³⁵ “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, ³⁶ as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. ³⁷ The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! ³⁸ He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.

³⁹ “Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰ You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”

⁴¹ Peter asked, “Lord, is that illustration just for us or for everyone?”

⁴² And the Lord replied, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. ⁴³ If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. ⁴⁴ I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. ⁴⁵ But what if the servant thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? ⁴⁶ The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut the servant in pieces and banish him with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷ “And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. ⁴⁸ But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.

⁴⁹ “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! ⁵⁰ I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. ⁵¹ Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! ⁵² From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.

⁵³ ‘Father will be divided against son
    and son against father;
mother against daughter
    and daughter against mother;
and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law
    and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’”

⁵⁴ Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, “When you see clouds beginning to form in the west, you say, ‘Here comes a shower.’ And you are right. ⁵⁵ When the south wind blows, you say, ‘Today will be a scorcher.’ And it is. ⁵⁶ You fools! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the present times.

⁵⁷ “Why can’t you decide for yourselves what is right? ⁵⁸ When you are on the way to court with your accuser, try to settle the matter before you get there. Otherwise, your accuser may drag you before the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, who will throw you into prison. ⁵⁹ And if that happens, you won’t be free again until you have paid the very last penny.”

13 About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. ² “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? ³ Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. ⁴ And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? ⁵ No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”

⁶ Then Jesus told this story: “A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. ⁷ Finally, he said to his gardener, ‘I’ve waited three years, and there hasn’t been a single fig! Cut it down. It’s just taking up space in the garden.’

⁸ “The gardener answered, ‘Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year, and I’ll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. ⁹ If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.’”

Dear God, according to Luke, this entire rant by Jesus was spurred by a man calling from a crowd in Luke 12:13, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” There was really something about this petty, short-sighted greed that really set Jesus off. In the written word, we lose tone of voice, but there is anger in this passage:

⁴⁹ “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! ⁵⁰ I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. ⁵¹ Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! ⁵² From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against. (Luke 12:49-52)

⁵ “No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.” (Luke 13:5)

⁷ Finally, he said to his gardener, ‘I’ve waited three years, and there hasn’t been a single fig! Cut it down. It’s just taking up space in the garden.’ (Luke 13:7)

Jesus loves me, but there can be little doubt that, whatever the criteria you finally use for us, you will not be mocked. You will not be abused and made a fool. We cannot game you and get into your everlasting new earth through a loophole. No, you have some definite expectations with us, and it starts with simply loving you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and then loving our neighbor as ourselves. Did we do those things, or was our only motivation to preserve ourself at the expense of others.

I heard a tragic story about a Christian university that is likely to be fined hundreds of millions of dollars by the government for failure to report crimes, sexual assaults, etc. I would have thought that after what happened to Baylor eight years ago with their sexual assault/Title IX scandal, every university in the country would have downloaded the recommendations Baylor’s law firm generated and adopted the recommendations for themselves. But this one didn’t. Why? I guess because they thought they were protecting themselves, and but they justified it by saying they were protecting your name since they claim to represent you. Oh, it makes my heart hurt.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I do not want to game you. I know you are not to be mocked. So here I am to love you with all I have (or at least to do my best and a little better each day) and then love my neighbors as myself (at least to do my best and a little better each day). This is my life. I give it to you. And I want to close with an old song I hadn’t heard in a while, but it came to me this morning while I was praying with a friend: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There’s just something about that name. Master, Savior, Jesus. Like a fragrance after the rain. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Let all heaven and earth proclaim! Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there’s something about that name.

I pray all of this to you in that precious name, Jesus,

Amen