Luke 12:32-40 Commentary

“Do not be afraid… You also must be ready…” These opening and closing statements from Christ tie this week to last week’s passage. The lectionary skips over another meaningful message about our possessions and our fears and hones in on our stewardship, or being rich towards God through our obedience.

Last week, the rich farmer forgot that he was not his own master, but a servant of the Most High God. Having heard the warning of Jesus’s parable, Jesus addresses his listeners’ fears this week: unlike the rich farmer, they have nothing to worry about if they are serving God.

Do you notice how much giving is happening? It starts with Jesus saying that it is God’s “good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” As Dallas Willard puts it, God gives us a “life without lack.” (Willard wrote a book with that title about Psalm 23.) Of course, believing and experiencing this profound truth requires us to learn to take a different viewpoint. But that viewpoint is what allows us to disconnect from all of the stuff that makes us close-fisted and allows us to become generous givers like God.

We sell our possessions so that we can give alms, i.e., financially support things that God has said in Scripture matter to him. We give with an eye towards treasures that cannot be measured according to earthly standards—things that might be considered undeserved or lost causes, or without proof on rate of return.

Even the parable focuses on giving. The servants give themselves wholly to their role, staying ever ready to serve their master even while he is at a wedding party for the night. They do not do so because it will lead to a promotion, but because they have committed themselves to their calling. This is a metaphor of the Christian life; Scripture describes us as slaves serving and waiting for the one true Master in a variety of passages.

And what happens? The Master gives, just as Jesus promises the Father gives. And it seems that he came prepared to give—that it was always his intention to give—for the master comes with wedding party food. It’s as though he thought of his servants, whom he loves, and purposefully prepared this portion to give to them.

Even more, the Master joins them and becomes like them, fastening his belt, tying up his tunic so that he can more easily get to the business of serving this meal to his servants. This is more than just leaving some leftovers out with a note of permission to partake. This giving is full of care and intention. Just as the servants gave themselves to their role, so too the Master gives himself wholly to the act of serving.

This is the picture of our giving God. Thoughtful, intentional, and committed. Yes, we are truly blessed indeed.

The invitation here is to not be afraid, and to be ready to receive. They are connected: it is hard to receive anything when we are afraid. If we become people who are ready to receive, then we know we have to clear out the things that already fill our space—we have to make room to receive the new by parting with the old. We have be ready by participating in the kingdom. We do so by becoming agents of the kingdom by sharing and giving to others, by fully embracing servanthood to God.

We will receive much more than we ever give. We receive God’s very self who comes and joins us in the giving and receiving. Jesus did so in the incarnation, and the Holy Spirit continues to do so in every act of Christian living we undertake as we seek the Father’s glory. So do not be afraid, but be ready!

Textual Point

Pretty much none of the commentaries or Bible translations I read divide this section of Luke the way that the lectionary does. Usually, verses 32-34 are considered the conclusion to the section that begins in verse 22—which makes sense, given the topic of worry. Then, the parable about the watchful slaves is paired with another slave parable in verses 41-48. So why choose these particular verses to follow up last week’s story about the rich farmer? Precisely because we are not to be afraid, but to be ready for our time on earth to end by being stewards of what God has given us.

Illustration Ideas

In an episode of the Amazon show Solos, Sasha is living in a special isolation house she purchased after a Covid-like pandemic. The problem is that Sasha has become so afraid that she doesn’t believe anyone or anything (including her AI house assistant from the company who made the house) that it is safe to leave her isolation. She is still there 20+ years later, spiralling and living in conspiracies about why everything that is “good news” is really a lie. She cannot receive salvation and goodness because she is worried and afraid.

There is an infamous story in my family about the time my brother was finally old enough to stay home alone while my parents were off on a trip (I was already away at college and our older sister had long been living elsewhere.) Before leaving for a week, my parents told my brother that the only thing he had to do before they got home was to wash the car. My brother is a bit of a procrastinator, so he put it off pretty much as long as humanly possible, finally getting around to washing the car in our driveway at 3 AM the morning of my parents’ return. Of course, this is not the way the job was intended to be done (something our neighbours made quite clear to my brother). But then again, my brother was doing it because he had to, not because he wanted to, so that poor attitude showed itself in how he went about the task. The same could be said for a lot of our lives towards God: we are not servants who have given themselves wholly to our calling or living out of gratitude, excited to see our Master show up unannounced.