Holy Thief
Photo by Natalia Yakovleva on Unsplash
All I can say is thank God for our dog. His name was Thunder and he was a beautiful tri-colored Sheltie, and we learned that night he was a very good and effective watch dog. I begin this morning with a story that happened about 30 years ago to my very young family. My then wife, Sharon and I and our two boys who were about 7 and 4 years old were living in our first home in Kansas City, Missouri, and that first home of ours was in the inner city a few blocks from the first church I served on my own after seminary. This was once a thriving white middle-class neighborhood anchored by a Sears and Roebuck Catalogue store, but since then the area was undergoing significant decline and decay as the white, middle-class population fled to the suburbs in “the great white flight” replaced by people of color from the Hispanic and Asian communities – people who were poor and living on the margins.
One night while we were all sound asleep, Sharon and I were awakened by Thunder barking fiercely and growling – something he rarely did. (That night he truly earned his name – Thunder!). I jumped out of bed and slowly and carefully began descending the stairs to the first floor as I noticed Thunder barking at the front door. I peeked around the corner of the stair well and saw a man at the front door. That front door was made of glass so I could see clearly that the man holding a gun. I dashed upstairs to the upstairs phone to call 911. (No cell phones in those days.) Meanwhile Sharon was looking out a window to the back door and there she saw another man holding a gun trying to get in the back door.
Thankfully the police came quickly and before the men could get away in their vehicle the police stopped them and handcuffed them. Then the police let the men go! A police officer then came to our door to explain that the men were bounty hunters but had the wrong address, and we learned they had every legal right to be doing what they were doing to settle a debt, and it was clear that if Thunder hadn’t barked we would have found the two men in our home and at our bed pointing their guns at us to arrest of for delinquency of a debt. But – oops – they had the wrong address!
What was the overwhelming feeling that awful night? Fear, of course. We were scared to death. Thunder suddenly barking fiercely. Two armed men – one at the front door and one at the back door. Pretty scary – right? (By the way – the only blessing of the night was the fact that somehow neither of our little boys ever woke up, and they never knew about the event of that evening until years later – after we had moved out of the neighborhood.) But Sharon and I were scared to death. If they had gotten into our home, the bounty hunters would have found two very frightened people.
What would God find if God showed up at your home unexpectedly in the middle of the night? Would God find you frightened, scared to death or would God find you with your lamps lit, your lights on anticipating God’s return? Would God find you alert and ready to host? Would God find you ready to drop everything and follow him? What would God find at your home? What would God find in you if God just showed up one night or one day? These are the kind of questions Jesus is inviting us to ask this morning.
If God like a Holy Thief were to show up in the middle of the night what would God find? What would God want to take away?
Now to be clear this gospel text like many of those we hear during these summer Sundays are sometimes difficult to decipher – make sense of. For example, in these short 8 verses from Luke, God is described in at least 3 ways: God is a like a shepherd giving us God’s kingdom; God is like a master returning home from a wedding and finally God is like a thief breaking into our homes in the middle of the night. Not only that but we, God’s people are described in at least 6 different ways in these 8 short verses: We are frightened sheep or we are heirs of a kingdom or we are keepers of treasure or we are slaves or we are owners of a house or we are accomplices to a great heist.
In the midst of these many and often conflicting identities of both God and us, these lessons are addressing tough questions about how we are living our daily lives as Christians with regards to fairness and wealth and whether we use things to build walls around ourselves. How dependent are we on our possessions? How weighed down are we by our fears and insecurities? How willing are we to share our wealth? Why are so many people in poverty? What’s our connection to and what’s our responsibility for people who go hungry every day and who do not have a place to call home?
With all the descriptions of God to choose from, this morning we zero in on God as a holy thief. Now I know it may be a stretch to think in such terms – to regard God as a holy thief, but our gospel lesson this morning insists we do so. If God were to come to us like a Holy thief in the night, what would God- this holy thief find AND what would God the holy thief be after? What would God the Holy Thief want to take from us? Another way to ask the same questions is this – what kind of lifestyle would God find us living? What kind of choices would God see us making?
Would God want to take away our possessions or at least some of them – if God found that our possessions kept us apart from people in poverty. After all Jesus says to us today, “Sell your possessions” – especially if our possessions build a nice safe wall around us keeping us from people who have little to nothing. We don’t need to debate whether Jesus means here that we are supposed to sell all that we have or just some or just a little bit to make ourselves feel good. Let’s just begin by asking ourselves this question: When is the last time you sold something you own just so you could give the funds to someone who is poor? Or is it safer to build a wall around ourselves so we don’t have to deal with such questions?
If God like a Holy Thief were to show up in the middle of the night what would God find? What would God want to take away? I wonder if God, the Holy Thief would, for example want to steal back planet earth. After all, God gave us this beautiful planet to tend to, care for, nourish and make flourish and look what we’ve done with planet earth? Maybe God, the Holy Thief would want to steal back planet earth. After we are failing as stewards of this incredible planet.
If God like a Holy Thief were to show up in the middle of our worship service, this morning what would God find? What would God want to take away? I wonder if God, the Holy Thief, would, for example want to steal back the church. After all God would find our church to be made up of almost all white people, and God never intended the church to be so segregated racially.
Our church – the ELCA – is known for being the whitest denomination in this country. That’s not what Jesus intended when the Holy Spirit came to earth on the Day of Pentecost to give birth to the church. Remember that scene when people of every race and language and ability came together on that day of Pentecost to create the church? This Sunday morning time when Christians all across the country are worshipping is the most segregated time of the week – churches everywhere not just HTLC are divided by race. Maybe if God came as a Holy Thief to us right now God would steal back the church to reform it and make it reflect the beauty of all of God’s creatures.
The same question can be asked about the communities we choose to live in. For example, Easton is 94% white. Why do we choose to live in such a community?
So let’s ask ourselves this question – how would God find you if God as a Holy Thief showed up in the middle of the night? Would God find you afraid or would God find you at peace? Would God find you restless, unhappy, filled with doubt? Would God find you fearful of what needs to be changed? Would God find you afraid of what God needs to take from you to get you on the right track or would God find you at peace, calm and content with a life devoted to service and sharing and compassion and peace-making? Or would it be some of both at the same time like most of us – filled with faith yet at the same time doubting – filled with gratitude but also fearful.
After all, “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Listen to those most important and precious words this morning. It is with good pleasure that God gives you the kingdom. It is with enormous joy that God gives you this planet earth and your beautiful church and your home and your health. It is with boundless happiness that God gives you the precious people you love – every single one of them. It is with limitless love that God gives us Jesus – to save us from ourselves – to free us from doubt, to do away with fear and to fill our lives with love and service.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Do you hear this wonderful, amazing, joyful, happy news? God is giving us – you and me – just because God wants to – the kingdom. I don’t know about you, but that just blows my mind! With this gift just think of the potential we have to change the world! Amen.