"Have no fear, little flock, for your Father has already chosen to give you the kingdom."Three times in this 12th chapter of Luke's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples not to be afraid. Of course if you have to keep telling someone not to be afraid, that's a pretty good sign that they are afraid. Last week, we saw Jesus confronted with one of the anxieties of everyday life. "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." Apparently, this brother is not happy with the way his father's estate is being handled. Perhaps one judge has already judged how the property has been divided, but this brother isn't happy with the decision. So perhaps he figures that if he can draw Jesus into this family dispute, then he will get an opinion more to his liking. Of course, the family will then have dueling judges. Maybe they'll listen to Jesus, maybe they won't. The brother with a grievance may not actually get any more money than he had before. But at least he might have an opinion more to his liking. He may be no wealthier than before, but at least he'll feel better, perhaps.
Faced with the brother's anxiety, Jesus has to go back to the basics. This brother and those hearing him need to get reacquainted with the reality of what they can and can't control, and the treasure they should look for that has already been given to them. Between last week's reading and today's, Jesus told his disciples the famous parable of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. "This is why I tell you not to worry about food to keep you alive or clothes to cover your body...Can anxious thought add a day to your life? If then, you cannot do even a very little thing, why worry about the rest?"
Think of all the things that weigh on our minds throughout the waking day and restless night. How many of those things do we actually have the power to change? Relationships: employment: jobs? When it comes to all those things we worry about, we have two options. We can grasp or we can give. We can either grasp at those things we are anxious about, or we can give up control of them. But if what we're grasping at is something we can't control; then the only alternative to the anxiety that leads us to grasp what we cannot control is to give up what we can control. We certainly have some control over our food and clothing. But it is those things that we can control, which Jesus warns us not to be anxious about. Why, because those are the least important things. "Set your minds on his kingdom," Jesus told his disciples, "and the rest will come to you as well."
So, the one thing that Jesus says does matter, is the one thing we have no control over. But there is nothing more valuable, and best of all, God has already chosen to give it to us. "Have no fear, little flock, for your Father has already chosen to give you the kingdom." But where is that kingdom? What territory does it control? Where are its borders? To ask those questions reduces God's kingdom to just another empire among all the empires that human beings conquer, build up, and then watch as they inevitably decline and fall. In truth, God already rules this world. But it is not a rule that God imposes with an iron fist from above. He rules from our hearts that are free from fear. When we can relax in the knowledge that God's love will outlast every empire based on power, then God rules from our fearless hearts. When we stop grasping at any straw to persuade us that we have some control, then God rules from our fearless hearts. When reaching out becomes more important than self-protection, then God rules from our fearless hearts.
God rules. Can we trust in that as much as we trust in our next paycheck? Can we wait for God's rule to bloom in our hearts and the world around us? "Have no fear, little flock, for your Father has already chosen to give you the kingdom."
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