Readings for Sunday August 8th 2010

Summary of the Gospel from YM Central.


When a serious athlete prepares for competition, they do all they can to prepare for it. With great focus, they spend months and months preparing for an event that might last a few minutes. This Sunday’s Gospel challenges us to prepare for the greatest event we will ever participate in, our eternity in heaven. The first line from Jesus in this passage shows us the complete focus we need to have to get there. We must allow nothing, including our possessions, to hold us back from the Kingdom. The Kingdom refers to heaven, our eternal destiny. Jesus’ entire message in this Gospel is based on His understanding that this world is temporary.
One day we will be dead and gone from it. The most important goal we have in life is not to make it in this world, but to make it to heaven in the next. We have only a glimpse of heaven from Jesus, probably because, in this life, we would have a hard time understanding it. Heaven cannot be put into words. Jesus does, however, tell us that it is worth giving up everything in this world for heaven in the next. God’s eternal Kingdom is more important than the money we make; it is more important than the clothes we wear; it is more important than the people in our lives.
Why is heaven so important? In heaven, we will see God face-to-face. He Himself will be our reward. Just looking upon Him will be worth enduring all the hardships of this life. He loves each of us dearly, but gives us the freedom to reject Him. We have to trust the words of Jesus completely, beginning to change our lives so that nothing gets in the way of heaven. To get to there, Jesus lists a few key steps in this Gospel. First, we should not be afraid. Although we may have to face trials along the way, in the end God wins. Any sacrifices we make to get there are worth it. Second, we need to eliminate all attachments to this life on earth. Whether it is a material possession, an emotion, or a person, God calls us to be ready to drop everything so we can be entirely focused on Him. Third, we need to prepare to meet Jesus face to face – at any time.
Preparing to die can be very difficult for us to think about. Often times the reality of our death can seem so very distant, until we are brought face-to-face with the death of a friend or loved one – or our own mortality. Many of us don’t want to prepare for our own deaths because we don’t like to think about the end of our life. Yet if we ignore our eventual mortality, we will miss the point of our lives – getting to heaven. Although there are many great things in this world, God the Father wants us to put our trust completely in Him so we can get to heaven. There will be many hardships we face along the way, but every serious athlete knows this: No pain, no gain. Let us ask the grace to be ready at any moment to give account of our lives. May we lose all detachment to sin, and turn our hearts completely over to the will of Jesus.



Reading 1 Wisdom 18:6-9

6 The night of the Passover was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage. 7 Your people awaited the salvation of the just and the destruction of their foes. 8 For when you punished our adversaries, in this you glorified us whom you had summoned. 9 For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution.

Reading II Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19

1 Brothers and sisters: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
2 Because of it the ancients were well attested. 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go. 9 By faith he sojourned in the Promised Land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; 10 for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God. 11 By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age —and Sarah herself was sterile— for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy. 12 So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore. 13 All these died in faith. They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, 14 for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of the land from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 17 By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.” 19 He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol.



Gospel Luke 12:32-48

32 Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. 34 For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. 35 “Gird your loins and light your lamps 36 and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. 38 And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. 39 Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” 41 Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” 42 And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. 44 Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of all his property. 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk,
46 then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. 47 That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; 48 and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

Questions for Discussion:

1. Describe the parables Jesus uses in this Scripture passage to teach us about preparing for heaven. Who are the major characters in them? What are the consequences for not preparing for them?

2. When people think of heaven, what images come to mind? Describe. Are these images usually ones for which we would dying?

3. On a scale from 1-10, 10 being highest, how prepared are you to die? Describe. What can you do on a daily basis to remind yourself that God could call you home at any moment?