Scene: A staff room of an emergency response unit

Jock Stein August 16, 2025 0 0

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Luke 12: 32-40 (NRSVA)

32 ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

35 ‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36 be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

39 ‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’

Today we visit the staff room of the ambulance unit. A few drivers are grabbing a sandwich. They look worn out, though a few have not lost their sense of humour. Some, like you, are Bible readers – when they can snatch a minute. Today’s passage is:

Luke 12:32-40...

Not much treasure from your job – pay has always been modest. However, you know what it is to be dressed for action, and ready for the next call. And you know what it is to be waiting outside a hospital, though your boss is not exactly coming back from a wedding, and he is as frazzled as you are. But you get the message, keep alert for the demands of the job. And sometimes, just sometimes, you can recognise the face of Christ in the sick person you collect. Does that mean that he might be coming, arriving, when you do? That’s a new thought – interrupted by the next call.

Later, you go back to the reading. To the start. Those people we put in the back of the wagon. Their only treasure left is their health – and that may be touch and go. You still have your health, and a wage – many others are on benefits. How generous are you being? Laying up treasure in heaven? Where is my heart? In the job, of course, it has to be. But beyond the job?

PRAY:

Lord Jesus, I’m likely to be busy today, but grant me an open heart – to others of course, but especially to you. I want to be ready for your coming, whether you come quietly in the middle of my day, or whether it is what religious folk call the end times. Ready for you. Amen.

And remember in prayer carers, and those who work in the ambulance service.