Scripture Guide
Luke 12:32-40
Preaching Commentary
Context
This passage takes a number of turns that may, at first, seem disconnected from one another. Our text is part of a larger teaching discourse of Jesus in Luke’s gospel that has been causing tension with the religious leaders. This tension continues to increase as the chapter continues on with Jesus telling the parable of the prudent servant (12:41-48) and then that He himself has come to cause not peace, but division (12:49-53). The public nature of Jesus’ challenge to the religious authorities of the day should not be forgotten when engaging with this passage.
Luke, of course, is traditionally understood to be written by a Gentile for a primarily Gentile audience. It is also considered the Gospel that focuses most on those who are less privileged – the poor and marginalized. These themes are just in the background here as Jesus addresses, albeit somewhat indirectly, the concepts of wealth, the kingdom/reign of God and its coming fullness at a future time.
Preaching Angles
Worry/Fear
Our passage comes right on the heels of Jesus encouraging his listeners not to worry, but to seek God’s kingdom (12:22-31). Verse 32 not only reinforces this focus on the Kingdom as the alternative to worry/fear, but the writer directly connects God’s goodness and will to the giving of this Kingdom. Throughout this text, the idea of God’s goodness and God’s ultimate reign and authority stay consistently in mind. The Kingdom of God is not something abstract and esoteric nor is it something that can only be obtained or found to have power after death in a nebulous, dis-embodied spirit-heaven. God’s Kingdom directly confronts and defeats worry in this life!
Treasure in Heaven
Earlier in chapter 12, Jesus has told the parable of the rich fool (12:13-21) who makes his own plans to build a bigger barn without realizing, evidently, that he can’t take his possessions with him into eternity. Verse 21 says, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
Jesus returns to this idea in our text, explicitly in verses 33-34, although “treasure in heaven” is fleshed out throughout the passage. Importantly, it is readiness and watchfulness that seems to be the indicator of what being “rich toward God” will practically look like. Trusting God will ease worry and fear, which will be evident in lives lived in hopeful expectation of the coming fullness of God’s kingdom.
It should be noted that nowhere here does Jesus say that “heaven” in this sense is intended to be a place where we go to collect this treasure. The sense here is much more like what Paul describes in Philippians 3:20-21:
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
God’s Kingdom extends beyond what the ordinary understanding of “heaven” is within our culture to a new heaven and a new earth (i.e. Rev. 21:1-5). We await the Savior “from Heaven” and anticipate received actual resurrection bodies that are like Jesus’ resurrected body upon His return. We can understand our hope as our “treasure,” which is in heaven, being received when the Master returns.
Readiness/Watchfulness for the Master’s Return
This larger hope is seen immediately in how Jesus moves on to emphasizing watchfulness (12:35-40). The servants/slaves (from the Greek doulos) are referred to in the plural, a connection to the broader Kingdom. Watching for the return of the Master – the Second Coming of Jesus – is not an individualized goal.
This hope is not contained to obtaining personal salvation but is a corporate hope – it is the coming Kingdom that is the goal’s foundation. This communal hope, in and of itself, is counter-cultural for us in our society that overemphasizes individual autonomy.
Recommended Songs
“Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” – African American Spiritual
“It is Well with My Soul” – lyrics: Horatio Spafford; music: Philip Bliss
Discussion Questions
How does hope, grounded in God’s Kingdom, confront worry, fear and anxiety?
In our passage, “treasure in heaven” is directly connected to eternity and spiritual hope. What is the ultimate Christian hope? How does hope impact our lives in the present?
While our society is primarily focused on the individual, Jesus calls us into something much bigger than ourselves. What does belonging to the Kingdom of God look like? How is this counter-cultural for us?
Practically, what might remaining ready and watchful for Christ’s Second Coming mean for our daily lives?
Sermon Resources
Key Quotes
- View
...left to ourselves we lapse into a kind of collusion with entrophy, acquiescing in the general belief that things may be getting worse but that there's nothing much we can do about them. And we are wrong. Our task in the present...is to live as resurrection people in between Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second.
- View
The center of Christianity is the coming of the Son of God into the world as a real man to destroy the works of the devil and create a new people for His own glory. The very heart of our faith is that He did this by obeying the law of God, dying for the sins of His people, rising victorious over death, ascending to God’s right hand with all His enemies under his feet. The second coming of Christ is the completion of His saving work. If you take it away, the whole fabric of His saving work unravels.
- View
Brothers and sisters, the coming of Christ is near. The ultimate epiphany is just around the corner. If we think otherwise, we tragically impoverish our souls. Most Christians think little of Christ’s return, or if they do think about the day they will see Christ, they associate it with the day of their death. This is a proper hope, but death is not a pleasant thing, and thus the expectation of seeing Christ is mixed with a certain fear of the dark veil. But it is not so with His Second Coming. It is all joy! And that singular joy is meant to be a boon to our souls.
James: Faith that Works.
Key Illustration
- View
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed
Have you ever sung "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning"?
African American spirituals are among the great treasures of American worship. They are born out of the tragic (and, let's be honest, wicked) oppression of Black Americans by white Americans—often Christians themselves. Spirituals are full of powerful emotions — especially joy, pain, and yearning.
They also are often deeply biblical, inviting the singer to enter into the experience of the Bible. "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed," is a great example. When you sing it, you inhabit the parable of the 10 virgins (Matt. 25:1-13), with the congregation exhorting each other to follow the example of the wise virgins to be ready.
There are many versions, but they all feature expectation and longing for deliverance—and the long obedience in the meantime.
Most versions start with "Keep your lamps trimmed and burning," which is repeated before ending the verse with a phrase of urgency. Some versions have a version of "the time is drawing nigh," others say "for this work's almost done." Between each verse, a refrain of, "children, don't get weary," reminds the singers of Jesus' admonition to "keep alert!" While the later verses vary—they tend to trace the progression of life or spiritual growth. One marks time by the passing of the night—another, which I particularly like—uses the image of climbing Jacob's ladder as an image for the spiritual life.
It's impossible to miss the desire for freedom of the enslaved in these songs, the spiritual readiness paired with a this-worldly readiness to escape their bondage.
It's an incredible heritage passed down by fathers and mothers in the faith who followed Jesus through deep adversity.