Luke 12:32 - 48
I think we all kind of agree with
Jesus' statement, “Where your treasure is, there also your heart
will be.” We know of people who work late hours to the extent of
neglecting their families because their treasure is in building a
business, or making a million dollars, or rising in the heirarchy of
the office to a position of ultimate leadership. We know others who
put alcohol or tobacco or even food ahead of their good health and
ability to function as human beings. And how many families have been
ruined by a gambling addiction? I remember a patient of mine who was
totally deaf and lived with a caregiver. He owned a beautiful MG
convertible which he had lovingly restored and in which he liked to
sit. Of course it sat in his garage,because, being deaf, he couldn't
drive, but it was his treasure.
Sometimes your treasure is something
that seems good but you get carried away? We've seen examples of
that recently when parents break the law in order to send their kids
to the best colleges. And just last week we learned about how some
wealthy families disown their children so that the kids can be
eligible for grants for college tuition based on need. It said that
there were a couple of law firms that actually specialized in
arranging this.
But I think Jesus is telling us
something a little different when you take the whole gospel into
account. He begins by telling us The Father is pleased to give us
the kingdom. In the first story about servants, he makes the point
that the diligent servants who live in anticipation of the master's
return will find the master himself waiting on them. He then goes on
to promise that the master will put all his possessions in the care
of the faithful servants. And he describes those faithful servants
as the ones who know the mind of the master, who value what the
master values.
So maybe Jesus is saying “where your
treasure is, there also your heart will be” but also, it's within
your power to change your heart, to train your heart, and with the
promises Jesus has made on the Father's behalf, it would be in your
best interest to do so, because what the Father has in store is
greater by far than anything you might treasure otherwise. So how do
we train our hearts?
The saints teach us that. Some had
mystical experiences in which they claimed to have caught a glimpse
of the next life – St. Paul among them. But not everyone is a
mystic, and many other saints simply imagined, based on scripture,
what the next life would be like. I think they all knew that what
they dreamed about was probably not the way things would really be –
but they had no doubt that it would be wonderful. So many saints,
through their preaching and writing, have invited us to exercise our
own imaginations. Some of that imagining, of course, gets translated
to prayers and hymns, of which you are all familiar. So Jesus is
telling us to train our hearts to long for the treasure which has
been promised us.
I'm sure some of you have heard of St
Paul Miki and the Nagasaki martyrs. In 1514 St Francis Xavier
entered Japan and began a remarkable missionary effort carried on by
subsequent Jesuits. Within a few years there were about 500,000
Christians in Japan, and it had a seminary and the beginning of a
native clergy. But about 75 years later, the Shogun who ruled much
of Japan ordered that Christianity be suppressed and rounded up
twenty-six Christians all but four of whom were Japanese catechists,
Jesuit brothers, and priests They had their ears and noses cut off
and were crucified.
An eye witness who was a Christian
wrote a description of the scene. Some of the martyrs sang hymns or
prayed aloud; others shouted encouragement to each other. Paul Miki
himself gave a sermon in which he prayed that the emperor would
embrace Christianity in order to save his soul. One of the martyrs
kept pushing himself upward on his cross, shouting “Jesus, Mary!”
Can you imagine the scene? The point is, these martyrs had trained
their hearts; they knew where their treasure was, they could hardly
wait to take possession of what God had promised them.
Many Catholics and other Christians
don't practice meditation. They think it's too hard, or they
associate it with monks or sometimes eastern religions. I'm old
enough to remember pictures in the news magazines of Mahatma Ghandi,
the great father of Indian independence. Wearing only a loincloth he
would be sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed. Meditation
looked hard, otherworldly, not something we ordinary people did. But
meditation is really pretty important to the Christian life. And it
can certainly begin by thinking about God's promises to us and how
wonderful it will be to find ourselves being waited on by Our Father,
receiving from his hands the kingdom, being put in charge of all his
possessions – What will that be like? What will it be like in our
ultimate heavenly home?
Don't br a navel gazer. It's good to
love your family and be diligent in the work you do. If you enjoy
some of God's pleasures like a little wine and good food now and
then, well, so did Jesus, so did his apostles, so do the monks in
Spencer who brew that wonderful Trappist beer. G. K. Chesterton
reminds us that in Catholicism, the pint, the pipe and the Cross can
all fit together. For Catholics, we see that the good things of the
world are down payments on the promises God has made, and so we enjoy
them.
But work every day to train your heart
to anticipate what God has in store for you, of which the good things
of the world are simply shadows. Use your imagination. Speak to The
Father and your favorite saints about them. And pray that on your
last day you will strain toward heaven, calling out “Jesus! Mary!”
because there will be no doubt where your treasure is and where your
heart will follow.
