[Propertalk] Sermon tidbits for Luke 12:32-40 - Part 2

[Joe Parrish]

...a Christmas drama. The play is entitled, WAITING FOR THE CHRISTMAS GUEST, by Edwin Markham.  In this Christmas play, there is an old shoe cobbler by the name of Conrad and his wife, Martha. In his dream, Conrad the cobbler, had a vision that he was going to be visited by Jesus himself before Christmas day. Conrad the cobbler believed his vision/dream and Conrad was waiting for his special Christmas guest to arrive. This special Christmas guest was to be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself coming on Christmas Eve. And Martha, his wife, had prepared a gorgeous Tom Turkey banquet for his expected guest, Jesus himself. But Jesus didn't show up that night. 
Instead of Jesus, the first person so show up on the doorsteps of the cottage was a bum, a homeless person, a castaway who wandered into Conrad and Martha's home that Christmas Eve. Shortly, this homeless person found himself eating a portion of the feast that Martha had prepared for the anticipated special guest. The homeless man also received a set of shoes from Conrad the cobbler. The homeless man left the cottage with a full stomach and a pair of new shoes on his wrapped-in-rags feet but Conrad was still waiting for his special Christmas guest to arrive at his front door steps. 

Next, a little old lady rapped on the door of Conrad and Martha's cottage. She had been evicted from her home and was lost as she was trying to find the way to her son's home. After wandering around the streets of the village, the little old lady found the front door steps to the cottage of Conrad and Martha. Soon, the recently evicted widow was eating a portion of the banquet which had been prepared for Jesus himself and she was sipping on a cup of warm tea that Martha had specially prepared. Before you knew it, Conrad was taking this little old evicted lady by the hand and leading her to find her son's house. 

Next, Conrad the cobbler found a little boy who was lost as he was trying to find a baker that Christmas Eve. All the bakeries were closed that Christmas Eve. Conrad took the little lost boy home to his cottage and fed him some of the feast that Martha had prepared for the phantom Christ who was not appearing as Conrad had thought he would. They gave cookies and milk to the little boy. They discovered that the little boy's father had recently died and the little boy belonged to the Widow Schultz. Martha herself took the lost little boy home that night with a loaf of Martha's freshly baked bread, and Conrad was left all alone in his cottage. 

All alone, Conrad the cobbler was wondering out loud why Jesus the Christ hadn't come to his house that night. Conrad was so sure that Jesus would show up that Christmas Eve for the banquet that Martha had prepared for him. Conrad was mumbling to himself that night when he finally said, "Jesus, why didn't you come to our cottage tonight? Why didn't you come, Lord? Humm." 

Or maybe he did. Maybe Christ had come three times.

http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_be_alert_and_ready_for_action.htm

Edward F. Markquart
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Jesus does not say sell "all" your possessions or demand poverty on all his followers. He does, however, point them to the true source of real wealth so that they can be free for the wealth that God can give. They will need to be free from "stuff" in order to know the inner gift of peace which is spiritually based. The follower of Jesus must be free from his or her worldly possessions. Possessions are gifts from God to be used for the purposes of God -- including sharing what we have with those who have not.

http://www.lectionarysermons.com/a998.html

John Jewell, 1998
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I had the opportunity to spend over a year in Japan as the Assistant Pastor at Tokyo Union Church, and since I'm a Japanese-American person with a face that looks very Japanese, I could be a spy there. I could blend in. I could sneak up next to people conversing in Japanese. Even more I could sneak up next to Americans speaking in English, and I could eavesdrop on their conversation. It was a great year, full of adventure. And one Saturday afternoon, as the naive Californian that I am, I took off on a bike ride. I was wearing short pants, and I didn't have my passport. Riding around in a maze that is Tokyo, I got lost. Lost on my bicycle--lost with no identification. But I could speak enough Japanese to get around and so at the _____ police box at the _____ station, I stopped in to talk with the officer. He was friendly enough for a while. I told him where I was trying to go, and he tried to give me instructions and I said, "I tried that and I got stuck. I keep ending up here." So he said, "Come on in and look at this map." I looked at the map on his wall and came in his box and soon I hit the end of my Japanese ability. I was stuck. At that point, he cocked his head to the side and looked at me and asked me (in Japanese), "Are you Japanese?"
Now so far, this entire conversation happened in Japanese. And I was doing okay. But now the question-"Are you Japanese?"-and I'm thinking, "Alright, home boy, here we go! I'm kinda Japanese." And I say ( in Japanese), "I'm a Japanese-American, third generation." And with a steely gaze, he thrust his hand in my face and said, "Passporta." I didn't have my passport. And he began to threaten me and berate me, threatening me with deportation, taking me straight to the airport. Don't ever do this again, and I bowed and I shamed myself, and I apologized and I backed out of that police box and I made my way home.

Telling this story to a friend after I'd returned to the United States, he remarked, laughing at me, "Yamiguchi, you don't belong anywhere. You don't belong in Japan. People hassle you here." And then we both paused and said together in unison, "Except in the Kingdom of God. That's where we belong."

http://day1.org/610-home_where_i_belong

Steve Yamaguchi, 2001 
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