Keeping our eye on the ball

This is the text of a sermon preached at St Nun’s Church, Pelynt on Sunday 10th August 2025

The readings were, Isaiah 1^{1, 10-20} Hebrews 11^{1-3, 8-16} Luke 12^32-40

Where your treasure is, that is where your heart will be too.

When I was learning to play cricket, a sport at which, for all my enthusiasm, I never really excelled, it was drummed into me that I should keep my eye on the ball. It was good advice too, even if I did occasionally fail to follow it. Taking one’s eye off the ball could result in a dropped catch or the ball whizzing past to the boundary, or, if batting, the dreadful clatter of wickets might well follow quickly. But there was more personal danger too. The cricket ball is very hard, and moves at pace; taking your eye off the ball can be very painful!

In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus is giving his disciples similarly urgent advice. Indeed, so urgent is his advice that he repeats various versions of it three times.

Where your treasure is, that is where your heart will be too.

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.

You must stand ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Jesus is clearly urging his disciples to remain focussed, to keep alert and always to be watchful. We need to ask though what exactly is it that we need to be so prepared for. And, it is not just one thing.

The first of these warnings is not about something unexpected. It is a warning about being focussed on the right things. Having assured his disciples that the Father has given the disciples the kingdom Jesus continues to warn them of the conditions on which the kingdom is bestowed,

Sell your possessions and give alms. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

This is a development of last week’s warning that life does not consist in abundance of possessions, and the message against storing up wealth for ourselves rather than becoming rich with regard to God.

Luke’s gospel has a great deal of emphasis on the dangers of hoarding riches rather than using them for the relief of poverty.

Here we are clearly warned to amass our treasure, not in worldly wealth, but in heaven. And the way to do that is through giving alms, charity to relieve poverty and protect the vulnerable.

Although we have the kingdom given to us it is a gift we can easily lose it by neglecting our duty, as Christian believers, to care for the poor and vulnerable in our society.

The second warning is to keep awake for the return of the master from the wedding feast. Traditionally, this passage has been interpreted as urging us to be ready for the second coming of our Lord – and that is certainly the main focus.

But it is what Jesus says that the master does when he arrives that I want to reflect a little on today.

The master does not demand his servants wait on him, but he will do up his belt, sit them down at table and wait on them.

This is a radical saying from Jesus. It is a complete reversal of the roles of servant and master. This surely recalls a saying of Jesus that comes a little later in Luke’s gospel (22²⁷),

For who is the greater: the one at table or the one who serves? The one at table surely? Yet I am among you as one who serves!

Although the anticipation of the second coming is clear, we do, perhaps, see here too a reference to what happens when Christ comes to us in the sacrament of holy communion. Here he, our Lord, serves us as we rejoice in his presence among us.

So it may be that Jesus is warning his disciples to be ready to welcome him in the sacrament.

So this brief paragraph might have a double meaning for us, as for the readers of Luke’s gospel nearly two thousand years ago.

And when Jesus talks about the master’s coming in the middle of the night, or when it is nearly dawn is he warning us that there could be moments when he will arrive unexpectedly – perhaps in the guise of someone in need?

The third warning is very similar to the second. It seems a strange warning though. Clearly the emphasis must be on the unexpectedness of the Son of man’s coming, for surely we do not dread it in quite the same way as we might dread the appearance of a thief in the night.

I think that the point Jesus is making is that being unprepared for his coming would be as disastrous for us (and possibly more so) than failing to secure our home against burglars. Perhaps Jesus is telling us to be as concentrated on protecting our place in the Kingdom as we are on protecting the place where we live.

These three brief sayings contain much for us to consider. Are we focussed on the right things? Is our concern more for ourselves and our own comfort and security than it is for others? Particularly, are we using the gifts that we have been given in the service of the poor and needy, or are we simply storing them for a rainy day?

Are we committed to being ready for the time when Christ comes to us? Not just at the second coming, but in the sacrament, and in the needy, broken or lonely.

Is our life directed towards the Kingdom of God, or are we so consumed by the needs of this life that we neglect our place in God’s kingdom.

These sayings of Jesus remind us to review our priorities and make sure that our heart is in our heavenly treasure, and not distracted by our earthly concerns.