of inviting them to sit at the master’s table, perhaps they might like to gather in their own spaces. What does it look like to be of service? Volunteering at the Indigenous People’s Day event? Does it look like showing up at public gatherings? My colleague Rev. Alastair Hunting did a lot of that when he was up in Pt. Hardy – he kept showing up at public meetings and they finally asked him why are you here?? He just wanted to be of service. Does it mean learning the history of these lands? Or learning Kwak’wala to help preserve the language? Or acknowledging our own privilege and the system from which we benefit over others?
A few minutes ago we set aside the role of Christ as master . . . let’s step out of that role now and look at him in it. Christ bursts through the door and sets a table for everyone. Christ brings Shalom . . . the peace I talk about each week. This is a courageous peace that is willing to be vulnerable for the sake of truth, of healing, of a path toward wholeness. We usually think of Christ coming as a purely joyful event with the excitement of possibilities . . . but perhaps it’s more complex. Perhaps with the inbreaking of something new, there is also a letting go of what came before. Perhaps when Christ appears with us, something is asked of us . . . perhaps we are even asked to give something up for the sake of what we will receive.
This text made me think about the stolen land on which we live and worship. If I was an Indigenous person, I imagine I would long for the land . . . to be able to care for it according to the values and teachings of my ancestors. The very idea evokes for me – and I suspect us – complex emotions . . . including anxiety and resistance. Is land back the kind of process Christ might be present in?
I learned in physics that resistance isn’t human . . . it is a physical reality of the universe. Resistance is present in electric circuits as the force that opposes the current. Resistance is present when you push on an object – it automatically pushes back. We’re going to feel resistance . . . when we are presented with something new and challenging, our resistance may come up initially and then as we process our learning, resistance may come back down again. If resistance is something that is part of the universe, we don’t need to overly identify with it or worry about it. But, we might be intentional about noticing it, being aware of it, even curious about it. Being aware of our own resistance in this long process of reconciliation is one way we might prepare for Christ’s arrival.
Journeying with the Living Christ is not for the faint of heart. We don’t know where Christ will appear or where the Spirit will move, but we might listen for where he is planting seeds with us and where we might participate. Along the way, Christ invites us at times to the hard stuff . . . and says don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid . . . Christ is setting the table for everyone . . . for all of us and our neighbours. Do not be afraid, he says, “for I am with you always.” Thanks be to God.
1 enfleshed, Aug 10, 2025