The Savior for All: Do Not Fear, Little Flock
Luke 12 is the Savior's teaching for disciples who must live in a world that is hostile, anxious, and obsessed with possessions.
Jesus warns of hypocrisy, of fearing the wrong things, of greed, of worry, and of unreadiness. But the chapter is held together by one word repeated again and again: do not fear.
Do not fear those who can kill the body. Do not fear, little flock. Do not be anxious about your life.
The Savior for All teaches that the Father knows what we need, the Father is generous, and the Father is pleased to give us the Kingdom.
Beware of leaven
In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people gather that they trample one another, He begins to say to His disciples first:
"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."
Hypocrisy works in secret. It spreads. It contaminates the whole loaf.
"Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known."
The double life will be exposed. Live in the light.
"Do not fear those who kill the body"
"I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!"
Fear God, not man. The worst that men can do is take your life. God holds your soul.
But immediately He moves to comfort:
"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows."
The Father who counts sparrows counts your hairs. The Savior for All teaches a fear that is freeing. Fear God, and you fear nothing else.
Confess Christ
"Everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God."
He warns against blasphemy of the Holy Spirit — the willful, persistent rejection of the Spirit's testimony to Christ. Then He encourages: when they bring you before the synagogues, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourselves, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.
The rich fool
Someone from the crowd interrupts: "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
Jesus refuses to be drafted as a probate judge:
"Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you? Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
He tells a parable. A rich man's land produced plentifully. He thought to himself: What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops? I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry."
God said to him:
"Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"
Jesus concludes:
"So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."
The Savior for All measures wealth not by what you have, but by what you are toward God. A barn full of grain and a soul empty of God is the worst poverty in the world.
Do not be anxious
He turns to His disciples:
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on."
He gives the great teaching on God's care:
"Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!"
"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
If God clothes the grass — here today, thrown into the oven tomorrow — how much more will He clothe you?
"And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you."
"It is your Father's good pleasure"
Then the heart of the chapter:
"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
The Father is not reluctant. He is pleased to give. The Kingdom is His pleasure, not His payment.
The Savior for All teaches us to live as little flock of a generous Father, not as anxious sparrows scratching for crumbs.
He says: sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide moneybags that do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Stay dressed for action
He gives a parable. Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning. Be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.
"Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes."
The master may come in the second watch, or in the third. Blessed are those whom he finds ready.
Peter asks: "Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?"
Jesus answers with another parable, about the faithful and wise manager. The Lord will set him over his household. But if the servant begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master will come on a day he does not expect — and cut him in pieces.
He gives the principle:
"Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required."
Fire on the earth
"I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!"
The fire is the purifying judgment that flows from the gospel. The baptism is the cross. Jesus longs for the cross — not because He desires suffering, but because He desires the salvation that only the cross can bring.
"Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division."
The Savior for All comes as the dividing line. Households will be split. Some receive Him. Some refuse. Even families will be torn over Him.
This is hard. But it is honest. The gospel forces a choice. There is no neutrality.
Reading the times
He turns to the crowds:
"You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"
They can read the weather but not the moment. They can see clouds but not the Christ standing among them.
He warns them to make peace with their accuser on the way to court, lest they end up in prison. The lesson: settle accounts with God now. Today is the day of mercy. Tomorrow may be the day of judgment.
Closing prayer
Father, You feed the ravens and clothe the lilies. You count the sparrows and number our hairs. Save us from the leaven of hypocrisy and the folly of building bigger barns. Take away every anxious fear, and let us live as the little flock to whom it is Your good pleasure to give the Kingdom. Set our treasure in heaven, our hearts on Christ, and our eyes on His return. In Jesus' name, amen.
